Plans to cut Radio New Zealand Concert and replace it with a youth station meet resistance from die-hard fans

Radio New Zealand Concert, the staid classical music arm of Radio New Zealand, does not usually create headlines. But the hackles of classical music lovers across the nation have been raised after the public broadcaster announced it was cutting much of the station to make way for programmes targeted at a younger audience.

The ensuing furore has sparked disputes on social media about whether classical music is elitist or only for the elderly and prompted the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to wade in.

The station draws about 170,000 listeners a week in New Zealand, heavily skewed towards those aged 65 and older, according to the broadcaster.

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But fans mobilised last week when Radio New Zealand proposed to throw out its classical arm’s FM station in May, replacing it with a youth radio channel in August. Some 18 jobs would be eliminated, with new roles created at the youth station, RNZ said.

An automated classical music programme, without presenters, would be streamed 24/7 online. Some scathingly referred to the planned format as a classical music “jukebox” sector.

“This equates to a dumbing down of cultural life in NZ,” a former New Zealand prime minister, Helen Clark, wrote on Twitter. Others said Clark’s argument was elitist. “The idea that there’s smart arts and dumb arts is flat out wrong,” said one Twitter user.

By Monday, more than 23,000 people had signed a petition urging Radio New Zealand to reconsider the move and a 10,000-strong Facebook group called “Save RNZ Concert”, was discussing how to protest, with options including marches and legal action. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, the New Zealand opera singer, said the station was “iconic, very important” and likened its gutting to cutting the All Blacks rugby team.

As opposition to the move grew – in perhaps the most controversy the station had ever caused – Ardern added her doubts to the pile, saying she was “frustrated” that RNZ had announced the demise of the classical station without asking the government for help first.

She announced on Monday that her cabinet would consider its own plan to free up FM frequency for the proposed youth station so that Concert could remain at its current frequency.

Ardern did not explain whether her government would offer separate funding for the continued operating costs and salaries at the classical station. Radio New Zealand is funded entirely by the taxpayer; it does not receive a licence fee or subscriptions and does not broadcast advertisements.

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Its funding has been the source of public angst and pre-election promises, and has at times fluctuated depending on which party is in power. When new funding was frozen by New Zealand’s previous centre-right government – which believed the broadcaster tended to the left – more than 30,000 people signed a petition asking for more money to be unlocked.

Many on social media decried Radio New Zealand’s decision to use the FM frequency freed up by the demise of Concert on a youth station, pointing out that young people were more likely to stream music, rather than listen to the radio, and were already catered for by existing options.

“I understand that RNZ has obligations to all New Zealanders, and it is their view that they are not catering for one sector,” Ardern said in the RNZ interview. “But it is my view as arts minister that one does not need to come at the cost of another.”

A Radio New Zealand spokesman declined to comment on Ardern’s remarks until the organisation’s board had met to consider her counter-proposal.

Research commissioned by the broadcaster, and seen by the Guardian, expressed concerns that Radio New Zealand was not relevant “to people in all their life stages” and was failing to connect with non-white audiences – particular Māori, Pacific Island and Asian groups, all growing demographics in New Zealand – and young people.

As a public service broadcaster, RNZ has an obligation to serve all New Zealand audiences and does not appeal to a diverse enough population to do that, the research said.