Presenter cuts planned for Manx Radio

The Isle of Man’s national station Manx Radio is proposing to cut all but one of its staff presenters.

The company has entered into a consultation period with staff to identify potential savings and a new structure for the company.

The station, which is co-funded by the Isle of Man Government’s annual subvention and by commercial revenues, is expecting cuts in the forthcoming budget for 2012/13 set by the Government.

In a statement, the station said “Manx Radio is looking to reduce its staff presentation team from five down to one and plans for the vast majority of programmes to be presented on a freelance basis in the future. This has become the norm within the wider commercial radio industry and is expected to be adopted by Manx Radio.”

The News, Sales and Engineering teams have all come under close scrutiny and have also been asked to make their contributions to reduce the station’s overheads. Two News Editor posts, namely News Editor Online and News Editor Broadcast, are earmarked for closure to be replaced with a new single News Editor position. It is expected that there will be a further reduction to newsroom staff in the summer when a Broadcast Journalist will be retiring and the position will not be filled.

Manx Radio’s Chairman, David North said: “The staff at Manx Radio are extremely talented and have been committed to delivering the best listener experience possible. It is hugely disappointing that some of our award-winning team are likely to leave the station at this time and I’m sure this will come as a great disappointment to many listeners.

“However, all listeners should be re-assured that the Manx Radio board will be doing all it can to retain the range and quality of programming that listeners have come to expect and enjoy from the station over recent years.”

Manx Radio’s Managing Director Anthony Pugh said: “It is very regretful that the company could be losing some talented and loyal individuals, however, our main objective has to be to maintain the award winning services of Manx Radio for our listeners without further burdening the Manx tax payer. We have worked hard to ensure the majority of our programming will remain largely unchanged and we will still be offering the Island business community the same excellent standards and opportunities for advertising. Our engineering team will also continue to offer first rate engineering services to commercial clients.

“The restructure of Manx Radio will allow the station to continue on a sure footing for the future. The station commands the premier role in broadcasting in the Isle of Man and will continue to do so.”