The future for Waikato broadcaster Mark Bunting has been confirmed on his Facebook profile and by his new employers, MediaWorks Radio Waikato, with him hosting a new breakfast show on The Breeze Waikato.
Bunting officially announced the end of his contract with NZME Radio on Facebook at the beginning of the month.
The broadcaster, who is more commonly known to locals as ‘Bunty’, signed with MediaWorks Radio to replace Ronny Phillips as the host of The Breeze Waikato breakfast show this year.
Fans of Bunting couldn't wait for him to return to the wireless, after he was abruptly axed from the then Radio Network last May.
He was only into his second week on the newly-rebranded The Hits radio station, formally Classic Hits, when he was reportedly ‘given a box’ and told to leave the building after 15 years of service. Within half an hour, an email was sent to all staff members announcing the station would pick up the networked breakfast show, presented by Polly Gillespie and Grant Kereama.
Though he had signed a new contract with opposition network MediaWorks less than a month before his dismissal, Bunting still remained contractually obligated to NZME Radio, until the end of 2014.
It has now been revealed he has been paired with Camille Guzzwell to co-host the new The Breeze Waikato breakfast show, which begun today.
"I'm so passionate about the Waikato," Bunting told the Waikato Times. "We are a big, strong and lovely people. People don't come here for the geography. They come here for the people.
"We don't take ourselves too seriously. I'm looking forward to being back on the airwaves," Bunting said.
Guzzwell's career includes working in the music business for a record label, NZ On Air and most recently hosting a Wellington breakfast radio show.
"I'm really excited to be joining The Breeze Waikato and my whole family can't wait to embrace everything that the Waikato has to offer," she told the Waikato Times.
The Breeze will also be the only radio station in the region, to air 100% local breakfast and afternoon "drive" shows.
Ronny Phillips, another familiar voice in the Waikato, will host the drive programme.
"We want to provide our listeners with great content that's relevant to life in the Waikato and support local events and businesses," MediaWorks Waikato general manager Steve Rowe said. "The new lineup will generate fresh, exciting opportunities for advertisers to connect on a local level."
Last year The Breeze recorded its best radio results on the TNS New Zealand commercial national survey, which measures cumulative audience numbers.
The 315,000-plus listeners who tuned in around the country were testament to the success of the brand's focus on their communities, Rowe said.
Bunting has won nine New Zealand Radio Awards, his Classic Hits breakfast show has won Best Regional Music Breakfast Show five times and he has been named New Zealand's Best Non-Breakfast Music Personality – Metropolitan, when he hosted the Classic Hits network drive show in the early 2000s.
Bunting had been with NZME and The Radio Network for 18 years.
Source: Press Release - MediaWorks and Waikato Times
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