Jason Pine

Rhondda Sweetman from Plimmerton Rotary

David and Marg Pine are rightly proud of their son Jason, who has been a high-flier all his life and who gave us a most interesting talk this week. This is the second time Jason has been our guest speaker.

After a false start pursuing a career in the law, Jason saw the light and enrolled at Broadcasting School in Christchurch. This was followed by the normal progression in Broadcasting- working at a succession of regional stations but getting ever closer to the centre and to national exposure.

Jason, a keen sportsman himself, specialised in sports reporting and commentating, especially for the Phoenix. This sector of Broadcasting has faced hard times lately, mostly because of the pandemic. RadioSport was closed at very short notice, leading to job losses, but Jason moved elsewhere in NZME and now has two roles: he fronts a nine to noon slot as newsreader/journalist, and does sports commentating as well. He considers himself privileged to work in an area he loves.

For the three-hour morning show, he works closely with his producer. Each hour of airtime requires an hour of preparation, and they have to be ready for unexpected developments, and to respond quickly. While issues of the day and listener involvement drive the programme, they look for ‘big hits’- interviews with well-known sports personalities, which need careful arranging.

Jason has had much advice from senior sports commentators (he singled our Brian Waddle as a star performer) and put it to good use. On radio, the field position of the action is critical to the listeners’ understanding. On TV, it is important to avoid over-describing what viewers can see for themselves, and to be accurate in identifying key players at critical moments, such as goal-scoring.

Jason noted some trends: spectator sport is becoming more diverse, and there is much less coverage of local matches.
An enthusiastic and engaging talk by a seasoned professional.