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Bennett's radio future in limbo

Fri 16 Jul 2004 In: New Zealand Daily News

The future of gay-baiting Radio Pacific afternoon host Mark Bennett is in some doubt following the announcement this week that Pacific's breakfast host Paul Henry will be moving to an afternoon slot from next month. Bennett unleashed a tirade of homophobic abuse last year with a series of rants, saying heterosexuals were being disadvantaged under Labour's "age of the gay and lesbian", comparing gays to paedophiles and necrophiles, and falsely claiming that a function at Premier House hosting gay actor Sir Ian McKellen was taxpayer-funded. None of his outbursts generated significant calls from listeners. Pacific bosses are keeping quiet about Bennett's future. Programme director Chris Gregory says the station's afternoon line-up changes will be revealed next week. Bennett is currently on holiday. While Pacific has been slowly strengthening its ratings in its breakfast, mid-morning, and evening slots, Mark Bennett's afternoon show ratings have remained static for years, consistently rating close to the margin of error in Auckland, the country's biggest radio market.    

Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff

First published: Friday, 16th July 2004 - 12:00pm

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