Oamaru loses local Port

Turned off but still tuned in

Rebecca Ryan

Oamaru may have lost its local Port FM breakfast show, but not host Anton Roswell.

He signed off the Oamaru airwaves for the final time last month, as the Oamaru breakfast show was scrapped in favour of a slot networked from Timaru.

But Roswell is sticking around in the town that he loves, and he’s even more keen to get involved in the local community.

“I love this town, I’m staying here,” he said.

The radio host said he was disappointed the station was no longer local, but had fond memories of the last 18 months with Port FM.

“I’m the sort of person who wants to find a job and never work a day in my life,” he said.

“For me, the job wasn’t about going on air and being recognised. People don’t want to wake up and hear my voice, they want to hear about what’s happening.

“For me the total thing, from day one, was I want to promote whatever local people are doing out in the community because that’s what a local station does.”

He loved the community interaction and has set up his Oamaru-based marketing company.

“I’m focusing on local events, local marketing and local businesses,” he said. All too often he heard people say “In Oamaru? What? You can’t do that, this town is too small”.

“People are always looking at the negative side of things, saying the population is getting smaller and smaller and there’s nothing happening to do,” he said.

“But if you do it right, do it properly, you can actually get it done.”

He helped organise the 2012 Santa Parade expecting 5000 people to turn out, but more than 7000 came to see the day’s events.

But he said his biggest event, and proudest moment, was Oamaru on Fire.

Organisers expected about 800 people to turn out, competing with a long weekend where many people leave town, and a cold winter’s night.

“All of those things were against us, so we needed to think about how we did promotion and we got 3500 people along,” he said.

“What I’m trying to do is, anyone who says something can’t be done, I’m giving it a go and actually achieving it.”