Neil Collins (broadcaster)

Neil Collins (born 1940 or 1941), ONZM, QSM, is a New Zealand local body politician and former broadcaster.

Broadcasting

He wad been a radio host in the southern city of Dunedin for over fifty years,^[1] starting as a 17-year-old with station 4XD. He joined the NZBC in 1972 working at 4ZB as promotions and publicity manager and on-air presenter until leaving to spearhead the setup of Radio Dunedin in 1990, where he remained until retirement in October 2015. He is also well known as a television broadcaster, having hosted numerous Dunedin-based productions on both local and national television, notably hosting the finals of Miss New Zealand for several years, and as an actor in various local theatrical productions. Collins wrote a regular entertainment column for Dunedin newspaper the Evening Star during the 1960s and 1970s, and during the late 1980s and early 1990s he also wrote a regular column for the Otago Daily Times newspaper.

Brush with celebrity questioned

Collins claimed in a newspaper article in 2011 to have met actor from M*A*S*H Loretta Swit, the Beatles and Bill Cosby, and provided a photo depicting himself posing alongside Cash.^[2] The student magazine Critic-Te Arohi pointed out that Cash's likeness in the photo "bears more than a passing resemblance to the album cover of The Best of Johnny Cash, Volume 2," concluding that the photo "...was so fantastic that Cash decided to use it for the album cover..." ^[3]

Local body politics

Collins was a city councillor in Dunedin since 1989 until his retirement in 2013.^[4] He has served on the Executive of New Zealand Age Concern, and is a life member of the Otago Radio Association.

Collins was awarded the Queens Service Medal for services to the community in 1990, and was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to broadcasting and local body affairs in the 2009 New Years Honours.^[1]

References