Is Mikey Havoc leaving BFM?

Mikey Havoc. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The tittle-tattle gently rippled through the ranks of the indie music scene on Wednesday: Is Mikey Havoc leaving? Is his breakfast gig at 95bFM up for grabs? Is Matt Heath replacing him? But finding out if the rumours were true proved a little more difficult.

The station's managing director Ben Cochrane would neither confirm or deny the story only telling Spy: "We have a policy of not talking to the media about operational issues... but when we're ready we'll send out a press release". Sound like a non-committal confirmation? Cochrane reckons not necessarily so.

So, we tried to ask Havoc, who has never held off from voicing his viewpoint to this columnist in the past. Alas, Havoc was staying surprisingly silent and didn't return Spy's messages.

To be fair, Havoc has had his fair share of grief this year. Last month, the Herald on Sunday revealed the pop star-turned-broadcaster had to deal with almost $40,000 in parking fines and court costs from an 11-year period ending last August.

He fought to transfer the fines into community service which was to be worked off DJing for the Auckland University Students' Association, but the Department of Corrections wasn't having a bar of it. They said working for your employer doesn't count as punishment and he'd have to find another way to work off the 230 hours of community service imposed on him.

If Havoc is leaving the coveted breakfast show, it wouldn't be the first time. In 2002, he announced his departure after six years in the top sport. "I'm not quitting, I'm bowing out," Havoc said at the time. "It's time to hand over the reins".

Roles followed in the drive and 10-to-midday shows, but in 2006, Havoc was back in the breakfast slot replacing Wallace Chapman, which caused a barrage of complaints from long-time listeners who set up the website bringbackwallace.com.

Heath is one half of bFM's Thursday night drive show, a spot he shares with his creative partner Chris Stapp. You may know them from rock band Deja Voodoo, or their feature film The Devil Dared Me Too, or their television comedy show Back of the Y that has become a cult classic (think Jackass meets toilet humour). He's certainly up for the job. But where does it leave Havoc? And will he go quietly or will the employment lawyers be called in? Watch this space.