Paradise ends in Kaitaia as radio hosts sign off for the last time

Gary Cooper (left) and Frank Martinac have called it a day with Paradise Radio Kaitaia.

It'll be the end of Paradise in Kaitaia when Gary Cooper and Frank Martinac finish up on air tonight.

Cooper and Martinac will be on air with Paradise Radio Kaitaia (87.8FM) tonight, together this time, from 7pm, but they're not sure when they'll knock off.

"We will stop when we get sick of it I suppose," Martinac said, as he and Cooper planned their final broadcast.

The station, which operates out of Cooper's Kaitaia garage, has been sold, and will rise again from Doubtless Bay next month (on 87.6FM), which will not reach as far as Kaitaia.

Paradise began as Kaitaia Country Rock (KCR), assuming its new identity eight years ago, after Doubtless Bay man Bob Cooper (no relation) bought the station and decided that there would be no place for DJs.

"So we went out on our own," Cooper said, "just the two of us."

Martinac has been behind an array of controls that, to the uninitiated, suggests he's out to take on the BBC with country music Mondays, Pacific Islands and rest-of-the-world music Wednesdays, while Cooper has been at his much more minimalist laptop every day.

He once hit the airwaves at 5.30am, but in recent times has slept in until 8.30am, carrying on through to midday Monday to Friday, with six hours of "rock 'n roll and stuff" on Saturdays.

"Less talk and more music" had always been their motto, and both had compiled lengthy careers. Cooper had been DJ-ing in Kaitaia for 24 years, while Martinac started with Te Hiku in the late 1980s.

With nothing to commit themselves to as of Thursday morning, Cooper was looking forward to travelling around the country and catching up with his children, while Martinac said he planned to continue working part-time at Eric and Sandra Shackleton's vineyard, overlooking Ahipara.

"It's sad," Martinac said, "but I'm 80 now, and I suppose you have to retire sooner or later."

Cooper said on the upside, his dog would be to be pleased to shed her role as producer.

"It gets up to 40 degrees in this shed in summer, and neither of us are going to miss that," he said.