This editorial was published on December 19, 2008. Sir Paul later told the Herald he was moved by what was written.
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And now for Today in History ... It was on this day in 2008 that the renowned broadcaster Paul Holmes signed off from 21 years at the summit of New Zealand radio. The cheeky, dark-haired Holmes was so good, for so long, that at his NewstalkZB leaving function they retired the Number1 microphone and presented it to him for life ...
In years to come, the 6.18am slot on the ZB breakfast show will need to add one more footnote to history for this day, December 19. The Paul Holmes Breakfast will be no more but its place in the life of the city and country deserves to be saluted. Much has been said this week, by Holmes as much as by his guests, listeners and colleagues, about the thrilling disasters and triumphs of a broadcasting era. Of the warts-and-all character who woke up, charmed, offended, entertained and challenged the population for a generation.
We will miss him here at the "Royal New Zealand Herald" as he insisted on calling us, his way of pricking a pomposity he imagines inhabits these pages. For as much as he declaims those who are critics rather than doers he was an omniscient and exacting critic of this paper's morning offering. He wasn't always right, but he was always Paul Holmes. And he was a central part of the news cycle, his interviews with newsmakers taking stories further and changing events, even as the breakfast show beamed live from the Sky Tower.