Kerry Smith, Brian Edwards leave RadioLive

RadioLive afternoon presenter Kerry Smith is leaving the talkback station and Brian Edwards is to quit his Saturday morning slot just three months after he started.

Edwards said he had decided to give up the Top o' the Morning show he began in March because he did not have time for his other commitments.

"I do it with regret, because I loved doing that job, but it was eating into the rest of my time. It is a small, struggling radio station with not a lot of money around, and you really do need a researcher."

He said he was also busy with the media training business he runs with his wife, Judy Callingham.

RadioLive programme director Mitch Harris said he was disappointed Edwards was leaving and a replacement was still to be decided on. Edwards' last show would be on June 17.

Mr Harris said Smith had decided to move to the CanWest easy-listening station Breeze, due to launch in Auckland on June 12.

The Herald understands Smith was unhappy when told she would be taken off RadioLive and offered a different timeslot on the new station.

John Tamihere and Willie Jackson have taken over Smith's noon to 3pm slot.

It has been an unsettled few weeks for RadioLive, which started in April last year in a bid by CanWest's RadioWorks to eat into the audience of arch-rival Newstalk ZB, owned by the Radio Network.

RadioLive has so far failed to thrive.

Last month's ratings put its audience share at just 2 per cent, with 39,800 listeners in Auckland. Newstalk ZB was recorded as having 193,300 listeners.

Smith is the second of the original weekday line-up to leave. Paul Henry left after TVNZ gave him a "them or us" directive.

Martin Devlin, Michael Laws and Marcus Lush are still with the station.