John Patrick Cyril Blumsky (13 November 1928 – 1 August 2013) was a New Zealand journalist and broadcaster, best known for his coverage of the

Erebus disaster The Mount Erebus disaster occurred on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE-901) flew into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board. Air New Zealand had been operating scheduled Ant ...

in 1979.

Biography

Blumsky was educated at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

from 1943 to 1945.''Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006'', 6th edition Before moving into broadcast journalism, he worked as an insurance clerk. In the early 1960s, Blumsky was a broadcaster with station 2XN in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. He was also an active member of the Nelson Operatic Society at that time. He was a member of Johnny Shearer's skiffle group, alongside

Cliff Whiting Clifford Hamilton Whiting (6 May 1936 – 16 July 2017) was a New Zealand artist, teacher and advocate for Māori heritage. Career In 1955, Whiting began teacher training at Wellington Teachers' College where his artistic talents were quickly ...

, in 1961. In late 1962, Blumsky was transferred by the

New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ). The corporation was ...

to Dunedin, where he worked on both radio and the newly established television station

DNTV2 DNTV2 was a television station in Dunedin, New Zealand established by the then New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation in 1962. Its base, and studio complex operated from the historic Garrison Hall in Dowling Street. Until 2010 Garrison Hall was ...

. In Dunedin, Blumsky continued his involvement in amateur dramatics, playing Dr Lomas in the Southern Comedy Players' 1963 production of ''

The Pohutukawa Tree ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'', directed by the play's author,

Bruce Mason Bruce Edward George Mason (28 September 1921 – 31 December 1982) was a significant playwright in New Zealand who wrote 34 plays and influenced the cultural landscape of the country through his contribution to theatre. In 1980, he was appo ...

. Blumsky ran for the New Zealand Parliament in the 1972 general election, standing unsuccessfully for the National Party against

Tom McGuigan Thomas Malcolm McGuigan (20 February 1921 – 5 February 2013) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Biography Early life and career McGuigan was born and raised in the Christchurch suburb of Woolston. He attended Christchurch Bo ...

in the Lyttelton electorate. His son,

Mark Blumsky Mark Herbert Blumsky (born 29 August 1957) is a former New Zealand politician and diplomat. He was Mayor of Wellington from 1995 to 2001, and a Member of Parliament for the National Party from 2005 to 2008. Blumsky was New Zealand's High Comm ...

, later became

Mayor of Wellington The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representati ...

and a National Party Member of Parliament. Following the crash of an Air New Zealand DC-10 into Mt Erebus on 28 November 1979, Blumsky gained prominence as the only broadcast journalist sent to Antarctica to cover the disaster for the world's media. He was also one of the pioneers of

talkback radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

in New Zealand. In December 1997,

Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...

cut Blumsky's Sunday radio show, which he co-hosted with Mike Minehan. In the

2001 Queen's Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 2001 was announced on 16 June 2001 for the United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland), New Zealand (4 June), Australia (11 June), Barbados, Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Sai ...

, Blumsky was awarded the

Queen's Service Medal The Queen's Service Medal is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or appointed public office. It was established in 1975 and is related to ...

for public services. Blumsky died in Christchurch in 2013.

References

External links

Blumsky's reports from Antarctica following the Erebus disaster
''Sound Archives/Ngā Taonga Kōrero''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blumsky, John 1928 births 2013 deaths People educated at Nelson College Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal New Zealand broadcasters New Zealand journalists New Zealand National Party politicians New Zealand people of Polish descent Unsuccessful candidates in the 1972 New Zealand general election