Cyril Chapman, long-time head of Tautoko FM in Northland, has died aged 70 from cancer.
Chapman, an avid gardener and belonging to a whānau of over 20 siblings, hails from Mangataipa near Mangamuka in the Far North. His principal maunga are Mereana Pai and Maunga Taniwha, his hapū Te Kōhatutaka.
Chapman came to national prominence in 1975, when he was tasked with the carrying of the pou whenua during the national hikoi led by Dame Whina Cooper.
But Chapman’s true passion was in the revitalisation of te reo Māori through broadcasting, particularly through iwi radio.
Te Whakaruruhau o ngā Reo Irirangi Māori, the Iwi Radio Network, was established in the late 1980s and early 1990s, after a push from iwi around Aotearoa for recognition of te reo and attempts to revitalise the language.
That led to the establishment of over 20 iwi radio stations in Aotearoa. Chapman, along with whānau and hapū from the Hokianga region, established Tautoko FM, which is acknowledged as the second oldest iwi radio in Aotearoa.
Fellow Te Whakaruruhau stalwart and a former station manager at Waatea 603AM, Bernie O’Donnell, remembers Chapman well and says te reo Māori was at the centre of all that Chapman strived for.
“Ko te ora o te reo Māori me ōna tikanga te whāinga. Kāore ia i neke tawhiti atu i tērā.”
“The survival of the Māori language was always the goal. He never strayed too far from that.”
“Ko ia te tuakana, te tuakana o te kaupapa nei. Mena ka haere wā, wā ētahi o mātou i tērā kaupapa, ko ia te tangata ka whakahokia mai mātou ki te kaupapa.”
“He was the elder statesman. If we deviated too far from our mission, he would be the one who would realign us back to the goal.”
Details of Chapman’s tangihanga are yet to be confirmed, although it is expected that he will lie in state at his marae, Te Arohanui, in Mangataipa.
Nō reira e te ringa ngaki māra, e te ringa huti punga o te waka o te reo Māori, haere atu rā.