It’s a retrograde step for Tamworth, the region and the station itself.

The timing of the announcement, smack bang in the middle of the festival, is hardly a coincidence.

Prime tried the same corporate sleight of hand almost three years ago to the day but was forced to scrap its decision after a savage public – and political – backlash.

Of course, we live in the age of outsourcing and no company, including The Leader’s publisher Fairfax, is immune.

The media landscape is perched on a tectonic plate and companies need to keep pace with shrinking audiences and shrinking revenues.

But cuts should not slice into the quality of the core product.

By ensuring our nightly news is read in a studio 700km away, Prime is not just removing two local jobs, but it’s diluting the bulletin’s local flavour.

How can a journalist that has never lived here understand the character and nuance of the region? They can’t.

There was a time when Prime ran local news seven nights a week and local commercial radio invested heavily in news.

Community radio now churns out more local content than its commercial rivals combined and Prime dedicates just two-and-a-half of its 168 hours a week to Tamworth content.

Local businesses plough millions into Prime each year because of its reach to local audiences.

But by dumping its local production, Prime risks alienating some of that audience.

It is a specious decision and one based on a false economy.

It might save Prime money in the short-term but it will erode public confidence in its brand.

It is now incumbent on passionate community members, and those that purport to represent them, to fight Prime’s move.

Because as bitter corporate history has shown us, once it goes, it won’t come back.