Afternoons for Monday 12 May 2025

1:10 Darkfield: the immersive sound experience

DARKFIELD is billed as a unique theatrical experience that blurs the line between reality and imagination. 

Attendees walk inside pitch-black shipping containers and listen to 360-degree binaural sound and special effects to create an immersive world.

The show has pulled in half a million audience members globally, with its audio experiences featured at major festivals and cities.

Jesse talks to producer Nathan Alexander before the show's big launch in Auckland at Aotea Square. 

1.20 The story of your teeth

Imagine a mole map, but for teeth.

One Southland oral therapist has made that a reality as part of her desire to make dental care more accessible.

Georgina Welsh has launched Map My Mouth - a mobile dental screening service, which has been running for just few weeks.

1.35 The 17-year-old rodeo star

It's time to talk rodeo. One Queenstown teenager is grabbing life by the saddle and riding toward a new adventure in the US.

Seventeen-year-old Zoe Johnston, from Wakatipu High, is part of a five-person team heading to the senior national high school finals in Wyoming. 

2:10 Television Critic: The Rehearsal, Poker Face and Everybody's Live with John Mulaney

Dominic Corry is in the studio to discuss Nathan Fielders new season of The Rehearsal (Sky/Neon; Everybody's Live with John Mulaney (Netflix) and season two of Poker Face with Natasha Lyonne (TVNZ+)

2:20 Information Center Cold Call 

Every week Jese calls a randomly selected information center somewhere in New Zealand. 

He doesn't know who will pick up and they don't know he's calling.

The goal is to learn more about where they live and maybe even learn a bit about themselves. 

2.30 Expert Feature: the barber

Jeff Whiting is a master barber at The Gentry in Auckland. 

Jeff spent two decades perfecting his skills in hairdressing before shifting into barbering and he's in studio to answer any and all of your barbering questions. 

Get your questions in via to 2101 or to jesse@rnz.co.nz

3:10 Feature interview: the algorithms that shape the way we listen to music

Once upon a time, we listened to music, now, music listens to us.  

Algorithms have become the DJ of culture serving up curated moods, optimizing our emotions, and quietly reshaping the soundtrack of our lives says Music journalist Liz Pelly.

Pelly looks at how Spotify is turning moods into marketing and making music more an engineering project than a form of expression.

Her new book is called Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist,
 

3:35 Here Now

The final episode of Accidental Comics with Here Now - Kadambari Raghukumar meets Eddy Rodriguez and Sameena Zehra to dive into their comedic journey. 

3:45 The pre-Panel

Wallace Chapman and producer Tom Riste-Smith preview tonight's instalment of The Panel.