Afternoons for Thursday 15 May 2025

1:10 Kiwi barbecuers take out Grand Champion title at Meatstock Sydney

In the world of competitive barbecuing, two west Auckland brothers have sizzled their way to a big win across the Tasman.

With their expert crusting, marinating and glazing, Cook Cartel became the first international team to take out the Grand Champion title at Meatstock Sydney. 

And they did it in style - cooking up an almost perfect score across all categories.

To tell me all about it I'm joined by master barbecuer Steve Cook.

1:20 Study investigates children's experiences navigating adolescence in Aotearoa 

If you've got young teenagers and adolescents in your house - you'll know it can often be a tough time to navigate.

Researchers at Canterbury University have released the results of a study into teen stress - identifying the issues which young teens struggle with the most and how they deal with them. 

Senior Lecturer Dr Valerie Sotardi spoke to Jesse about the Our Voices study. 

1:35 Well-presented recycling bins in Hamilton are set to get the recognition they deserve

After a successful trial last year... Hamilton's City Council will now be dishing out green tags to acknowledge households that sort their recycling bins correctly

Currently, residents receive yellow tags if they've tried to recycle correctly but have fallen a bit short... and red tags are issued for bins that contain household rubbish

Hamilton City Council operate, and unit director Tania Herman spoke to Jesse.

1:45 Great album:  Voom - Something Good Is Happening

Today's feature album is one that fans have been waiting for. 

Two decades in the making finally Auckland pop band Voom are releasing a new album. 

2:10 Podcast Critic

Podcast critic Jemima Huston joins us to share her podcast picks for the week.

Empire & Mushroom Case Daily

2:30 NZ Sporting History

For today's sporting history we're going back to the 1981, where a New Zealander took the running world by storm.

24-year-old Allison Roe... a long-distance runner from the Auckland's north shore, won both the prestigious Boston & New York marathons in the same year.  She broke both course records and smashed the world record in New York.  Only to have it controversially stripped weeks later.

Allison became a global star overnight and became the first female to win the Halberg New Zealand Sportsperson of the Year award.

Allison spoke to Jesse.

 3:15 Solving the World's Problems 

Today Wellington's 2nd favourite son after Dave Armstrong is solving all of Wellington's problems and maybe, by extension all of the problems everywhere.

Dave joined Jesse.

3:20 History with Dr Grant Morris 

Every fortnight Victoria University's Dr Grant Morris joins Jesse to peel back the onion layers of history to help illuminate something that's currently a hot button topic. 

This week he looks at the history of pay equality in NZ.

3:35 Spoken Feature BBC Witness

In today's edition of the BBC's Witness History, we're hearing about the invention of the automatic electric rice cooker.

3:45 The pre-Panel 

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