Afternoons for Monday 11 August 2025

 

1:15 Stolen Lands - a look at New Zealand in the 1800s

The new video series tracking a Highlander's journey to Aotearoa meets Māori resistance, colonial law, and the lasting legacy of land and loss. 

Director Jake Mokomoko talks to Jesse. Click here for the series.

1.25 The Blokes' Book Club

Bookworms of Waikato will be frothing at the mouth as Hamilton Book Month has arrived. 

It runs through August with a huge range of events - writing workshops, author talks, a film premiere, and the always-fierce Lit Pub Quiz. 

Another event on the programme surrounds a group that's existed in Hamilton for a few years now, the Blokes' Book Club. 

Mark Houlahan is an avid member, he joins Jesse.

1.35 Australian country music star Brad Cox is here!

Brad Cox is an Australian country music phenomenon.

Most recently he performed to almost 6 million viewers at the State of Origin rugby league finals

But not content to just ride the wave of the genre's resurgence in popularity, he's also been pushing the genre in new directions.

Ahead of his upcoming fourth album and NZ tour Brad chatted to Jesse.

1:45 One Long Song 

It's time for our new weekly segment .. one long song .. those songs that teeter over the standard length ...those songs that go well beyond a tik tok timeline.

Since its release in 1977 today's song has been covered at least eighteen times .. but most famously in 1988 by George Michael and Mary J Blige. 

In 2019, it was included on a great list by Spin magazine: "30 Best Disco Songs that every Millennial Should Know" 

The radio edite was just 3.27 but the album version comes in at 7.08 ... our one long song this week is the joyous As by Stevie Wonder. 

2:10 Television Critic: Too Much and Wednesday (Season Two)

Let's talk about what's on the box and Philippa Rennie is here with her recommendations.

Philippa was the Executive Producer of TV show Escaping Utopia and producer on Fresh Eggs, as well as Heaven and Hell: The Centrepoint Story, so it's fair to say she knows a thing or two about good television.

She reviews Too Much (Netflix) and Wednesday - Season Two (Netflix)

2:20 Jesse's Cold Call: Ngati Porou FM

As regular listeners will know, we like a cold call here on Afternoons, a chance to add a little suspense to the day .. will they answer .. will they be allowed to chat?  But also, to chat the people who help turn our towns and cities into communities. Today Jesse chances his luck at Ngati Porou FM.

2.30 Expert Feature: Dinosaurs

Time for our expert feature and a chance for you to put your questions to an interesting expert.

Today we are talking all things Dinosaur.

Did they really have feathers? Could they talk to each other? Did a T-rex and a velociraptor ever meet?

To answer those, and whatever else you can throw at him, Jesse is joined by Te Papa's Dinosaur expert Felix Marx. 

3:10 Feature interview: We take a deep dive into the gaming industry

Follow the money in the gaming industry, and you'll discover incentives that shape the games and the ways they keep kids hooked.  Young players are logging into gaming platforms and landing in Nazi camps, school shooting reenactments, strip clubs, or acting out a teacher-student romance. It's all part of a business model built to keep kids playing and spending. NYU researcher Bennett Sippel explored them firsthand.  

He's the co-author of a piece on the substack After Babel that helps parents understand how new monetization models are changing the online gaming world.The piece is called "It's Not Just a Game Anymore."

3:35 Here Now: Of grains and gods - Yuki Fukada's trials with rice

What started out as a backyard experiment for Nelson-based Yuki Fukada, her patch of rice paddy is now showing promise of growing further. Yuki's an ecologist and is deeply concerned with the state of world when it comes to climate change. 

As Here Now's Kadambari Raghukumar discovered, growing food, rice, particularly, is an extension of Yuki's consciousness around the topic.

3:45 The pre-Panel

Wallace Chapman previews tonight's instalment of The Panel.