Afternoons Podcast Options

4:08 PM.Topics - The State Services Commissioner, Iain Rennie, says he didn't expect the Prime Minister to ring an old family friend directly about the country's top spy job. Census day was Tuesday, 5 March… Read more Audio

3:47 PM.Your feedback, and a preview of the guests and topics on The Panel. Audio

3:30 PM.All around the country migratory wading birds such as godwits and knots are winging their way north to breeding grounds in the Arctic. Alison Ballance heads to the Firth of Thames to see some of the… Read more Audio

3:19 PM.Katy Gosset meets props maker extraordinaire Anneke Bester, who has turned her hand to everything from theatre sets to the artefacts of the Hobbit movies. Audio

2:21 PM.Every weekday on the 45 minutes each way commute from the Hutt Valley to Wellington, Peter King can be seen working furiously on his smartphone. He's not answering emails... he's writing novels. In… Read more Audio

2:10 PM.The award-winning movie 'Argo', about six American hostages who escaped the US Embassy when it was taken over militants in Tehran in 1979, suggested New Zealand diplomats did little to help. In fact… Read more Audio

1:21 PM.Thirteen kilometres south-west of Gore and 53 kilometres north-east of Invercargill, Mataura is a small community on the eastern fringe of the Southland Plain. It's a village which once had almost… Read more Audio

1:09 PM.Deena Coster from Fitzroy Beach in Taranaki has chosen ' A Long December' by The Counting Crows. Audio

4:36 PM.Topics - Samoa Air has introduced a "pay what you weigh" price system that will charge fat people more money to fly. Some new research shows the road crash injury risk in Auckland is higher among… Read more Audio

4:07 PM.Topic - Crime rates have dropped to their lowest level for 24 years - but police aren't solving any more of their cases. Instead, they say they're focusing on preventing major crimes, rather than… Read more Audio

3:44 PM.Your feedback, and a preview of the guests and topics on The Panel. Audio

3:31 PM.A push to re-open the doors to the Anglican Maori boarding school of St Stephens is gaining traction. Audio

3:09 PM.Oculus Rift: The future of virtual reality is here; Can a $120 Video Game Console Capture The Casuals? How does HBO feel about having the most pirated show on TV?; and a new technology promises to… Read more Audio

2:24 PM.The time has come for a 121-year-old jewellery dynasty in Greymouth to come to an end - the West Coast's last watchmaker, 70-year-old Ian Tennent is going to retire. His family has been in the… Read more Audio

1:21 PM.Can you spot the connection in our music quiz? Audio

1:10 PM.Heath Mc Kenzie from Masterton has chosen 'A Forest' by The Cure. Audio

4:36 PM.Topics - The Green Party says the Government must call off its asset sales programme if it wants to reach a deal over the future of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. The latest attempt to give… Read more Audio

4:08 PM.Topics - It's D-Day for Red Zone land owners in Christchurch who have less than an hour to accept the Government's offer for their land. Lifeguards say ten Korean fishermen who were stranded on a… Read more Audio

3:45 PM.Your feedback, and a preview of the guests and topics on The Panel. Audio

3:30 PM.Lynda Chanwai-Earle is 'Moving on Asia' when she checks out 200 video works from Asian artists at Wellington's City Gallery. Audio

3:07 PM.Technology commentator Nicholas Carr's most recent book, 'The Big Switch: Rewiring the World', asks if we are losing our ability to think deeply because of the internet. Audio

2:18 PM.Twenty years ago two residents on the West Coast's Denniston Plateau initiated the restoration of an old schoolhouse to create a museum. This not only gave the many visitors to the hill a place to… Read more Audio

2:08 PM.The Highlands Motorsport Park is a $20 million complex with a 4.5 kilometre racing circuit, located near the South Island township of Cromwell. An opening festival held over the long weekend attracted… Read more Audio

1:50 PM.The New York Times has built a haiku bot; and Diving Deep into Danger. Audio