First Up Podcast Options

5:07 AM.Over the last 10 years loom bands, fidget spinners and the floss dance have captured the imagination of the nation's school children. Now Pop-It's a moulded plastic toy -- which mimics the sensation… Read more Audio

5:53 AM.The government has revealed how it plans to make New Zealand smoke-free by 2025, and some of its proposals have people scratching their heads. They include prohibiting filters for cigarettes, limiting… Read more Audio

5:48 AM.The penalty for using a mobile phone will nearly double at the end of the month as the government tries to curb the high number of injuries and deaths caused by phone use. Transport Minister Michael… Read more Audio

5:40 AM.Over the past few days Cooks Petrel chicks have been turning up in gardens and roads across Auckland, these little birds are fledging at the moment and because of the bright lights of the city and… Read more Audio

5:27 AM.It is Friday and time once again to talk with our resident fresh produce guru Glenn Forsyth who talked about fungus, and told us about some of the mushrooms growers are producing here in Aotearoa. Audio

5:17 AM.Down at the Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch the seasons are changing and it's getting colder. There's a newborn kune kune piglet in town, it's kiwi breeding season and the meercats have heated… Read more Audio

5:13 AM.A new upgraded facility is opening its doors in Gisborne today to help people finding life tough in the city. Last week, RNZ revealed the extent of the housing crisis in the area. It's hoped this… Read more Audio

5:08 AM.To the UK, where the nation is preparing for the funeral of The Duke of Edinburgh. Ellie Jay spoke with our correspondent Alex Cadier in London. Audio

5:50 AM.Nathan Rarere asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson if he thinks the inclusion of Pasifika teams in Super Rugby is overdue. Audio

5:44 AM.In a move considered by many to be long overdue, two teams from the Pacific Islands will compete in next year's Super Rugby competition. New Zealand Rugby announced yesterday the inclusion of Moana… Read more Audio

5:35 AM.And as we've done every Thursday for the last little while, we'll hear now from one of the fantastic reporters from the Local Democracy Reporting Programme. This week the LDR crew is in Auckland to do… Read more Audio

5:30 AM.The Indian Premier League cricket has kicked off.. and one of the stars of the commentary team is former Black Cap Simon Doull. Nathan Rarere talked to him just before we went to air, and asked how… Read more Audio

5:22 AM.It is offically less than 100 days until the Tokyo Olympics starts and we are trying to speak with as many Olympic athletes as possible in the lead up. Yesterday Nathan Rarere caught up with Rugby… Read more Audio

5:13 AM.Conservationists are dumbfounded as to why anyone would travel to Muriwai's much-loved gannet colony with an air gun and slaughter eight birds. Police are investigating who is responsible for the… Read more Audio

5:05 AM.First Up this morning we head to Europe, where Denmark has just become the first European country to bin the Oxford Astra Zeneca covid vaccine completely. Our Europe correspondent Catherine Walbridge… Read more Audio

5:52 AM.Carterton residents are being told they must continue to boil their water more than a month after E.coli was found in the water supply. An on-off boil water notice has been in place since March the… Read more Audio

5:46 AM.Each week we like to introduce to you to one of our many new members of parliament. This week it's the turn of ACT's Karen Chhour - one of nine new MPs brought into the house on ACT leader David… Read more Audio

5:31 AM.The criteria for recruiting vaccinators to administer the Covid-19 jab has been expanded to include physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dieticians ... even speech language therapists. The… Read more Audio

5:22 AM.Once a year there's a window of time when Hops across the country is being harvested and brewers can make a 'fresh hop beer'. Hops are notoriously fickle once they've been picked so there's a real… Read more Video, Audio

5:16 AM.What's life like on a cannabis patch? Will eating hemp seeds make you high? To find out, our reporter Tom Kitchin talked to East Coast Cannabis company worker Ben Goodman just out of Ruatoria. Audio

5:11 AM.A new show written during lockdown explores familiar relationships, gender norms and intergenerational conflict. Showing for two weeks at the Basement theatre in Auckland's CBD, First World Problems… Read more Audio

5:06 AM.We'll begin in Australia, where it's suspected a second person has had an extreme clotting reaction to the AstraZeneca vaccine. Joining Nathan Rarere from her nest high above Brisbane is our… Read more Audio

5:51 AM.In the past 48 hours we've learned two MIQ workers who have contracted Covid-19 have not yet been vaccinated. National's Deputy leader Shane Reti told Nathan Rarere that's not good enough. Audio