7:07 Sonic Tonic - Balloons

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Photo: Creative commons

8:10 Element of the Week

2019 is the Year of the Periodic Table.  Every Friday we'll be featuring a different element on Element of the Week.  This week...it's Helium.

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Photo: Offnfopt [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

8:15 Dateline Pacific

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Photo: RNZ

RNZ Pacific's daily current affairs programme covering the major Pacific stories of the week, with background and reaction from the people making the news.

8:30 Friday Night Live

In Friday Night Live we join the charismatic and intense singer-songwriter Aldous Harding for an intimate performance at Whammy bar in March 2016.

Aldous Harding, live at Whammy Bar

Aldous Harding, live at Whammy Bar Photo: Video still, courtesy of Steve Abel


Radio New Zealand engineer Andre Upston was on deck to capture the performance, ensuring RNZ Music listeners a front row seat.

9:07 Country Life 

We have all sorts on Country life: the usual  Regional wrap, Old Looms Make Fine Fabric, UBCO Bikes, and Tree Lucerne.  

Flowering Tree Lucerne

Flowering Tree Lucerne Photo: Flickr/Jon Sullivan


An AgResearch scientist is working on a project  to help farmers get the most out of a plant most often found on roadsides and in waste areas is hoping to see much more of it on the other side of the fence.

Then it's Up and Go on an Ubco: The New Zealand designers of the Ubco utility bike reckon if it can cope with conditions on a New Zealand dairy farm it can cope with anything. The electric bikes are being sent to the USA, the UK and to Australia.

In the feature Oamaru artisans Rod and Sue McLean use heritage looms to produce hand woven and stitched textiles. The fabrics, made mostly from locally sourced wool, are woven on Yorkshire-made Hattersley weaving looms.

10:17 Lately

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Photo: RNZ

Lately with Karyn Hay is a late night radio show on RNZ National, with an eye on live events, an ear for music, a great sense of humour and a genuine interest in people and their stories.

11:07 The Mixtape

John Psathas

John Psathas Photo: Gareth Watkins / Lilburn Trust / Wallace Arts Trust

This week, one of NZ's most famous composers, John Psathas. He's written music for the 2004 Olympic games, for world renowned performers, for films, collaborated with artists such as Warren Maxwell and Serj Tankian, and won many awards for his work, as well as an NZ order of merit title. He's also taught hundreds of composition students at Te Kōkī NZ School Of Music for the last 25 years, a role that he has just stepped away from, to focus on the many commissions he has lined up.

He speaks to Kirsten Johnstone and plays some of the songs that have meant the most to him.