Nights for Wednesday 22 October 2025

8:10 Latest on the extreme weather

RNZ reporter Lauren Crimp joins us from Wellington with the latest on the weather battering the country.

8:15 Should we end school zoning?

Mike Grimshaw is a sociologist at the University of Canterbury and says zoning for state schools is exclusionary ... and one of the greatest failings of New Zealand's egalitarian approach.

More than half of New Zealand's two-thousand-five-hundred schools have enrolment zones, a scheme that determines who can and cannot attend a school based on where they live.

And new data shows that houses close to prestigious state schools can attract an eighty-nine percent premium on their price. 

Mike Grimshaw joins Emile Donovan.

8:25 The House

Louis Collins has our report from Parliament.

8:30 Midweek Mediawatch

Colin Peacock joins Emile Donovan to debrief the week in media news.

Tonight, his topics include an escalation in the row between The Platform and broadcasting watchdog, the BSA, the closure of fashion magazine, Ensemble and why Sky Go app customers should brace for more ads.

9:08 Metservice on wild warnings and watches

We talk to the Metservice for an update on the red weather warnings in place across the country for tomorrow.

RNZ is New Zealand's statutory civil defence broadcaster and will be keeping you updated all day tomorrow, on RNZ National and through our liveblog. 

9:10 Nights Riddle

Emile Donovan dons his riddle master robe. Listen in from 8:00pm for a series of riddle clues sprinkled throughout the programme. 

First person to text in the correct answer wins a coveted Nights mug. Text 2101.

9:10 Science with Ezzy Pearson

Science correspondent Ezzy Pearson on the 2025 Ig Nobel winners, does a mother eating garlic change the smell of their breast milk, and how physics can help cook the perfect pasta sauce.

9:10 What can we learn from Lebron James' longevity

At forty, basketball superstar LeBron James is still one of the best basketball players in the world.

When he eventually takes the court this season, it will be his 23rd in the National Basketball Association, better known as the NBA.

So what is his secret? How has he stayed at the top for so long, and can us mere humans learn anything from his longevity?

 Flinders University sports scientist Dr Dylan Hicks joins Emile Donovan to explain.

9:45 Pacific Waves

A daily current affairs programme that delves deeper into the major stories of the week, through a Pacific lens, and shines a light on issues affecting Pacific people wherever they are in the world. Hosted by Susana Suisuiki.

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10:17 The Detail

Tonight on The Detail - Fifteen years after the explosions at Pike River mine killed 29 men, a new feature film brings the families' ongoing fight for justice back into focus.

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10:45 The Reading: 'The Dwarf Who Moved'

Prominent criminal defence lawyer Peter Williams recalls the people and cases, celebrated and obscure, that have defined his remarkable career.

Tonight in 'The Dwarf Who Moved', the story of a downtrodden woman and the doggedly determined Bull Junior.

 

11:07 Not for Broadcast 

Songs and censorship have a long connected history. Nick Bollinger has been delving into RNZ's archives to find out about a few songs which were kept off the airwaves for political reasons and he will be sharing a few of his discoveries in the third episode of Not for Broadcast.

11:35 Musical Chairs: Martin Phillips 

The Chills were one of the most successful and enduring bands to emerge from the deep south in the heyday of the Dunedin sound and Flying Nun record label

International highs and well documented personal lows were all part of the life of the bands founder and frontman Martin Phillipps, of which he touched on in his first Musical Chairs appearance in 1998.

Twenty years later, the late Martin Phillipps' returned to Musical Chairs to discuss his further adventures and achievements from the past two decades.