Nine To Noon for Friday 26 March 2021

 

 

09:05  Brace for higher power bills amid volatile wholesale market

Consumers are being warned their electricity bills will start to rise in reaction to a surge in the wholesale market. Many retailers have already begun notifying their customers that their prices will be going up ahead of the peak-demand winter season. In addition to price hikes, there's also unlikely to be as much effort put in by retailers to woo customers with better pricing plans, and smaller retailers could start to feel the squeeze. Kathryn talks to Gavin Male, CEO of NZ Compare.

09:20 What will a digital Covid vaccine passport look like?

09:45 Pacific correspondent Koro Vaka'uta  

The covid-19 infection rate in Papua New Guinea continues to soar and there have been two more deaths.  And there are fears the Cook Islands could lose 40 percent of its workforce to New Zealand by the end of the year, withthe one way bubble seeing more than 300 Cook Islanders arrive since the travel arrangement came into effect.

10:05 The sound of global endangered habitats and wildlife

For three decades sound designer and naturalist Doug Quin has traversed the globe recording natural soundscapes, with special attention on endangered and disappearing habitats, making field recordings in remote parts of the world including the Arctic, the Amazon and Antarctica. Professor Quin's day job is teaching at Syracuse University in New York in the department of Television, Radio and Film, but his expertise is also in demand for a range of projects, involving contemporary music, gaming soundtracks, museum exhibit design and conservation bodies.
He has also worked in film -  including Jurassic Park III and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers  - and he created the sound design for the Academy Award-nominated film, Encounters at the End of the World.

 

10:35 Book review

Unity Books' Briar Lawry reviews The Death of Francis Bacon by Max Porter.

10:45 The Reading

Tim Gordon reads the final episode of  Responsibility by Nigel Cox.

11:05 Music reviewer Grant Smithies​

Ethereal folk, French movie soundtracks, synth-heavy psychedelia, shuffling indie grunge, German art-rock: so many styles find a home in the music of Manchester’s Jane Weaver. We’ll hear two tunes from her latest album Flock today, alongside reissued gems from London post-punks  The Monochrome Set and New York hip hop pioneers, Main Source.  

11:30 Sports commentator Sam Ackerman

Sam talks to Kathryn about High Performance Sport funding models, Covid-19 vaccinations for athletes and the winners at the Halberg Awards , with rowers Hamish Bond and Eric Murray named supreme decade champions.

11:45 The week that was

Comedians Gemma Gracewood and Donna Brookbanks