First Up Podcast Options

5:14 AM.Denika Mead is 17 and she's a self published author, living in Wellington she's released 3 fantasy books over the past two years. They are called 'The Royal orchid Trilogy' and Denika says they're… Read more Audio

5:09 AM.Washington DC correspondent, Nick Harper spoke to Ellie Jay about the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise, Joe Bidens response to the assassination, What's to be expected with Joe Bidens… Read more Audio

5:50 AM.Earlier Firstup spoke to hospitality worker of 16 years Chloe Ann-King who told us she doesn't believe there is a skills shortage in New Zealand. She believed the industry just isn't paying kiwis… Read more Audio

5:47 AM.Football fans in England are gearing up for a nail biting evening as they take on Denmark in the semi-finals of the Euros, If England win the match it'll be the first time they have been in a… Read more Audio

5:37 AM.A long-time hospitality worker and union rep says the sector's staff shortage isn't just down to border retrictions and if employers offered better pay and conditions the roles would be filled by New… Read more Audio

5:34 AM.New Zealand's vaccine programme has another string in its bow - with a second Covid-19 vaccine getting sign-off. The regulator Medsafe has approved the single-dose Yanssen vaccine for those aged 18… Read more Audio

5:31 AM.Silver Fern Maia Wilson took to social media this week to share the journey she's on with her body image. Publically opening up about her struggles that started as a young athlete wasn't easy for the… Read more Audio

5:23 AM.Our seqment LDR, where we join one of the reporters from the Local Democracy Reporting programme and this morning we headed to the far south Ellie Jay caught up with LDR's Southland journalist Matthew… Read more Audio

5:15 AM.The Animal rescue charity HUHA has taken in over 40 rabbits which were among hundreds being hoarded in an Auckland house Helping you Help Animals is among the animal rescue organisations who offered… Read more Audio

5:09 AM.A New Zealander staying in Fiji has turned his attention to helping keep people fed, as a former health minister urges Fijians to eat less and to grow their own food due to shortages. Covid-19 cases… Read more Audio

5:05 AM.Anita Purcell spoke to Ellie Jay about the latest in Europe. A citizen in Germany has been arrested on suspicion of spying, a prominent journalist has been shot in the Netherlands, President Putin has… Read more Audio

5:53 AM.Celia Hay, the Director of the New Zealand School of Food and Wine, speaks to Nathan Rarere about the understaffed hospitality industry and how most hospitality students have already been snapped up.

5:47 AM.Restaurants across New Zealand have been forced to close their doors as Covid-19 border restrictions cause understaffing in the hospitality industry. The industry is calling for urgent visa… Read more Audio

5:37 AM.Striving for success is a goal for many .. but what about the goal of being The Greatest Of Them All? Well, earlier this year a young British man decided to give M&M stacking a go and walked away a… Read more Audio

5:24 AM.Some of the country's restaurant owners are urging the government to let more hospitality workers into the country First Up has spoken to operators who have shut shop due to the lack of staff, and… Read more Audio

5:15 AM.A new study has found that older New Zealanders are starting to care more intensely about climate change and are increasingly accepting that humans are behind the crisis. Over 56-thousand Kiwis… Read more Audio

5:09 AM.We cross the ditch to Brisbane correspondent Pam Corkery, to get the latest on the Australian news. Audio

5:48 AM.Quarantine-free travel will resume with Western Australia and Northern Territory from midnight Friday, and New Zealanders from New South Wales and Queensland will be able to fly home despite those… Read more Audio

5:36 AM.The morgue in Fiji's capital city Suva is reported to be filled to capacity, and the funeral service which runs it says they're bracing for more Covid-19 deaths.

The country reported 352 new positive… Read more Audio

5:32 AM.While the world's sporting heads will be turned toward Tokyo in two and a half weeks, some of the country's future Olympians continue to ply their trade around the world. One such athlete is… Read more Audio

5:23 AM.This week on TradeMe's cool auctions - the opportunity for lunch and a tour of parliament with ACT leader David Seymour . But first, TradeMe's Millie Silvester tells producer Jeremy Parkinson about an… Read more Audio

5:14 AM.From eating a rock, to a sock.. to chowing down on a pack of sewing pins... and a puffer fish. Southern Cross has released a list of its most unusual pet insurance claims of 2020. The insurer paid out… Read more Audio

5:05 AM.In the UK, Boris Johnson has announced the government will lift most of the remaining Covid-19 restrictions on July 19th, that's despite a backlash from the government's own scientific advisers who… Read more Audio

5:52 AM.The pause on trans-Tasman travel has been lifted for four Australian states overnight despite parts of the country still grappling with worrying Covid-19 outbreaks. Yes Australians from South… Read more Audio

5:46 AM.How effective is sunscreen? With 500 New Zealanders dying from melanoma every year.. it's something Consumer NZ wants to find out. But each SPF test costs $5000 and they have to be conducted in labs… Read more Audio