Nights for Monday 29 December 2008

Monday to Friday, 7pm - Midnight

Tonight on Summer Nights

19:10 Oscar Kightley

The Naked Samoan steps in to the studio to speak about the upcoming Bro'town movie, and to nominate his favourite summer song.

19:30 The Secret Life of Beat Makers

Since hip hop's beginnings, producers have reworked sounds past and present in search of the perfect beat. Beats are the backbone of hip hop culture, supplying the soundtrack for rhymes, dance and graffiti art. In the States, top beat makers command huge fees for their music. Their New Zealand counterparts have more modest expectations but a thriving community of bedroom producers continues to hunt for new sounds. The Secret Life of Beat Makers talks to P-Money, Scratch 22 and Fire + Ice and goes behind the scenes of their industry for a nuts and bolts look at beat making.

20:10 Future Truths

Professor Wendy Berry-Mendes of Harvard University speaks with Liam about recent findings indicating that self-serving exaggeration (or white lies) can actually lead to quite positive results.

20:25 Chickenman!

Tonight, our favourite feathered crime-fighter displays his super-powers for the very first time.

20:30 Windows on the World

While China's economy has boomed over the past 30 years, many of its 700 million farmers have been stuck in poverty. In the third and final part in the BBC series Return to White Horse Village Carrie Gracie hears how the local communist party secretary is torn between his duties to family and community and to the party.

21:00 Best of WOMAD - Mavis Staples

Soul and gospel legend Mavis Staples possesses one of the most recognisable and treasured voices in contemporary music. From her early days sharing lead vocals with her groundbreaking family group, The Staple Singers, to her powerful solo recordings, Mavis Staples is an inspirational force in modern popular culture and music

22:30 Jack Perkins Retrospective Documentary Series - The Royal Radio Roadshow.

On December 23, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh began a five week tour of New Zealand which created unprecedented demonstrations of patriotism. Drawing on RNZ Archives and recollections of broadcasters and others involved, Jack Perkins looks back on the last of the old-style Royal Roadshows.

23:00 The Chess Records Hour hosted by Marshall Chess

Marshall's father Leonard Chess founded Chess Records in 1950 with his brother Phil and the two soon built one of the most storied blues labels of all time. Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson and many other blues legends recorded for Chess; Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley laid down the groundwork for rock 'n' roll in the Chess Studios. A teenager at the time, Marshall Chess saw it all - vintage tracks from the Chess vaults and priceless stories from the heyday of the Chicago blues scene. Tonight - the Christmas Season songs