Navigation for Nights

Nights for Thursday 25 January 2024

7:12 Our Changing World

On Our Changing World this week, the giant kelp of Wellington harbour is under pressure. Overgrazing by urchins, sedimentation and marine heatwaves are all taking a toll. By bringing together scientists, students and local community the Love Rimurimu project aims to turn the tide on the kelp forests' fortunes. 

Claire Concannon visits NIWA to learn about the kelp life cycle and heads along to a plant out session at Worser Bay on the Miramar Peninsula.

A landscape shot of calm clear water with kelp visible and some rocks on the left. Two people wearing snorkels rest on the sea surface near a red floatation device with a white flag. There are hills and a cloudy sky in the distance.

The kelp restoration pilot site at Worser Bay in Wellington. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ

7:35 The Reading

Another of the winning stories from the 2023 Nine to Noon short story competition. Here is The Wander (a Ghost Story) by Richard Benefield told by Peter Hambleton

A six year old recalls an incident that happened many years ago while on a fishing trip with his father on the Tongariro river. A contemplation on life and how a good fisherman might navigate the currents as the light of the day fades to black.

8:15 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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An illustrated motif representing people from the Pacific gathered around a sun sits behind a photographic portrait of Susana Suisuiki.

Photo: RNZ / Jarred Bishop / Michel Tuffery / Jeff McEwan

8:30 Health Check

Today from the BBC's Health Check.

From rowing across the Atlantic Ocean to running across the Sahara Desert - the physical and mental challenges of taking part in ultra-endurance activities.

For more from Health Check click here

9:07 Nights Quiz

Do you know your stuff? Come on the air and be grilled by Emile Donovan as he dons his quizmaster hat.

If you get an answer right, you move on to the next question. If you get it wrong, your time in the chair is up, and the next caller will be put through. The person with the most correct answers at the end of the run goes in the draw for a weekly prize.

The quiz is themed - find out more about tonight's theme on Nights' Facebook page.

9:15 I Was There When: Muldoon called the snap election

Each week on Nights we will bring you the story of a moment in Aotearoa's history from someone who was there when it happened. 

Tonight we're speaking to Jim Greenhough who was s TVNZ political reporter on June 14 1984 when then Prime Minister Robert Muldoon announced there would be a snap election in a months time. 

Sir Robert Muldoon, New Zealand prime minister 1975 - 1984

Sir Robert Muldoon, New Zealand prime minister 1975 - 1984 Photo: Imagebank

9.35 Christchurch tram painstakingly restored to its former glory

Almost seventy years after it was taken off the tracks, an original Christchurch tram has been painstakingly restored to its 1920 appearance. The old girl is 114 years old and has never looked better.

The tram used to run on the Papanui Cashmere line and has lived a varied afterlife, being used as a farm shed and even as a Sunday School until being rescued by the Tramway Historical Society.

It's taken a group of diehard volunteers and experts over 12 years to restore Tram 24 to her former glory.

A restored tram sitting on railway tracks. It is white with green panels and red windows.

Tram 24 now, restored to its original 1920 appearance. Photo: Tramway Historical Society

10:17 Ode to the Bard: Burns Day celebrated in Dunedin

Every year on January 25 all around the world people come together to celebrate Scotland's National Poet and lover of haggis Robbie Burns. 

It will come as no surprise that New Zealand's most Scottish city has been hosting Burn's Night suppers since the 1860's.

So we're joined by Seán Brosnahan the history curator at Toitῡ Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin, to find out how this year's festivities went and how the haggis tasted.

A portrait painting of the Scottish poet Robbie Burns

Each year on January 25 around the world people gather to celebrate Scotland's national poet Robbie Burns Photo: Alexander Nasmyth, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

10:30 The Red Sea conflict and its wider implications

Emile Donovan speaks to Richard Dunley, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales in Canberra about the wider implications of the Red Sea conflict and the likelihood of something similar playing out in Australia and New Zealand's backyard. 

10:45 Is it time for millennials to break the generational moan cycle? 

Writer and Millennial Josie Adams reckons it is time Millennials break the age old generational moan cycle. 

She doesn't want to hear her generation complaining those younger than them are lazy or entitled and is calling on her fellow millennials to be nice to the kids!

Fellow Millennial and Nights host Emile Donovan digs a bit deeper into her argument.

11:07 RNZ Music presents Postcards from . . .

It's time to travel to the blue skies of Greece with Vrakas, a music producer born and raised in Athens. Who now calls Wellington his creative home. 

Postcards are a journey back in time, a trip to the cool waters and historical ruins, the many clubs he frequented, and the scenes that influenced Vasili as a young man. 

He's speaking to Summer 101 Host Maggie Tweedie about his early life growing up in the ancient .city exploring the streets with eclectic music from discos, and electronica, to classical and avant-garde.