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Nights for Thursday 16 May 2024

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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8:30 Nights Jukebox

Emile Donovan plays your requests - as long as you've got a compelling reason, or a good story to go with it.

Send in your requests to nights@rnz.co.nz or text 2101.

8:45 The Reading: Lisa's Story

Lisa's Story adapted as it is from Vincent O'Sullivan's novel All This By Chance focuses on Lisa and Fergus whose stories are inextricably intertwined though they only spent a few years together in the 1960's.

The story takes us with Lisa as she journeys through life and from NZ to London, Greece, Africa and Italy.

Tonight, part two.

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 Bottom of the lake: New maps uncover Wānaka lakebed

It's one of our most photographed natural attractions, but what lay beneath the surface of Lake Wānaka was largely unknown.

That was until now, thanks to a high detail mapping project by NIWA.

Emile Donovan speaks to NIWA scientist Dr Joshu Mountjoy about the project.

Close-up image of bathymetry data for the southern part of Lake Wānaka.

Close-up image of bathymetry data for the southern part of Lake Wānaka. Photo: NIWA / Sam Davidson

9:35 The life and times of a Kiwi soldier

Waking up to the sound of artillery screaming overhead, spending days on end hunkered down in deep bush, and being hunted by the Special Air Service.

A cover of a book called "NOTHING SIGNIFICANT TO REPORT". A blue sky background, crowded with radio signals, explosives, gun range targets and army trucks.

'Nothing Significant to Report: The Misadventures of a Kiwi Soldier' by Dario Nustrini catalogues the author's six years in the New Zealand Army, and is available now. Photo: Supplied

Dario Nustrini spent six years in the New Zealand Army, including a stint in Iraq supporting the fight against terror group ISIS, before leaving it all behind in 2017.

Dario talks to Nights about his experiences which he's put into a book Nothing Significant to Report: The Misadventures of a Kiwi Soldier.

9:50 Fundraiser goes full steam ahead

Two Paekākāriki locals want to bring a sauna to the local holiday park as a new community hub.

They're raising money now in the hopes of lighting the first logs by mid-July.

Organisers Sally Hett and Malcolm Johnstone talk to Emile Donovan about their vision.

A composite image showing Sally and Malcolm smiling on the left, and an interior of a wooden sauna on the right.

Sally Hett and Malcolm Johnstone are raising money for the Campfire Sauna, a community space that would live on the grounds of the Paekākāriki Holiday Park. Photo: Supplied

10:17 Working with death: The Dunedin woman following the family profession

Dunedin's Jodie Hope isn't the usual type of person people associate with funeral directing.

The 30-year-old operations coordinator at funeral services InvoCare has just been named president of the New Zealand Embalmers Association, only the second woman to hold the position and the first to lead an all-female executive.

It's a role filled previously by both her father and great uncle. In fact, funeral directing runs even further back in her family, with her great-great-grandfather establishing Hope and Sons funeral home in Dunedin in 1887.

She talks to Emile Donovan about her new role and how the public view of funeral directors and funerals in general is changing.

Jodie smiles off to the side of the room. She is leaning over a plush pew in a small room.

Jodie Hope, the new president of the New Zealand Embalmers Association, is continuing the family business of providing funeral services in Dunedin, started by her great-great grandfather in 1887. Photo: Supplied

10:30 Never too old: Dr Te Piere Warahi and his journey to obtaining a PhD at 73

Our next guest thought he was too old for academia, but now Te Piere Warahi of Ngāti Maniapoto is proudly 73 with a PhD.

Dr Warahi (Ngāti Maniapoto) has just recently completed his studies at the University of Auckland on the experiences of Māori caregivers.

He talks to Emile Donovan about what motivated him and how the experience changed him.

Te Piere smiles at the camera. He wears a graduate's robes and hat.

Te Piere Warahi completed his PhD at the University of Auckland on the experiences of Māori giving care for kaumātua. Photo: Chris Loufte

10:45 Decision to jail Australian whistleblower "chilling" supporter says

A five year jail sentence handed down to an Australian whistle blower who helped expose allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan sends a chilling message, his supporters say.

David McBride has pleaded guilty to stealing and sharing military documents which he then leaked to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Emile Donovan speaks to Peter Griste, award-winning foreign correspondent and now professor of journalism and communications at Macquarie University, about the likely fallout from the case.

David McBride, accused of leaking The Afghan Files to the ABC.

Photo: Screengrab / ABC

11:07 The Mixtape

This week on the RNZ Mixtape we go mushroom foraging with Liv Sisson. Liv is a forager, fungi enthusiast and writer at The Spinoff.

On the Mixtape she shares the local music and mushroom discoveries she's made since moving to New Zealand.

She is also the author of Fungi of Aotearoa: A Curious Forager's Field Guide.

collage of Liv Sisson and her book "fungi of Aotearoa"

Photo: Nancy Zhou