Nights for Wednesday 5 March 2025

8:10 The House

Louis Collins looks at a new bill that gives the green light to congestion charges in our biggest cities. 

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 The best burger, officially

A humble food truck at the bottom of the country has taken out the top spot in the Burger Nation competition.

Peake's Kitchen is run by a husband-wife duo, Tom and Nicole Peake, in the tiny coastal town of Papatowai in the Catlins.

Their winning burger features hand-ground Hereford steak patties, house-made Peake relish, and pinot noir-pickled beetroot.

Tom and Nicole join Emile Donovan.

8:45 The Reading

Tonight, Susan Wilson reads Lady Elizabeth by Bronwyn Tate.

Assertive Sheila and passive Jean are thrown together in a tour party that leads them to the Brass Rubbing Centre at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Watching Lady Elizabeth Bellingham's face coming through the paper like a ghost, Jean reaches decisions about her future.

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.

9:25 Knock, knock: Dutch 'fish doorbell' reopens

It's become one of the most eagerly anticipated days on the internet.

Every year millions of people from all around the world eagerly tune into a livestream broadcasting from a body of water in the Netherlands hoping to catch a glimpse of a fish waiting at a door, so they can 'ring the bell' to let it through.

Two ecologists Anne Nijs and Mark van Heukelum from Utrecht in the Netherlands introduced the doorbell as a way to allow fish to migrate through the city's waterways as they search for a place upstream to lay their eggs.

They join Emile Donovan.

Check it out here.

9:35 Midweek Mediawatch

Colin Peacock joins Emile Donovan to debrief media news, including the coverage of the verbal bust-up between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy, a billionaire buying into NZME, and the Sky versus DAZN sports streaming saga.

10:17 Will Adrian Orr's tenure be remembered as the tough years?

The governor of the Reserve Bank has shocked the country today with a no-warning resignation.

Adrian Orr's first five-year term ran from 2018 to 2023, and he was two years into his second term when he resigned today.

The last seven years have been among the toughest in our economy's history, and the Reserve Bank has drawn both praise and criticism for its moves to get inflation under control.

Associate Professor Claire Matthews of Massey University is an expert in banking and joins Emile Donovan to weigh in on how Orr will be remembered.

10:30 Lost (and found) in translation: International Booker Prize nominee Sophie Hughes

The International Booker Prize is the most prestigious global award for fiction translated into English, with the 2025 longlist released just last week.

Sophie Hughes is a literary translator, translating from Spanish and Italian into English.

She's just picked up her record-breaking fifth nomination for the International Booker - more than any other single translator - for translating Italian writer Vincenzo Latronico's novel Perfection.

Sophie Hughes joins Emile Donovan from Trieste in Italy to discuss the art of translation.

11:07 Pocket Edition

On this week's Pocket Edition, Maggie Tweedie shares new music from Perfume Genius, Japanese Breakfast and new reissues from The Cleans back catalogue.