Nights

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.

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: Rocking Horse Road

The fifth episode of 'Rocking Horse Road', written by Carl Nixon and read by Jason Whyte.

After her violent death on the beach at the end of Rocking Horse Road, Lucy Asher takes on the status of a deity for a group of boys in the school.

9:05 Nights Quiz

Do you know your stuff? Come on the air and be grilled by Emile Donovan as he dons his quiz-master 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 Whakataukī of the Week with Aaron Henare

Every Monday on Nights, to set the tone for the rest of the week, we have a guest on to share a whakataukī - a Māori proverb - that's meaningful to them.

Tonight we are hearing from Māori pro-wrestler Aaron Henare, who plys his trade in the New Japan Wrestling, the largest and longest-running professional wrestling promotion in Japan

He's currently back in Aotearoa ahead of the Kiwi Rumble wrestling event next Saturday night and he speaks to Emile Donovan.

9:30 Are we in the middle of Planet Earth's sixth extinction event?

Hardly a day goes by where there isn't a media report of a species under threat of extinction or, in fact, going extinct.

Planet Earth has been here before - we can find the traces of mass extinction events in the fossil record, where up to ninety six percent of living species were wiped out in the ancient past.

So how does the extinction we're seeing now compare with those extinction events throughout history?

Dr Michael Hannah is an adjunct professor of Geography at Victoria University of Wellington and author of the book Extinctions: Living and Dying in the Margin of Error and he speaks to Emile Donovan.

10:17 Who is the frontrunner to step in and replace Joe Biden?

After what has almost universally been described as a disaster of a performance during the first presidential debate last week, the calls for President Joe Biden to step back from the Democratic nomination for the 2024 elections have grown louder and louder.

One of the front runners if Biden was to pull out is Gavin Newsom, governor of California and seen as a future presidential candidate.

One person who thinks the governor would be a worthy replacement for California is retired associate professor of politics and international relations Stephen Hoadley, who speaks to Emile Donovan.

10:30 Sports with Bryan Waddle

Bryan Waddle chats to Emile Donovan about the big topics in the world of sport, including the Tour de France, the controversy surrounding the New Zealand women's football team ahead of the Olympics and surprise surprise India wins the T20 cricket world cup.

10:45 BBC World Lookahead

BBC World's Jonathan Frewin joins Emile Donovan to take a look at some of the events making headlines internationally, including the latest on the UK and French elections, what the new Dutch government will look like and Donald Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon is set to report to jail.

11:07 Nashville Babylon

Every week on Nashville Babylon Mark Rogers presents the very best in country, soul and rock 'n' roll.

On this week's Nashville Babylon there's soul courtesy of James Carr and Esther Phillips, classics from the Band and Tom Waits plus Bonnie Raitt covering a John Prine favourite.