Does local radio actually play any local music?

It’s New Zealand Music Month, an event started in part to encourage local radio to play local music. Did it work? Is it still working? We assigned Gareth Shute to take a sample of the most popular stations to find out. The battle to get homegrown music on local radio goes back a long way, … Read more

The Real Pod: Si & Gary’s heartbreak, clairvoyant news and the latest confectionery outrage

Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey gather around the oval table to talk about the latest happenings in New Zealand television and real life in New Zealand. Alex returns from our nation’s capital to confront tales told in her absence. She also brings with her the latest Sue Nicholson and Bevan Chuang physic/clairvoyant/seer news. The gang of … Read more

The Real Pod: Some angels get their bingo wings at the Shortland Street 25th birthday party

Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey gather around the oval table to talk about the latest happenings in New Zealand television and real life in New Zealand. In our first Bachelor-free week in a long time, host Jane Yee is joined by Alex Casey and Duncan Greive to still talk about The Bachelor for an extended … Read more

The Williams Comedy Dynasty: An epic interview with Guy, Paul and Maria Williams

Spinoff Comedy co-editor Sam Brooks talks to the Williams siblings about family dynamics , what lead them into comedy, and who’s the funniest (spoiler: it’s dad). The Williams siblings are fast becoming a New Zealand entertainment dynasty. Guy, the eldest, is a Billy T Award winner and a regular on Jono and Ben; Paul, the … Read more

MediaWorks Staff to Undergo Training With Women’s Refuge

Today Women’s Refuge announced that MediaWorks has accepted their invitation to undergo domestic violence awareness training. This comes after one in a series of damaging instances of sexism on their radio stations, the latest of which occurred last week, when George FM’s Thane Kirby and Kara Rickard were suspended for naming and slut-shaming New Zealand women … Read more

The Spinoff’s TV Week: Brave Blockheads, Kitchen Quitters and Sunkissed Sheeran

Bringing together the TV moments on the week, including Masterchef shockers, Sunday night monsters and Ed Sheeran at the beach. Contributions by Alex Casey and Calum Henderson. New Kids on The Block The Mad Max-inspired promotional material for The Block NZ: Villa Wars has been doing the rounds this week, introducing us to the teams … Read more

Television: A Match Made in Survey Heaven – Watching The Edge Wedding

Calum Henderson spends the morning watching two strangers get married on The Edge TV’s thrillingly shambolic live stream. While other radio hosts have been running around binge drinking, getting divorced or floating across lakes on bouncy castles this survey period, The Edge’s finest purveyors of horseplay – Jay-Jay, Mike and Dom – have been suspiciously … Read more

Opinion: Updated – How Did The Edge Get Away With the Cucumber Number?

UPDATE: Since publishing, some of the bachelorettes have got in touch. Turns out the “cucumber number” was far from a one-off. If you have read this already, scroll to the bottom for the update, including some very gross audio. It’s radio survey time in our fair nation, so chaos reigns on your dial. The evidence … Read more