Winner all right – her interview this morning with Lenny Henry was well worth an hour of my life. Mind you any body who can channel Tommy Cooper can loose in my book.

"Doctor, I have a strawberry on my bum,
Don't worry I have some cream…

The Prez is opening the door to having the National Reserve to print money to get out of the looming depression.

I don't know much about economics but I know this is not a solution and what happened in Germany post leading to wheelbarrows replacing…

Kim Hill FTW. I can't tell you how happy it made me to realize, when I came back from American and was confronted with the NZ Herald and the New Insipid Listener (MARRIAGE ADVICE FOR YOUR BRAIN…

(sorry used this joke a month back or so)

So are shaving brushes, or so I've been told. Some of us still use those.

Oh, won't someone please think of the badgers?

Vermeer's paintbrushes were made of badger hair.

So are shaving brushes, or so I've been told. Some of us still use those.

Please consider it a national treasure ! It is not subsidised by the state, any more than National Radio is . The broadcasting fee is included in our taxes.

Sounds like the definition of 'subsidised by the state' to me.

Yes, there are quite a few of us Concert FM devotees. Please consider it a national treasure ! It…

Thanks, Steve, for that unforgettable factoid. Maybe it will come in handy on quiz night.

My pleasure, welcome to PA and the wonderful world of badger factoids. ;-)

I did not know that. Thanks, Steve, for that unforgettable factoid. Maybe it will come in handy on quiz night. (:

Vermeer's paintbrushes were made of badger hair.

Not a lot of people know that.

God I know what you mean, I feel the same way about bad spelling :)

Doh! rumbled.

Anyway, Ralston...it's ironic that he slags off RNZ for being dull and irrelevant, yet happily accepts a pay cheque from that bastion of mediocrity, the…

One more element of Radio NZ's performance warrants mention: the internet. No other broadcaster has responded to the shift online as well as Radio NZ has under the guidance of Richard Hulse.

Thank goodness. Now living in Singapore live RNZ News (and other stuff) keeps up informed and in touch…

Umm – 20yrs ago in Bells time on the force this was "just a domestic" where no…

I mean issue is is ISSHEW not ISSYEW. Please somebody tell them.

While our yod-dropping has got to the point that probably more people do say /isshew/, /issyew/ is more 'correct' (or at least it's the older form that is being replaced). In someone of Moira's age, it's entirely excusable.…

It highlights deficencies with the presenter and our firearms laws.

I haven't heard any of this presenters progress but having been through the firearms licensing process twice I've always felt quite reassured by it, knowing that those without reason (in both senses) are unlikely to get access easily, if at…

Why thank you Steve Barnes, I shall test your remedy tonight and with any luck, the world of Morning Report (and Wammo in the mornings on Kiwi) will be mine again.

You told me you hate listening to Wammo in the mornings.

Or is it just that you like starfishing…

He can't shoot, never has, but might one day choose to roam the wilds firing shots at things that are alive.

He's a pom (Anglophilia is a sign of the RNZ) with no privious experience with…

"Apparently on all JVC radios if you want to change from US to EU or visa versa, you hold the am/fm button…

Ah, Public Address System – is there anything it can't do?

While a devoted fan of Morning Report (when I get to listen to it, that is, since my car radio decided to give up playing even-numbered frequencies – go figure),

Ah Ha, the problem is likely to be that the radio has reset itself to US radio…

* MR does become rather repetitive, if you listen to it for more than 20 minutes

Actually, that's deliberate, I think. One, it allows follow-up and two – the main one, the one that is two, that is, I mean my second point but the more important one, even though…

Oh, almost forgot. Any love for This Way Up around here?

whoever is responsible for the promos for Storytime needs to be beaten to death with a Bratz doll. I reckon…

since then I have harboured an irrational dislike of Maurice Williamson.

As opposed to most everybody else, who harbours an entirely rational dislike of Maurice Williamson.

Dick Weir was an integral part of my childhood – waking up and listening to his weekend show in the mornings.

Absolutely. Sitting in my sofa-cushion fort singing Herbert the Hedgehog, dissolving in floods of tears over The Selfish Giant, wondering if one day I'd get to be a co-pilot…

Oh christ! It's good someone mentioned Dick Weir's "Ears," now there was a classic show.

Dick Weir was an integral part of my childhood – waking up and listening to his weekend show in the mornings. Spike Milligan, Benny Hill, and all sorts of other stuff that would probably give…

Am I wrong to want to hear more from Phil Kafcaloudes?

I love most of their pre-news crosses. Not just Phil, but Kerri-ann Walsh(?) from Canberra. I think partly they're just a sort of filler, so they end up being whatever time they have left, but I don't think it…

Barry Corbett, Julia Hartley-Moore, Gordon McLaughlin, Sue Wells and Martin 'Bomber' Bradbury.

Just to name a few of the bitter angry conservative rednecks that are favoured by – Jim & the Panel.

More positives and negatives:

Nick Bollinger has led me to a significant number of CD purchases, and This Way Up is often fun (as in the recent raising chickens theme)

but

whoever is responsible for the promos…

The…

Look forward to ending up in the same rest home.

(lol with Kathryn Ryan's slip this morning in which she thanked "Laila Hootton" .. you could hear the audible gasp from Laila at that one).

Jeebus... can I sue Ryan for mental distress caused by that picture. :) Hooten and Haare can be painful enough separately — their fusion into…

Simon Morris is just great. I love that he is willing to say that he enjoys movies like transformers as pure entertainment, and that he doesn't think every film has to be 'art', something Jonathan Dennis I don't think could do.

I don't think it's quite as clearcut as that-…

I really enjoy Kathryn Ryan's Nine to Noon. Yea okay, it can be a bit hit and miss but often it does deliver the goods. The feature interviews are usually always worth a listen to. Enjoy most of the…

It peaves me no end, it really does.

God I know what you mean, I feel the same way about bad spelling :)

One of the problems with MR and Checkpoint is that I think they are pushing them too hard. MR starts at 6am and Checkpoint goes for two hours. They are stretching both programmes yet retaining…

Otherwise i fill in my idle gaps with bFM, Thursday drive is awwweeesssommme(!!!)

Oh yeah, was gonna mention that too. Thursday Drive with Matt and Chris is banal, profane, unprofessional and irresponsible. And, thus, totally choice.

I have to give a not-at-all-biased plug for the good folk at Kiwi FM, who routinely get some of the most informative and entertaining interviews around, as well as a host of super weekly guests, including a few chaps well-known around these parts.

I was going to mention Kiwi, actually.…

I listen to RNZ every day. I especially like Morning Report (if I'm up that early) or Nights with Brian Crump (if I'm up that late).

Katherine Ryan has gone from strength to strength in her slot I think.

The music…

I know what you mean. Laidlaw and guests are the worst for it. There's too much "Well, of course everyone knows that such-and-such is a bad thing ..."

And it might well be a very bad thing indeed, but it's the air of what Dwight MacDonald called the 'herd of…

Morning Report does become rather repetitive, if you listen to it for more than 20 minutes

I actually find this a positive character. Most other morning tv/radio things try to have too much new content to try to hold your interest. It makes it much easier to get in the…

There is nothing that beats waking up to the sound of Sean and Winston going at it.

Nothing, but nothing, can now erase that mental picture. *shudder*

Plunket's tenacity can be vital with the slipperier guests trying to avoid giving an answer, but when he overdoes it it seems like…

...fuck radio :)

KiwiFM's Saturday morning State of Play sports show is a real breath of fresh air too.

Yeah, especially that bloke they get in to talk about cricket pfffffffft. ;)

Kim Hill is the biggest brain on radio but if she says 'fillum' one more time, the radio will be out the window.

Christ on a bike, that annoys the crap outta me too. It peaves me no end, it really does.

Whenever I hear her say "fillum", I always…

KiwiFM's Saturday morning State of Play sports show is a real breath of fresh air too.

I like NatRad, but that smugness is there and its possibly bringing on a rightward swing in me ...

I know what you mean. Laidlaw and guests are the worst for it. There's too much "Well, of course everyone knows that such-and-such is a bad thing ..."

It's like people…

I rather miss Jonathan Dennis, who — when the material on offer was just too existentially angst-making for words — would go off and make a show that ran down the by-ways of New Zealand's film history.

I don't know, I can't think of a single film critic who was…

Kathryn Ryan a) has a brain and b) demonstrates its effective use by researching the people she is speaking to and the things she is talking about and then c) asking intelligent questions of them…

I like NatRad, but that smugness is there and its possibly bringing on a rightward swing in me ...

I know what you mean. Laidlaw and guests are the worst for it. There's too much "Well, of course everyone knows that such-and-such is a bad thing ..."

It's like people…

Now if we could just convince Mitch to use Graeme a bit more often say on 9:00 – noon weekdays???

Wouldn't work. The joy of Graeme's show is the remarkable degree of freedom he has. If he wants to play the Skeptics (the band, that is, not the redoubtable unbeliever…

I'd suggest a battery connected to Duncan Garner's testicles that give him a shock every time he starts a sentence "Listen..."

Aww, do you really need the qualifier?

One other thought (on another medium): why do so many TV journos preface every sentence with "Now"?--as "Now, John Key is going to..."

I'd suggest a battery connected to Duncan Garner's testicles that give him a shock every time he starts a sentence "Listen..."

I was kinda expecting a dissection of the circular logic behind the post that I'd quoted, but hey, Lovecraft is always relevant...

Heh... Well, I'd like to err on the side of generosity and say Rich is extracting urine with a remarkable lack of finesse. But I'll say two words…

I eagerly await the return of Craig Ranapia in light of this blasphemy.

Damn it, Sam, don't disturb me when I'm trying to memorise evil shit. ""Ph'nglui something-something Cthulhu R'lyeh blah-blah fhtagn" kick, ball-change, spirit fingers, spirit fingers, twirl twirl twirl!

One more element of Radio NZ's performance warrants mention: the internet. No other broadcaster has responded to the shift online as well as Radio NZ has under the guidance of Richard Hulse. The website delivered four million "programmes or programme parts" last year. That's really pretty good.

And for expats,…

On the left-wing thing, it seems to me that right-wingers are either:
– stupid (Peters)
– intelligent but mad (Hide)
– intelligent but selfish (Key)
– intelligent but mad *and* selfish (Bush).

Everyone else is left wing, and so aside from a quota of mad and/or selfish people, an intelligent…

On the left-wing thing, it seems to me that right-wingers are either:
– stupid (Peters)
– intelligent but mad (Hide)
– intelligent but selfish (Key)…

I think Sunday Morning is still worth listening to – if only for the nice snippets from Dougal Stevenson (!) and 'Insight'. My only lament is the loss of Tom Frewen and Max Cryer for coverage of Parliament and etymology respectively.

Well despite Russell's reservation you can get both Frewin…

It is public service broadcasting which treats its audience as intelligent people who deserved to be informed, educated and entertained.

And that, in a nutshell, is presumably what Ralston doesn't like about it.

I agree with Bill Ralston. RNZ is in desperate need of refreshment and new voices. It's not…

Jim Mora, Chris Laidlaw need to go and go now. I have no idea why Noelle is there filling in but I didn't realise RNZ was a…

I agree entirely – I hope Lynn Freeman moves onto a more regular weekday spot in the near future.

Well, I have my doubts that she's got too many more miles on the clock as RNZ's resident Yartz mavern after this year's Montana shortlist fiasco. And sorry if this offends Graham…

And on the Mucking In show on TV, he’s even worse. “Aren’t we really helping you?”

The first thing I'd change would be to make the broadcast stereo rather than mono. It's unfortunate that they broadcast in mono – which is purely a budgetary bang-for-coverage-buck issue – because they play great music __at the…

My favourite time to listen in is the real Geriatric Hour – Sunday evening with Sounds Historical , followed by the lovely Wayne Mowat and a barrel-full of golden oldies. Now that is vintage wireless....

Well, this twenty-one-year-old thoroughly agrees with you. Sounds Historical always brings up some lovely little…

Nine to Noon is best when Lynn Freeman's hosting it, she's just more listenable than Kathryn Ryan for me.

I agree entirely – I hope Lynn Freeman moves onto a more regular weekday spot in the near future. Both she and Maggie Barry have a much better style than Kathryn…

Is it to fill an "artistic" quota perhaps?

But even if the interview style or subject tunes me out for a bit, commercial advertising sends me but to the nation broadcaster every time.

Hear hear. My 10 year old doesn't like national radio (which is fair enough) so when we're travelling in the car we switch to Hauraki…

Russell is right about your Radio spots. It's like a different Craig pops up :-)

Thank you, Don. I go to bed on Wednesday night, wake up on Friday morning and God only knows what my good half does in the interval. I don't really care, as long as it…

BTW. I've always thought of Ralston as a cardie wearer.

Don't dis' the cardie wearers, or we're going to be round your crib with furled umbrellas and rolled up copies of the Guardian Weekly to waggle our fingers at you in an agressive manner.

Yes! Simon Morris' combination of boyish…

I remember when The Listener was like that.…

And oddly enough, it's because she is doing the same shit that used to really bug me about Plunket. The leading questions, the editorialising, the feral cluelessness where she doesn't get that barking the same question half-a-dozen times isn't going to elicit a response.

That's spot on. Interesting that some…

I can always gauge from his reviews whether a film is worth scoping or not.

Unless it's a PT Anderson movie. During his review of There Will Be Blood I was thinking 'but all the clips you're playing are making me irrationally angry! I can just *tell* how hateable this…

But even if the interview style or subject tunes me out for a bit, commercial advertising sends me but to the nation broadcaster every time.

Morning Report is really the only thing to listen to in the morning. Mediawatch is great if I'm awake. Saturday afternoon…

The same can also be said for the BBC World Service, RadioNetherlands,…

both are only ever on for the summer :/

which is probably why i am listening to afternoons at the moment

Checkpoint with Mary Wilson is increasingly irritating. Her interrogative tone of voice reminds me too much of my mother telling off my father. I just don't…

I can't quite get the kick out of Kim Hill that I used…

On the other hand, bFM is…

Checkpoint: Not as compulsory as it used to be, and I'm not sure why, but still the best radio summary of the day's issues and arguments.

Don't know about you, but I just find Mary Wilson impossible to listen to more often than not. And oddly enough, it's because she…

Ah yes, but Sean Plunket is starting to regress a bit into his old 'Too Much Coffee Too Early In The Morning Man' persona, which is a shame.

Best Plunket moment, circa 2003:

SEAN: Mr Peters, please answer the question!

WINSTON: I've just about had enough of you, Plunket! Don't…

But Morning Report is still the best daily news service

Ah yes, but Sean Plunket is starting to regress a bit into his old 'Too Much Coffee Too Early In The Morning Man' persona, which is a shame. He's one of those guys who can be so bloody good when…

Kathryn Ryan: Consistent but unspectacular, except when it gets to break a story, when it can set an agenda.

Aww... I tend to be a little kinder to Ryan. Nine to Noon is the kind of format that's like a good lemon meringue pie. (And I'm very picky about my…