Kirsten Johnstone
Kirsten presents and co-produces Music 101, which focuses on the best musical happenings in Aotearoa, as well as covering music and events taking place in the rest of the world, from a New Zealand perspective.
Kirsten interviews artists from across the contemporary music spectrum, as well as the people behind the scenes; her programme also includes insightful documentaries and features prepared by a wide range of music experts, as well as live sessions and concert recordings.
Kirsten’s first instrument, at the age of three, was the chanter from her Dad’s set of bagpipes – Dad needed to provide some of the puff. She also credits him with her penchant for prog-rock. Kirsten spent her teenage years listening to loud and obnoxious music in Hawkes Bay and Whanganui, while honing her classical flute playing skills on the side. She sometimes left flutes at bus stops, but they always came back. Kirsten has an honours degree in performance flute, but decided that being in an orchestra, with someone waving a stick at her, was not quite right.
Kirsten played in Rhian Sheehan’s band for a while, hosted some shows on Radioactive, and made a lot of coffee. After a stint in TV post-production, she persuaded Concert FM to give her a job filing CDs, switched over to National soon after, and has been at Radio New Zealand ever since. She’s learning to play the banjo, and likes the murder ballads best.
