Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Her old friends often refer to her as “Upside Down Vicki”. Because for the majority of her working life, Vicki has been a shift worker, either at the beginning or the end of the day.

As a nurse, she requested night shift, and as a restaurateur with husband Mel, it was not uncommon to be sitting waiting for people to leave at 3am!

Vicki’s foray into radio, 20 years ago, came after suggestions from regular patrons who listened to her recite the black board menus!

She was fortunate to start in the frenzy of tandem breakfast at Radio Lakeland in Taupo. Vicki says, “It was the best training ground in Radio you could wish for. We did everything… news, banter, current affairs, sports scoreboard, station promotions, gags, fundraisers and generally worked our butts off! All in the lee of a magnificent view of the lake and mountains. It was like the ultimate working holiday!”

After broadcasting live from inside a lion’s cage; from the back of trolley on a downhill derby; dangling from a winch underneath a helicopter; and being the knife thrower’s target during the circus, there’s not a lot that can frighten a broadcaster on air!

Vicki credits this early training as being the key to coping under pressure as a network newsreader in Radio New Zealand’s commercial years. It stood her in good stead for the start of the first Gulf War and later the horror of the Aramoana tragedy, which arrived as breaking news on the last pip of an evening bulletin.

More recently, the attacks on the world trade centre occurred during the All Night programme.

“Your brain immediately becomes a sponge for detail and the mind is completely focused on facts and figures to get the story out as quickly and accurately as possible. During the All Night programme the presenter and the news sub are it, and have to work in unison when those big stories break. It’s challenging and very exciting.”

When she’s not on air, Vicki and husband Mel breed race horses on their property and between them have five children and eleven grandchildren. So life is seldom dull!