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.

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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

We start a 10-part production today, in honour of the late Vincent O'Sullivan.

'Lisa's Story', adapted as it is from Vincent O'Sullivan's novel All This By Chance, focusses on Lisa and Fergus whose stories are inextricably twined though they only spent a few years together in the 1960s.

The story takes us with Lisa as she journeys through life and from NZ to London, Greece, Africa and Italy.

9:07 Nights Quiz

Do you know your stuff? Come on the air and be grilled by Emile Donovan as he dons his quizmaster 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 How will New Zealand be recorded in the future? 

With public consultation on the future of the Census opening last week, Nights welcomes back Stats NZ chief executive Mark Sowden.

Mark talks to Emile Donovan about the future of the official count of the people and dwellings in New Zealand and the challenges and opportunities that come with it in the lead up to Census 2028.

Public consultation on the future of the Census is now open.

9:30 Midweek Mediawatch

Colin Peacock is back in the studio to chat about the latest happenings in the media. 

Tonight he takes a look at the end of Fair Go on and what might be next for the nearly 50 year old show. TVNZ's trouble with the Employment Relations Authority and some interesting rulings from the news media watchdogs.

10:17 Ockham 2024 winners unveiled

Join us after the 10pm new bulletin to hear who took home the prizes at the annual Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Plus, an interview with the winner of the General Non-Fiction category.

10:30 King Charles' bold new portrait

The first official painted portrait of King Charles III since his coronation has been unveiled.

While some have praised the artwork's break from traditional royal portraits, others haven't been so kind.

Wellington artist Tatyana Kulida has painted some fairly well known faces herself, including former prime minister Sir Bill English and world-renowned primatologist Dame Jane Goodall.

She talks to Emile Donovan about how artists approach work like this and what place portrait paintings have in a world full of digital images.

10:45 The history of the word 'woke'

The word 'woke' gets thrown around a lot.

But what does it mean? Recently everything from school lunches to paintings of monarchs have been labelled 'woke'.

Auckland University's professor Neal Curtis has written about the origins of the term in 20th century African-American communities, and how the term has been changed.

11:07 Pocket Edition

On this week's Pocket Edition with Maggie Tweedie we meet founding member of Joy Division and New Order and one of the world's finest bass players, Peter Hook.