Afternoons

It's time for Mayoral minutes .. where we speak with a local mayor about the challenges they're facing ... how they're working to solve them... and what makes their community special Today we're heading to a stunning part of the country, the Mackenzie District, where you'll find Aoraki Mount Cook, Lake Tekapo and Pukaki and Mayor Scott Aronsen!

One of New Zealand's quirkiest literary awards is back! It's the Surrey Hotel Writers Residency Award - now in its tenth year - but this year it's a little different, writer Steve Braunias is here to explain.

Many of you might be familiar with having an empty nest ... your children have grown up and left the family home .. but new data suggests the nest is getting harder to leave for good. Record numbers of young adult New Zealanders are moving back in with their parents. Census data suggests that 247,000 people in New Zealand aged 18 to 29 live with their parents - a growth of almost 25 per cent since 2013. To discuss what's driving the trend Jesse is joined by Shamubeel Eaqub. He's Chief Econonomist at investment fund manager, Simplicity, and has been looking into the change.

Three Westport teenagers set themselves a pretty ambitous challenge over the school holidays. The plan? Tackle four big New Zealand routes - the Heaphy Track, the Paparoa Track, the Old Ghost Road and the Kawatiri Coastal Trail. That's over 250 kilometres, on bikes, with lots of hills and challenges along the way. Teenager Lily Rossiter chats to Jesse about why.

We're going to start today's show focusing on a New Zealand company doing great things on the world stage. You might remember in 2024 here on Afternoons, we spoke to Christchurch company ArcActive about the development of a battery system for affordable home storage. At the time, it was preparing to take its lead-acid battery technology into commerical production. Well, fast forward two years and ArActive has installed its first 100 kilowatt-hour commercial system into Melbourne's Deakin University. And that's just the beginning. To tell us more, ArcActive founder Stuart McKenzie joins Jesse.

Wallace Chapman and Jesse Mulligan star in the shortest show on radio, where they show they really can make something out of nothing, join them to be part of their delight, or to simply despair. Wallace will also preview what's on The Panel tonight.

Humans have always looked for explanations for the things we can't understand. Across history, we've turned to religion, mythology and the supernatural to explain what seems to defy explanation. Dr Diana Walsh Pasulka is a professor of religious studies and has spent years talking to people who believe they've encountered UFO's or something beyond ordinary human experience. She says there are striking similarities between people who have strong religious beliefs, and people who strongly believe they have encountered alien life. In her new book, she explores our fascination with non-human intelligence and how it taps into some of the same questions that have driven religion for centuries about what exists beyond us, what we can know, and whether humanity is alone in the universe. The book is called The Others: UFOs, AI, and the Secret Forces Guiding Human Destiny,

Afternoons critic Dominic Corry is with Jesse in the Auckland studio to share what he's been watching. This week he reviews War (Hayu) Carrie (Prime Video)

It's time for our expert feature, where we invite an expert in their field on the show to answer all your questions. Today we're talking about cryptocurrency ... which seems as divisive as marmite .. some people swear by it, while others think the whole thing is a scam. It's important to note that we're not here promote it or recommend it as an investment .. what we want to know is how it all works. Send in your questions on cryptocurrency, or specifically bitcoin, to 2101. To answer them, Jesse is joined by Rupert Carlyon from investment company Koura Wealth.

This is our regular feature where Jesse checks out one of the many amazing clubs around the country, we call it Jesse Goes Clubbing. If you have a club or society you'd like Jesse to visit you can get in touch on 2101 or email him at [email protected]. Ron Vereen joins Jesse.