Afternoons

Hospitality legend, and manager of Auckland Council's The Kitchen Project, Connie Clarkson is with Jesse to share a recipe for miso snapper rice bowl. As summer peaks around the corner, this is one for our boaties and fisherfolk! You've GOT to love a good fish head to pile on the umami, nutrients and cut down on food waste while you are at it.

Time for NZ Live. Your weekly live music showcase. A private gig to play you into the weekend. Today's artist has become one of the country's most successful musicians with 100s of millions of streams across 7 albums. His latest 'Real Fruit Ice Cream' was released back in August. We last spoke in 2021 - that's four albums ago! - so we're delighted to welcome Eddie Johnson A.K.A Lontalius to NZ Live.

Afternoons critic Dominic Corry is with Jesse in the Auckland studio to share the movies he's been watching: Clayface (in cinemas) Wildwood (in cinemas)

As you know just before 2pm each Friday we like to leave you with a spooky story to take into the weekend. We call it Freaky Friday... it can be the unexplained .. the unknown or the unusual. We love it all! Do get in touch if you've got a story to share - 2101 or [email protected]

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Wild Matata also known as fernbirds have been spotted at Lake Kohangatera in the Wellington region for the first time in 70 years. The Matata - which is classified as "At Risk" - depends on healthy wetlands for its survival. To find out more Jesse is joined by 'Greater Wellington's Jack Mace.

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2026 has seen a lot of anti Indian rhetoric in New Zealand ... a quick search online brings up pretty confronting headlines .. including the "butter chicken tsunami" comments from NZ First's Shane Jones. Earlier this week Brian Tamaki appeared in Auckland's Manukau District Court, where he denied claims he incited rational disharmony that's after he accused India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi of purging Christians in the South Asian nation in June and told his followers to reciprocate in kind and purge New Zealand of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. In a new RNZ series - "Navigating a year of anti-Indian hate" reporter Blessen Tom went out and spent time with people in the Auckland Indian community. The series launches on the RNZ YouTube channel this week, with more to come across our platforms. Blessen joins Jesse to share what he learnt.

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TIME magazine recently released its list of the 300 best inventions for 2026 and two New Zealand companies have made the cut. Palmerston North Agritech company BioLumic and Leaft - a Canterbury based food company. Set up by Synlait Milk founder John Penno and his wife Maury Leyland-Penno, Leaft has developed a process for extracting protein from Lucerne leaves. Something that previously involved a cow or maybe a sheep. TIME described their work as "the world's most abundant protein, in a smoothie". Maury chats to Jesse.

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We're going to start the show with a discussion about the cost of living. According to many polls, it's your biggest concern in the lead up to the general election with rising living costs and flat wage growth leaving many struggling to afford the basics. Politicians are promising very different solutions to get the economy back on track, but what we wanted to know was how did we get here? and why does everything cost so much? Economist Dr Geoff Bertram traces the current cost of living crisis back to economic policies put in place in the 1980s, he's with Jesse to share his knowledge.

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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.

This is Afternoons chance to discuss the stories that have been in the news cycle over the past seven days. Jesse is joined by commentator and comedian Tim Batt and Victoria University's political scientist Dr Lara Greaves.