Afternoons for Friday 19 June 2026 Afternoons

 

1:09 Another Auckland establishment closes – what can we do?

Another popular Auckland music venue is closing – struggling to continue in the current economic downturn

Despite sold out shows – ‘Neck of the Woods’ on Auckland’s iconic Karangahape Road …will close its doors next week after 11 years 

It’s the latest blow for Auckland’s music scene, independent record store Flying Out, just off Karangahape Road, has also announced its shutting up shop.

Director at Fuzen Entertainment Limited, Gareth Popham joins us now

1:20 Whangarei joins the fight against destructive caulerpa

A quickly spreading, destructive exotic seaweed was found off the coast of Whangarei for the first time this month.

It’s the latest battle in a war that’s been going on since caulerpa was first found in New Zealand waters five years ago.

Here to find out how that fight is going is Barb, a trustee for Northland’s Conquer Caulerpa 

1:30 Explainer: How worried should we be about an active Auckland faultline?

For most Aucklanders, the natural disaster fear that’s front of mind is a tsunami or volcano awakening…but actually it’s earthquakes that should top those worries.  

That’s because recently, a faultline close to Auckland was found to be more active than previously thought .. and could in fact, create a magnitude 6.8 earthquake if it ruptured. 

Here to discuss this and other earthquake related discoveries is Newsroom journalist and earthquake specialist Fox Meyer.

 

1:45 Freaky Friday

It’s time for Freaky Friday, the home for all your spooky and unexplainable stories. 

We’ve had UFO sightings, ghostly encounters, eerie coincidences.

 If you’ve got a spooky story we’d love to hear from you – email afternoons@rnz.co.nz or text 2101.

Today we’re speaking with Jenny

2:10 Film Review: Toy Story is back! Is it worth a watch?

Afternoons film critic Dominic Corry is with Emile to share what’s on at the cinema (all of which are new in theatres this week):

The Death of Robin Hood

Glenrothan 

Toy Story 5 

2:20 NZ Live: Wet Denim is in our Wellington studio!

Time for NZ Live, your weekly showcase of Aotearoa’s best musicians. 

We’ve been doing this for twenty years now and it is still such a pleasure to have these wonderfully intimate sessions each Friday. 

Today we are joined by Wellington based rock band Wet Denim.

3:08 Food:  Prune and Mascarpone Tart with Port Syrup

Martin Bosley joins Emile to share this recipe.

You can replace the prunes with fresh dates if you wish, just make sure both have been pitted before using them. You will need a pie dish with a removable base about 20cm in diameter. Recipe below!

Prune and Mascarpone Tart with Port Syrup

Serves 12

600g Prunes or dates, pitted

100g Raw sugar

750ml Port

500g Sweet Pastry – store-bought is fine

60g Caster sugar

4 lemons, for the juice

600g Mascarpone

600ml Cream

Put the pitted dates or prunes, the juice of 3 lemons, the raw sugar and port into a saucepan and pace over the heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain the dates from the syrup and set aside to cool. Place the syrup back in the saucepan and simmer until thick.

Heat the oven to 200C. Rollout the pastry into a circle larger than the pie plate, leaving enough pastry to fold up around the edges. Carefully lift the pastry up and onto the pie plate, patching it up if required. Leave the excess pastry hanging over the edges.

Line the pastry case with foil or baking paper, filled with baking beans or rice. Leave to chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. Bake the pastry case for 20 minutes, lift out the parcel of beans and return the pastry shell to the oven for another 10 minutes until pale gold in colour and dry to the touch.

Beat the caster sugar, juice of one lemon, the mascarpone and cream until firm. Chop one third of the drained marinated prunes into the mascarpone mixture and combine together.

Fill the tarts with the mascarpone and arrange the remaining prunes across the top. Pour the reduced syrup over the top just before serving.

3:16 Country Life – What’s on this weekend?

The RNZ podcast Country Life celebrates all things rural, speaking to the New Zealanders who live and work in some of the most beautiful parts of our country. 

You can hear these stories on RNZ National every Friday night at 7pm, and Saturday morning at 7am and of course wherever you get your podcasts. 

Here to tell us what’s on their show this week is producer Anisha Satya.

3:25 Weekend Stuff: How to deal with mould

Winter is here and with it often means the arrival of mould – but don’t despair, cause help is here, in the form of Rachael Quin from The Housekeeper.

3:35 Critter of the Week: The Frilled Shark

Nicola Toki and Emile discuss this week’s critter of the week, which this week is the frilled shark. The frilled shark is classified as At Risk — Naturally Uncommon in Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s a deep‑sea specialist that turns up only occasionally in trawl bycatch, but its fossil ancestors once swam in shallow seas around the Chathams 66 million years ago. Instead of a swim bladder, the frilled shark floats using a giant oil‑filled liver — basically a built‑in deep‑sea buoyancy tank! 

They also announce and celebrate the New Zealand Fungus of the Year winner!

3:45 The pre-Panel : Your daily dose of stuff and nonsense

Wallace Chapman and Emile Donovan 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.