Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill on RadioLIVE

John Douglas Stark was a hero of WWI but his feats seemed as much like madness. A near uncontrollable soul he could have easily been court-martialled and awarded a VC. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, John Dybvigs final Letter From America. Strap yourselves in! Then, Read Me A Poem. Michelle Leggott, former NZ Poet Laureate and literary academic reads us a favourite and tells us why. Heres a clue; Theres a strong connection with this weeks Outsider Tale, below. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First up, Skeptical Thoughts with Siouxsie Wiles and NZ Skeptics Mark Honeychurch. The weeks woo scams and hoaxes exposed for what they arent. Then, we visit the Museum of Regret. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Media Stick with Paul Casserly AND Tamar Munch to mourn the loss of one of the longest running radio shows.. Leighton Smith! Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Graeme's all-time favourite interview. John Cooper Clarke promised to come to the studio and spin some of his favourite discs as well as discuss his own life and work.He was good to his word but Graeme got only 15 minutes' notice and had to bring doughnuts. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First up, Lead with Professor Thomas Lumley, Chair in Biostatistics at Auckland University. Then , Buzz Aldrin. Graeme replays one of his favourite interviews of all time. He sits down for a yarn with space hero Buzz Aldrin. Finally, Back Stage Passes. Joanna Mathers new book on the untold story of NZ live music venues from the 1960s to 1990s. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Cinema with James Croot. The best of 2018 and a flashback to when The Bounty came to New Zealand with its megastar cast. Then, Words with Max Cryer. Christmas, hare-brained, turncoat and the weird origin of get my goat. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Science report with physicist and author of Silencing Science, Shaun Hendy. Then, Astronomy with Grant Christie. Voyager 2 now in interstellar space. Nice little video here. Did a supernova kill off large oceanic animals like the Megalodon? The Fermi Paradox. Why havent we heard anything from other intelligent life? Grant lines up the amazing discoveries in astronomy in the 13 years hes been doing this awesome segment. Asteroid Bennu's clearest image yet. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

Spoken Word in music Part 2 with Graeme & Grant Smithies. From the Front Lawn and Bill Direen to The Fall and Wynton Marsalis. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First up, John Dybvigs Letter From America. US politics & culture. Then its time for Read Me A Poem. Headless Chickens Chris Matthews released an album with lyrics entirely by Dylan Thomas. Quite a feat. He reads us a favourite but will it be Dylan Thomas? Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Skeptical Thoughts with Siouxsie Wiles. Woo scams & hoaxes exposed. Then, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. An apostate from Islam she must travel with a security detail. This interview was conducted ahead of a scheduled appearance in Auckland which was cancelled due to unspecified reasons. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Media Stick with Tamar Munch. The weeks media guff & gaffes for lols. Then, Truth Or Consequences! The greatest game show ever devised for radio. Answer the statements True or False and maybe win something. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Bizzare Lyrics. Graeme & Grant Smithies trawl through songs about yellow things, palaeontology, pot cleaners, map-making and the glorious virtues of copper over other metals. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Pearl Harbour 77 years on. Eyewitness testimony from a sailor aboard the West Virginia which was attacked and sunk on December 7, 1941. James Patterson rarely spoke of the event but in 1988 he committed his memories to tape and his grandson, Scott Kelly, offered Graeme this amazing audio. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Cinema with James Croot. The life & works of Geoff Murphy who died this week and the Trumpology of Michael Moores Farenheit 11/9. Then its time for Words with Max Cryer. Santa Claus and Coca Cola, point-blank, cotton on and what do cheeks have to do with being cheeky? Get in quick! Ask Max a question here and Graeme will pass it on to Max. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First up,Spirit & Opportunity Mars Rovers have been the most over-achieving of all planetary exploration programmes. Designed to rove the Martian surface for 6 months they have been functional for more than a decade. It now seems likely the last survivor, Opportunity, has finally died more than 14 years on. Graeme speaks with the head of the Mars Rover Missions, Bill Nelson of JPL. Then, Astronomy with Grant Christie. Why launch a sculpture into orbit? Ancient cave art depicting constellations, not antelopes? Spiralling super-massive black holes. Osiris-Rex arrived at the tiny primitive asteroid Bennu last Tuesday. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Spoken Word in the music world. From The Velvet Underground to the amazing works by King Missile and Tim Minchin. Hear King Missiles beautiful paranoid short story here. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, John Dybvigs Letter From America. US politics and culture dissected. Then, Read Me A Poem. Songwriting living legend George Henderson of The Puddle, Spinoff book reviewer and rather literary soul reads

Skeptical Thoughts with Mark Honeychurch. The weeks woo and scams exposed. Was Alex Jones RIGHT about the gay frogs?! Also, Robert Bartholomew is a sociologist who looks into moral panics and public hysteria. His latest book, American Intolerance tackles myths and historical attitudes about immigration in the USA, but is it fair or inflammatory?

First up, Media Stick with youtube sensation and cutting TV critic James Mustapic. See him in action here. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Great Lyrics Part 2, with music critic Grant Smithies. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Human Statistics with Ipsos research director Jonathan Dodd. Polls and opinions from here and around the world. Entrepreneurial spirit gauged globally. Then, Environews. The era of the great battles to save our native forests. A huge new publication by one of the battlers, Paul Bensemann explains the times and the issues and how much we take for granted today in the wake of many successful campaigns. Finally, Pohutukawa flowering. Why do some flower right now and others just sit there and do nothing! Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Movies with James Croot. The life and works of Bernardo Bertolluci who died this week. Then, Words with Max Cryer. Doppelganger, whipper-snapper, skerrick and dyke, as in lesbian. Why? Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First up, this hour Science Report with Shaun Hendry. Then its Astronomy with Grant Christie. Another stunning success for a NASA led Mars mission. How it was done and what its going to do here. A strange African meteorite from the distant past and a comet may come into view soon. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

To close the show this week, Musical Luminaries line-up their favourite lyrics and explain why. Youll be surprised unless you originally heard this years ago. Graeme ropes in Jordan Luck, Martin Phillipps, Don McGlashan, Sean Donnely (SJD), Chris Matthews, Vooms Buzz Moller and Tim Finn! Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, John Dybvigs America. US culture, politics and attitudes. Then , Read Me A Poem! This week its Tim Finn who needs no introduction in New Zealand. The founder, songwriter, musician and lyricist for New Zealands best-loved band Split Enz and a myriad of great solo work reads us a poem he loves, and tells us why. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First up, Skeptical Thoughts with Siouxsie Wiles. The weeks woo, scams and cons exposed. Then, an ex-Jehovahs Witness regales his personal story of what it was like to be part of, and then leave this lesser-known end-of-the-worldy religious group. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Media Stick with Tamar Munch. The weeks media affairs for fun and lols. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Celebrating great lyrics Part 1 (it could go on forever, but wont). Graeme & Grant Smithies line up their own exemplars and explain why. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, streaming live on 'rova' Channel 9 and podcasts available on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

This hour, Human Statistics with Ipsos research director Jonathan Dodd. This week a huge haul of uniquely NZ attitudes and opinions. Then, Victory At Gate Pa? One of the most famous/infamous battles of Maori-Colonial times. This new book is the first of its kind where the battle is examined from both Maori & Pakeha perspectives. Graeme speaks with co-authors Buddy Mikaere, a descendent of the combatants, and military historian Cliff Simons. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, streaming live on 'rova' Channel 9 and podcasts

This hour, Cinema with James Croot. Robin Hood in the movies, and why do (almost) all trailers sound the same.. Whoosh-KABOOSH! Words with Max Cryer. Banana, spouse and yahoo among many other words and phrases with strange origins. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First up, Science Report with Emily Parke. Why is wombat poo square and what are dogs really thinking? Then, Astronomy with Grant Christie. Lots of great links to videos this week, especially fascinating a huge young crater just discovered under the Greenland ice. The unexpected trajectory of visiting interstellar thing Oumuamua. Our Milky Ways supermassive black hole. This visual depiction is much more than it may seem. Its not an artists impression but the culmination of enormous computing power and the best known visualisation of whats really happening. The INSIGHT Mars lander is expected to touch down Tuesday 9am NZT. A huge crater found under the Greenland ice may explain some weird stuff from pre-history. WOW. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First up, Graeme takes a look at John Clarke and his poetry. Then its a return of Shipwreck Tales. Gerard Hindmarsh is busy completing a new book so we have a timely gruesome Shipwreck Tale to set you off to sleep. On this day in 1874 the Cospatrick, carrying immigrants to NZ caught fire off the Cape Of Good Hope. Its still described as one of our worst civil disasters. Its grim. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, drugs and the dark web. Then, John Dybvigs America. Warning: John Dybvig does try to contain himself, but there are a few swear-words used in his piece, so listen to this week's Letter from America at your own risk. US politics and culture from John's own unique perspective. Then, Read Me a Poem. Probably our most celebrated poet, Sam Hunt recites some favourites from memory and explains why theyre good. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First, New Zealands Plain English Awards. Yes, there is such a thing and bless them. Plain English Chair of the affair Greg Fortuin presents the winners and one sorry indecipherable pretentious loser. Skeptical Thoughts with Craig Shearer. Woo woo, scams and plain bollocks exposed for what they arent. Finally this hour, Black Boots. Your classic old-school photo & text affair from the amateur All Black era.Phil Gifford has plenty of stories to tell. Be listening to win yourself a copy. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Media stick with Tamar Munch. The weeks media in scrap-book form for fun and lols. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone

Albums from The Class of 1978. David Byrne is touring NZ so if youre not at the Vector Arena Grant & Graeme thought it a good idea to play Talking Heads brilliant sophomore album, More Songs About Buildings and Food.

Human Statistics with Jonathan Dodd. What the UK really thinks about Brexit. Also, Environews. New Zealand Frogs. Dylan Van Winkel returns to complete the walk through the new publication Reptiles and Amphibians of New Zealand. Plus,Drugs and The Dark Web. Prof Chris Wilkins is the recipient of $836,000 from the Marsden Fund to study whats going on.

Cinemaphile James Croot on the works of the Coen brothers, Robin Hood depicted in cinema, and why are so many trailers full of bashing noises? Also, Words with Max Cryer. Decile schools a bad descriptor. Gypsies, Chavs, restaurateurs versus restauranters and hanged versus hung.

Science Report - space weather. How the weird particles zapping the Earth affect us and how major events could cause catastrophic damage. Prof Chris Rodgers of Otago University explains. Also, Astronomy with Grant Christie. A planet orbiting a very nearby star. Rocket Lab gets serious. Japan now at the forefront of space exploration.

First up this hour, War Poems. WWI produced some compelling literature and poetry. Victoria University English Prof Harry Ricketts on Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and Wilfred Owen who died in the very last week of the war.Then, The WWI conscientious objector and dissident, Archibald Baxter who caught hell from his own countrymen on The Western Front. Journalist, historian and champion of the dissidents, Mark Scott, describes what happened to those who refused to fight for non-religious reasons in The Great War. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

Warning: John Dybvig does try to contain himself, but there are a few swear-words used in his piece, so listen to this week's Letter from America at your own risk. US politics and culture from Johns own unique perspective. Then, Jesus Make It Stop, November 11. At long last the war is over but people would die on the Western Front right up to and including the morning of armistice 100 years ago this day. Massey University War Historian Glyn Harper describes the last week or WWI and how it echoes through to today. For the full series visit the Weekend Variety Wireless web page. This has also been released as a special seven-part podcast series. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, Skeptical Thoughts with Siouxsie Wiles. The weeks woo and scams exposed for what they arent. Then , Brian Cox. Physicist and hugely popular TV presenter and documentary maker, Brian Cox on serious science and having the piss taken in spectacular fashion here. Brian is touring NZ next year. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First up, Media stick. Mark Watson joins the Weekend Variety Wireless to look at the weeks media guff dissected for fun and lols. Then, Marsden research grant towards the weird weird world of Quantum entanglement. Researcher Dr Mikkel Andersen of Otago University explains what appears to be something akin to magic. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour , War music. Graeme & Grant Smithies delve into this rich vein from folk and country to Hip Hop and rock. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First up, Human Statistics. Ipsos research director Jonathan Dodd takes a look at the polls versus the mid-term US elections.Then, Environews. We are Lizard-land? New Zealand has more endemic species of reptiles than birds, so where are they hiding? The amazing variety and strange life of our reptiles with Dylan Van Winkel, co-author of the new updated and comprehensive guide to the reptiles and amphibians of New Zealand. Then, Marsden research grant toward a cure for Kauri Dieback. Otago Universitys Michelle Glass explains her research into how to stop Kauri dieback in its tracks. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This hour, we are at the movies with James Croot. A preview of what may well be a Peter Jackson Masterwork bringing WWI footage to vivid clarity. Then, Words with Max Cryer. The step in step-father, what the brand in brand new means and why do we often call blokes guys? Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

First up, Science Report with Marine Biologist Rochelle Constantine. Oceanic Blue Carbon. A beautifully made web-thing explaining the myriad paths carbon takes in our oceans and some surprising reasons why. Then, Astronomy with Dr Grant Christie. Some serious people hypothesise the interstellar visiting object Oumuamua is a spacecraft. How best to message intelligent life from Earth, but should we? The strange Ryugu asteroid up close. One image was captured every second from immediately after the spacecraft began to ascend (altitude 21m) on October 25, 2018. The spacecraft was rising at about 52cm/s. Weekend Variety Wireless with Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

This week Gen. Bernard Freyberg, our ultimate Alpha Male Soldier and his amazing feats of bravery beginning at Gallipoli. Go here for the Outsiders archive.

Writer Stephen Braunias not only reads us a poem and tells us why its good, he has a very special show & tell, a new publication that sounds very much like the very thing were doing in Read Me A Poem.