The Fold

She arrived off the boat from Ireland, and within a couple of years was interviewing the prime minister weekly. That led to one of the biggest political scoops of the decade, a long career at RNZ and the extraordinary life she lays bare in her acclaimed memoir Grand. Now McCarthy runs the exceptional podcast company Bird of Paradise, and has collaborated with The Spinoff on Dear Jane, a brand new...

It’s WATA day, Duncan Greive’s favourite day of the media year, when the latest in the vast longitudinal New Zealand on Air media research drops. Duncan gives some top line thoughts and then is joined by New Zealand on Air chief executive Cameron Harland to dig into the weeds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine a social media app where the algorithm didn't prioritise the most divisive content on the platform. Letterboxd co-founder Karl Von Randow and editor-in-chief Gemma Gracewood join Duncan Greive to talk about how they purposefully built a slow, community-centric and non-capital intensive platform. Plus, the current state of film and how it is tracking at the end of the pandemic and the begin...

Over the past two years TikTok has risen to become the cultural heart of the internet, for better and worse. And throughout that time, Kate Lindsay has been there to document it. The former staffer with The Atlantic joins Duncan Greive live from New York to spend a very entertaining hour unpacking the current state of the social media nation, and why reporting on social media often feels so weird....

Chamanthie Sinhalage-Fonseka and Victoria Young met at a party earlier this year, and ended up talking deep into the night about their experiences as Asian wāhine working in the fields of communications and journalism respectively. They wondered why they had met so few colleagues with backgrounds like their own, given the burgeoning pan-Asian population of New Zealand. Instead of shrugging and mov...

She left New Zealand for London 20 years ago, and fought her way into the edges of the music industry the hard way. But a chance encounter with country music a decade ago saw Milly Olykan rapidly become a key figure in unlocking this famously regional music for international audiences. Now she’s VP of international relations for the famed Country Music Association trade group, and she tells Duncan...

Earlier this year, NZME’s long time managing editor resigned – but instead of going to governance or a competitor, he walked straight across to his newsroom. Shayne Currie became “the media insider”, creating an informed, dishy column which has quickly become one of the most-discussed products in NZ’s media. He joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to talk about the road to the c-suite, what drew him ba...

We are now more than a decade into what was once known as influencer marketing, and has now grown into the much more complex and sophisticated creator economy. Wendy Thompson founded Socialites, and recently hired Melanie Spencer as CEO. The pair have been on an acquisition spree, and now have six businesses and almost 50 staff. They explain how they’re taking on major agencies with a singular app...

A television veteran and co-founder of comedy production powerhouse Kevin & Co, Bronwynn Bakker joins Duncan Greive to talk about the strange media era we're in, the foundational role Jono and Ben played in nurturing a generation of comics and her plans to take that talent to global markets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a spiritual sequel to an earlier interview with Paul Spoonley, Duncan Greive is joined by the head of Growing Up in New Zealand, an extraordinary longitudinal study which gives an unparalleled insight into the world of thousands of kids. Now 13-14, they represent the future of this country, and by extension our media. Sarah-Jane Paine tells Duncan what knowledge the media can gain from this gro...

Red Nicholson is the founder of the D*List, a bold new media brand which just launched aiming to provide a salty, raw and exuberant platform for, by and about disabled people. He and editor Olivia Shivas join Duncan Greive to explain the genesis and kaupapa behind this exciting new venture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last month Guy Montgomery played four sold out nights at Q Theatre, pulling almost 2000 people in the process, while his original format show Guy Mont-Spelling Bee is a bonafide hit. He’s a decade into his career and has figured out who he is and how to do his jokes. He joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to explain how it all happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duncan Greive addresses the fallout from revelations RNZ has for years been running wire copy altered to have pro-Russia and China slants. He also looks at the legacy of departing Stuff CEO Sinead Boucher, and explains why The Fold will be getting a little less time sensitive for the next while. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He started on lowest rung at Saatchis in Wellington, in charge of absorbing TV ratings using a dot matrix printer. By the time Matt Bale left the agency he started, MBM, in 2022, the media business had transformed. He chose to lean into that, studying AI at Stanford, and joins Duncan Greive to talk about his career, and what the next wave of the generative internet might look like. Learn more abou...

For a very special episode, Duncan Greive analyses the Safer Online Services and Media Platforms, an obscure “discussion document” which contains a bold idea: regulate the internet in the same way we do legacy media. He is joined by The Spinoff staff writer Shanti Mathias to explain the context, then The Bulletin editor Anna Rawhiti-Connell to analyse its implications. Learn more about your ad cho...

She seems to have mastered acting, writing and directing after two decades creating film and TV, but what's next for Madeleine Sami? She joins host Duncan Greive to talk about the institutions which made her and her two new original series airing in June. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the political and economic gravities pulling in various directions, the finance minister was tasked with providing support for the hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis without heaping sugar in an already high-inflation sauce. And on top of that, it's an election year. To assess whether Grant Robertson managed to thread that needle, Gone By Lunchtime’s Toby Manhire sits down with When the...

10 years ago, Joel Little was an ex-pop punk singer who’d set up a small studio to record music for commercials. By the end of the year he'd produced a #1 single in the US, and since his enormous success with Lorde’s Pure Heroine album he has worked with a galaxy of stars. Now he’s set up Big Fan, a community space comprising studios and a venue, run by Savina Fountain, a veteran of Aotearoa's liv...

Has any technology ever caused as much disquiet as generative AI? Duncan Greive talks to veteran tech journalist Peter Griffin about how this new generation of AI works, why it has scientists, philosophers and politicians spooked, and its implications for media industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yesterday Stuff finally announced paywalls for three of its powerhouse regional mastheads, while keeping the big Stuff platform free to all. It’s a bold experiment in making regional news the centre of a paid proposition, and runs contra local and international trends. Stuff chief content officer Jo Norris joins The Fold to explain the thinking to Duncan Greive. Learn more about your ad choices. V...

New Zealand’s most famous demographer, professor Paul Spoonley, joins Duncan Greive to talk about the incredible changes to New Zealand’s makeup over the past 20 years, and how they are expected to accelerate in years to come. He also discusses a new study from The Fold sponsor oOh! Media which looks at post-Covid changes to mobility, hyper-ageing and the ethnic makeup of the country. Spoonley unp...

Since uniting on Native Affairs during the rise of Māori Television, Mihi Forbes and Annabelle Lee-Mather have formed one of the longest-lasting creative partnerships in Aotearoa journalism. They join Duncan Greive to reflect on their trailblazing careers, taking in 3 News, RNZ, The Hui and now Aotearoa Media Collective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Its difficult to do your first podcast, but doing it daily is a whole other beast. Damien Venuto is the host of the New Zealand Herald's podcast 'The Front Page' which celebrates its first birthday this month. He joins Duncan Greive to talk about what it takes to host a daily podcast, and how he has grown into the role. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Live episode: For the 5th birthday of The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s trailblazing daily email newsletter, its founding editor Alex Braae sat down with its current editor Anna Rawhiti-Connell at a special event for The Spinoff’s members. The pair were interviewed by The Spinoff’s editor Madeleine Chapman, and the trio provide a bunch of fascinating insights into just how that product is made, and what...

After just a year of broadcasting, Today FM hosts Tova O'Brien and Duncan Garner took over the airwaves this morning to dramatically declare that Mediaworks was considering axing the fledgling radio brand. Duncan Greive sits down in this bonus monopod to discuss the potential future that faces Today FM's employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices