ABC NewcastleCast

Newcastle's Ray Baartz was like the rest of us this morning - glued to the TV to watch the Socceroos gain a place in the World Cup in Qatar later this year. For Ray, it all started 48 years ago when him and his fellow Socceroos went to the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, playing against superstars of the game like Pele. And if you grew up in Newy - there's probably a red hot chance you've busted s...

At the Festival of the Fleece, sheep are thundering down the main street of Merriwa. But what's the story behind their cute little socks? Meanwhile, over in the Barrington Tops, devils are mating... Tasmanian devils in a program to save the species.

Newcastle parking is atrocious. Will a plan to turn a Cardiff street into less parking to get more people make us rethink the way we move around the city? And after all this rain, gravediggers at Sandgate are struggling to make our final resting place peaceful

The fight to help locals get out of their car and into accommodation is the big fight of ‘Our Back Yard’, a group dedicated to helping the homeless in the Hunter. Can you believe it's been 15 years since the Pasha Bulker ended up on Nobby's beach?! But it's not the only historical event to happen in the Hunter on this day. And a Newy boy turned ice hockey star is ready to take the ice for Australi...

A Hunter families heartbreak as they waited for an ambulance. Will wait times be fixed by more NSW health staff announced by the NSW government this week? Remember the pet boom of 2020? It’s come back to the local pounds, with a band of rescuers working to find new homes and a farmer in Gloucester is taking to the skies to get his pasture planted.

The Hunter is getting a specialist centre for hearing impaired children, one man clocks up the k’s for the climate and former Newcastle soprano celebrates the Queen in Windsor.

New volunteer run wholefoods coop for Dungog, classroom ventilation stopping kids from spreading winter germs, and starmaker Max Jackson puts the Newy in Nashville.

A local power station is running short of coal, while Mt Pleasant coal mine extends to find more, uni students set sail to scope out underwater landslides, and premiership winner Hannah Southwell returns home to the Knights

Local women teaching kids consent workshops, new techniques developed to destroy PFAS, and swimmers celebrate the start of winter with an icy dip in the Merewether baths.

The hunter is reeling from last night's wild weather, and Newy's pinball wizards unite for ten years of Pinfest

Is the road to Barrington Tops ready for snow chasers? How could you not know you were about to have a baby? And a local indigenous artist tackles the Newcastle Knights jersey design for the NRL Indigenous round

Families are getting ready to sleep on the streets to raise money for homelessness, Zac Garred talks about his new movie and why is Singleton the tidiest town in NSW?

Could your doctor prescribe parkrun over pills? Students at the University of Newcastle want action on sexual harassment, and Kia and Laurise try to dry out after all this rain.

Police want information about the abduction of Lake Macquarie teen Gordana Kotesvki, local shop owners get ready to bin their plastic bans and what can you do to keep your place free from mould?

Sean Gordon explains the importance of Albo’s commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Natalie Mitchell takes us on a trip to the Share Shop and Gisela Kaplan has her bra stolen by a naughty corella.

Why Kahibah local Mark Gilmour says voluntary assisted dying is all about choice, the Hunter Valley goes Labor in all corners as One Nation takes a hit, and Heidi Regan brings her comedy home... with a slight London accent.

It's our big election bonanza! Complete with very serious music! Matt Bevan breaks down the local Newy electorates, Amelia Bernasconi takes us through the key seat of Hunter and some local pets pick our new PM.

Another inquiry has been announced into Hunter Valley woman Kathleen Folbigg's convictions for killing her four infant children and why are Hunter residents waiting 6 weeks to see a mental health professional?

An old home movie has locals fascinated by a Newcastle of yesteryear, how a suburb of Maitland is moving away from Facebook to keep locals engaged and how Kia found her favourite artmaker on her For You page

What’s the biggest issue for you this election? How a quilt is connecting the Hunter to the Ukraine and why was Sam Kerr the best backseat driver Rod the cabbie had ever had?

How do first home buyers break into the Newy property market? Climate change forces vigernons to adapt, and did Kia inspire Blak Douglas to win the Archibald Prize?

A Newcastle Knights doctor is heading back to his homeland of Ukraine to help. Carl Caulfield is treading the boards with his local play inspired by everyday life and it's girls in, groms out at the beach this weekend.

Supply, pandemic and climate change will hit your hip pocket for local coffee prices soon, Newcastle's cocaine mystery death sees an arrest in Cairns and how the Hunter has dug deep for flood victims in Lismore.

A Ukrainian couple has fled to Australia after their homeland was invaded earlier this year and a day on the farm for Hunter Valley kids casts a spotlight on the realities of a hard day’s work.

All of Newcastle is talking. How did $20 million of cocaine wash up with a dead man? Locals furious after wheelchairs blocked from early voting. Newcastle's adopted fighter Tim Tszyu immortalised in the Archibald Prize.