Afternoons for Thursday 31 July 2025

1:15 The flood-hit Christchurch growers who need your help 

In May this year Christchurch had its fourth-heaviest day of rainfall on record.

The devastating floods left half of the Untamed Earth Organic Farm, near Halswell, under water. 

For 15 years, they have been growing produce and selling veggie boxes and are a regular feature at Ohoka, Lyttelton and South Christchurch farmers’ markets.

The farm's owners are raising funds ahead of spring planting season to help them. Company director Penny Platt speaks to Jesse. 

1:25 Guy Sebastian performs a song from his new album 

Guy Sebastian has over 1.3 billion streams and he's had dozens of top-ten singles in the Australian charts.

He is undoubtedly one of Australia's most successful artists and, after a five-year hiatus, Guy is back with a new album 100 Times Around The Sun. He joins Jesse to chat about the record and perform his song 'Maybe'.

1:35 Meet the South Auckland students refurbishing empty homes 

Ara Education Trust is based in the Auckland suburb of Māngere.

Its mission is to help give students on the tools experience and provide a pathway to successful careers.

Ara Education Trust Head Tutor William Malakai spoke to Jesse.

1:45 Anna Coddington's album Te Whakamiha could be yours!

Today's great album giveaway is Te Whakamiha by Anna Coddington. 

Anna describes this bilingual body of work as "Maori funk".

2:10 The Lowdown 

Today on The Lowdown, Perlina Lau and Afternoon's Senior Producer Olivia Wilson discuss the content that is filling up your group chats.

The pair discuss Harry and Meghan's Netflix deal, the use of AI models and adults using dummies ... yes really.

2:30 A-Z of Aotearoa: E is for Electric Bikes

Today we continue our way through the A-Z of Aotearoa with the letter E. 

Our focus is on E-bikes which have surged in popularity in New Zealand over the past five years or so.  

Joining Jesse to take us through their popularity, Oliver Chapman, founder of Hikobike, which is one of the leading designers and importers in New Zealand, and Hamiltonian and e-bike enthusiast Richard Graham. 

3:15 Your Money with Mary Holm: Are we getting insurance all wrong?

Today Mary's going to talk about insurance and whether we are insuring the right things.

New Zealanders are twice as likely to have car insurance as they are life or health insurance - does that make sense?

3:35 Spoken Feature BBC Witness: Voice of America goes silent

In March of this year, after funding cuts to the US Agency for Global Media, for the first time in 83 years, radio frequencies around the world stopped carrying the Voice of America broadcasts.

The BBC Witness team traces the beginnings of the overseas broadcaster which came about to counter Nazi propaganda. 

3:45 The pre-Panel

Wallace Chapman previews tonight's instalment of The Panel.