100 Years of ZB: Reflections on ZB from Mike Hosking and Heather du Plessis-Allan

As our celebrations of 100 Years of ZB come to a close, we decided to get a more personal view of the station from two of our hosts: Mike Hosking and Heather du Plessis-Allan. 

While ZB may have been on air for a century, none of our hosts can quite say the same, though some have been around for longer than others. And so, ever the interviewer, Mike Hosking started the chat off with a question for Heather du Plessis-Allan: When you were younger, what did you think of ZB and how did you come to work here later in life? 

"That's a very good question actually – I don't know if anybody's ever told you this, you've got a career in it," came du Plessis-Allan's initial tongue-in-cheek response. 

"I had thought, actually, as a young person, I thought it was a bit fuddy-dud with the talkback," du Plessis-Allan admitted. 

"And then Jason Winstanley called me up and said, 'I want you to do talkback in Wellington,' and I agonised over it." 

For Hosking, who had wanted to work in radio from an early age, the idea that someone would agonise over taking the job is foreign, and "almost offensive". 

"That was my path and that's what I loved, and I couldn't conceive how it would work out." 

But eventually du Plessis-Allan decided to join the station, and coming from TVNZ and TV3, the biggest surprise was not the format differences, but rather the culture. 

"I was really surprised at just how collegial everybody was and how few games are played," she explained. 

"If we get a new staff member who wants to sort of play a few games, they quickly get pulled into order ... I actually think that is part of ZB's winning strategy, because what it means is that all of our energy is directed in just working together and achieving an end goal rather than playing office politics." 

Drive host Heather du Plessis-Allan. Photo / Alyse Wright 

For ZB, the end goal in question is a successful and engaging show, and while for some knowing what that looks like is a skill that takes plenty of fine-tuning, for Hosking, it's inherent. 

"I won't know the name, but it was an ex-Prime Minister who said to his cabinet ministers, 'if you want to know what Middle New Zealand thinks, ask Hosking,'" he recounted. 

"Well, I'll quote you something as well," du Plessis-Allan replied. 

"Somebody said to me the other day, they said it has been said in the National Party for the longest time. 'It is not, it's not caucus who gets to decide to decide who the next Prime Minister is, it's Mike Hosking.'" 

The man in question was rather pleased by the sentiment. 

"Back to, so then my answer is I think it's inherent, you either know or you don't. Because I grew up in New Zealand, I grew up, you know, like son of a solo mother, all of those sort of things, I kind of get what I think New Zealand's about," Hosking continued on. 

"That's what drives me and how I think about what's on the radio." 

Breakfast host Mike Hosking. Photo / Alyse Wright  

"I think your upbringing is really important to that," du Plessis-Allan agreed. 

"I don't think you can come out of an overly privileged background and understand the country, but I think it is something that you fine tune as you go along, right? That text machine that's sitting in front of you ... if you start straying off into something that people do not think is interesting, they let you know really quickly, so you're constantly in touch." 

"It's constant, and it's an art, not a science, right?" 

Some would attribute ZB's ongoing success to the audience being "rusted on", saying that the station is only successful because the audience would never leave regardless, but neither of the hosts would agree. 

"No, because wouldn't they have said the same thing of Radio Pacific?" Du Plessis-Allan asked. 

"When you have the kind of brand that we have and the kind of brand that RNZ has and Radio Pacific back in the day, the phone is still always on the hook a little bit. People will pick it up, but you can drive them away." 

"There's no question," Hosking agreed.  

And to this loyal audience, as ZB celebrates its centenary, du Plessis-Allan has a message:  

"We are listening to you, and we are talking to you. And it is a two-way conversation – this is not a talking at people situation, it is a listening back."  

"What's your message?" She directed the question back at Hosking. 

"My message would be that what I enjoy most of all about ZB is that it's the same, essentially, as it always has been ... what I do here and what you do is the same as when I started in 82." 

"So while everything else changes, this is the consistency and there's value in consistency, isn't there? There's a connection with consistency."