Heather du Plessis-Allan: For all the Trevors and the Pauls

Opinion

Author: Heather du Plessis-Allan ,
Publish Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2026, 5:30am

The best part of radio is the people listening, says Heather du Plessis-Allan.

I need to tell you about Trevor from Wellington. Trevor is (it feels like) a full-time Newstalk ZB listener. He’s always texting and calling.

When I hosted Wellington Mornings nearly 10 years ago, Trevor was a regular. He’s still texting me on the Drive show.

He often knows as much, if not more, than the host does about any particular subject. He has a keen sense of the ridiculous. I discovered this when he called me one day years ago about whatever it was that I was talking about.

But then he changed the subject on me because he thought it was far more interesting that some researcher had suggested parents ask their newborns if it’s okay to change a nappy before we change a nappy (which he declared to be ridiculous) and thus he sent our talkback off on a much more fun and wilder adventure for the morning.

Trevor is a tradie – I can’t remember which trade exactly. He has a giant moustache (at least he did when I saw him last). He wears the collar on his polo shirt popped up against his neck. He stands with both feet planted firmly on the ground, hip-width apart like he has no doubt he belongs.

I know all of this about Trevor because I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting him in person. One day when I pulled my car up outside our house in Oriental Bay, Trevor came bounding across the street. He said something like “Heather, I’m Trevor!” and then gave me an enormous hug without asking permission first (that would be ridiculous). Turns out, he owned the rental across the road.

Why I’m telling you about Trevor is that he —more than anyone else— epitomises a Newstalk ZB listener to me: someone engaged in news, deeply interested in what is happening in their city, their country, their world, and who has a strong opinion about what they’re seeing. Often, they’re really intelligent.

There’s also Paul. I haven’t yet had the chance to meet him.

Paul is also from Wellington and has been emailing me since my stint on Wellington Mornings. He emailed me last month to congratulate me on winning the Sir Paul Holmes Broadcaster of the Year award. He had actually emailed me earlier in the day to predict I would get the award, then emailed me afterwards to congratulate me on the win and himself on his correct prediction.

It’s funny that Paul sent me that email because in my first six months of the Wellington job he emailed me at least twice (possibly three times) to tell me he was so furious at my stupid opinion that he was turning the radio off and never listening to me again.

I cherish Paul’s continued correspondence. It reminds me it’s okay to strongly disagree with each other. It doesn’t have to be the end of the relationship. More of us could do with disagreeing more often and then getting the hell over it and getting on with life.

I sort of hate calling Paul or Trevor or anyone else a “Newstalk ZB listener”. Everyone is obviously much more than that.

They’re dads, mums, workers, mates, ratepayers; people with fascinating lives. It just happens that they choose to listen to Newstalk ZB and get stuck into the conversation.

But it’s because of ZB that we’ve had the chance to meet. That’s the beauty of ZB. It gives us a place to have a chat. Sometimes an argument. Often a laugh.

Thanks for being part of it.