25 years of Country Life

This year we’re celebrating 25 years of one of RNZ’s best-loved programmes, Country Life.

Each week on Country Life we meet the people bringing New Zealand’s primary produce to the world. From its inception the programme has talked to people where they live and about their lives. Producers travel around the motu to capture the stories, the sounds, the images of the people of our country.

Producer and presenter Sally Round says every story starts with getting out into the countryside.

“This entails putting on gumboots, hopping on a horse, getting muddy or getting stung around the country. My role also involves recording copious amounts of audio, sound effects and increasingly video and weaving them into a yarn which takes the listener right there with me.”

Country Life started in 1997 and grew out of a live radio programme, Country Saturday. Its first big scoop saw then producer Sarah Willis discover rabbit calicivirus had been smuggled into the country and released by a group of farmers. They spoke first to her about how and why they had done it.

Since then, some of New Zealand’s best award-winning producers have worked on Country Life including Bryan Crump, Susan Murray, Carol Stiles and many more.

Today’s team of producers Sally Round, Cosmo Kentish-Barnes, Leah Tebbutt, along with studio operator David Knowles and presenter Duncan Smith maintain that legacy, sharing audio-rich stories that take people onto the farms, orchards and into the countryside of Aotearoa.

RNZ’s Head of News Richard Sutherland describes the team as “masters of storytelling”.

“I’d challenge anyone to create features with more layers of rich audio.”

The team makes close to 100 features a year as well as the weekly regional wrap of farming conditions that comes directly from farmers and other industry specialists. More than 165,000 people tune in on Fridays at 7pm and Saturday at 7am on RNZ National, not to mention the 280,000 annual plays on podcast platforms.

So, what about the next 25 years?

Recently we have been focusing on stories on the future of farming and sustainability. We have a commitment to telling the stories of our country’s heartland. That won’t change. But we’ve got plans to bring even more richness to these stories, more visual stories, a focus on podcasting as well as radio.

And finally, a hearty thank you to everyone who has been part of the show. From our great team at RNZ to all the people who contribute and those who have told us their stories. Thank you. We couldn’t do it without you.