LHW Media

20/05/2024

Been a while on this mostly dormant media page I set up for myself in a flurry of aspiration years ago go! Here’s something I’m really passionate about at the moment though for anyone still on Facebook.

We’ve just been on Crete for a couple of weeks, a stunning Greek island close to Africa rich with culture, diverse in amazing topography and home to an intense bond with New Zealand that runs as deep as anything I’ve experienced.

Why?

Today marks 83 years since Crete was invaded by the German forces in Operation Mercury which would go down as one of the most unique and dramatic battles of the Second World War.

After withdrawing from mainland Greece in a hurry, there were 7700 Kiwi soldiers on the island who were about to become pivotal in thwarting Germany’s attempt to secure the island for its valuable geographical location. A tad over 40,000 allied troops in total were now stationed in Crete, mostly Australians and British forces alongside the New Zealanders.

On the morning of May 20 as the rumble of the Luftwaffe become louder, the skies started to fill with elite German parachutists and glider-borne troops, a major scale airborne military attack never seen before (or since) was underway and the rugged landscape of Crete was now a focal point of Hitler’s war on humanity.

There are some staggering eye witness accounts from soldiers and Cretans watching as this fantasy like scene unfolded above them, those with guns started shooting like it was opening weekend, bayonets fixed for successful jumpers. The Germans who were lucky enough to land alive were now embroiled in the fight of their life and many of these young men didn’t take another step.

The next few days of combat is as ruthless and exhausting as imaginable, a lot centred around Maleme Airfield in the North West which the N**i’s knew they needed to succeed in controlling the Island with an airbase. The under-resourced, staffed and logistically hamstrung allied Creforce slowly realising their fate start retreating along the coast towards Chania, counterattacking with famous bouts of bravery, often in vain, to buy more time.

Eventually as Germany’s air attack grows and reinforcements flood the island, the ghost is up, an evacuation is the only way to save tens of thousands of men.

A multiple day scamper over the mountains to the southern coastal village of Hora Sfakion is the only option. For successive nights under the cover of darkness while selfless and brave rearguard fighting buys precious seconds an evacuation arguably more improbable than Dunkirk’s great escape is undertaken.

For reference, more than 1700 British, Commonwealth and Greek soldiers were killed and 15,000 captured during the Battle for Crete. There were 671 New Zealanders among the dead, and 2180 Kiwi prisoners of war, just left behind, many of them standing on the shore as the boats glided away in front of them, exhausted, hungry, injured, broken. More than 6000 Germans were killed or wounded. The Luftwaffe lost more than 350 aircraft.

At Leithfield primary school I remember learning pieces of this staggering slice of military history, Charles Upham who won his Victoria Cross on Crete has a statue outside the Hurunui District Council building, a true local legend. I hope we still give young Kiwis a chance to embrace and learn of New Zealand’s history abroad, military or otherwise, at these formative ages. It certainly helped inspired me to further educate myself.

Today I am in awe of the bravery and sacrifice of not just the Kiwi soldiers who fought a hateful and mad regime all over the world but the people of Crete too who never took a backward step from the N**i occupation of their beautiful home. They risked their own lives to hide Kiwi and Australian soldiers and kept fighting for what they believed in, kindness, good and freedom.

Being a New Zealander on this special island has been a privilege that isn’t lost on us and the warmth we have felt has been overwhelming. I don’t think we can underestimate our footprint globally as Kiwis and I think I’ve realised experiencing new cultures is even more rewarding when there is an existing connection to embrace.

- Suda Bay War Cemetary where 1500 Allied soldiers rest.

- The Galatas square where a famous but ultimately futile Kiwi counter attack took place.

- German War Cemetery at Maleme where 4000+ N**i soldiers rest.

- Walking the Imbros Gorge to Sfakion where Charles Upham’s company handled two dozen German troops chasing the retreat.

- Dawn at Sfakion’s evacuation point memorial.

- Preveli Monastery which hid and covertly evacuated hundreds of trapped soldiers. x2

- Signing the Suda Bay Cemetery register, paying our deepest respects.

30/01/2023

By now you’ve heard me bang on about how I’m leaving Auckland behind after a 7 year stint on the tools up here. I’ve been lucky enough to have had some incredible opportunities to learn and grow through my work and here is part 3/4 of my time.

Chapter; Boys Get Paid. 💰

It’s no secret that I love a bet and have for as long as I can really remember. Sports, racing, novelty, I’m up for a wager whenever. I lost touch with horse racing a bit through my late teens but had been around it a lot as a kid with my grandparents who bred and raced horses. I can see why I took a step back from following racing when I did, other things became more appealing and I honestly just didn’t see too many people like myself interested in the industry. That’s when I stumbled across Boys Get Paid.

For those unaware, Boys Get Paid or ‘BGP’, is a group of predominately younger punters and racing fans that formed over a decade a go through tipping each other winners and grew into a community of 20 plus thousand Kiwis who would catch up for events, race horses together, be part of punters clubs and create and consume racing specific content. I don’t think I’d ever met such passionate and self driven people as the key drivers behind BGP and once I was exposed to Luke and Ben’s electric exuberance for racing and what they were creating within their own community, my eyes were well and truly opened.

It didn’t take long after meeting the lads it was obvious there was a similar intent around pushing ourselves to produce content and the sort of content we felt those like us wanted to consume. It’s something I was already doing at NZME and BGP had always found a real appetite for different media they themselves produced. When Luke & Ben asked me if I’d like to be involved with a weekly podcast to start with through the spring it did feel like a fit. What we probably didn’t realise was how much progression and innovation we were about to explore.

After a full spring and summer of testing the water with some pretty loose but what I think was at times articulate and insightful podcast content the racing industry hadn’t been exposed to before it was obvious we were onto something that had genuine legs. The energy and atmosphere created by the BGP community mixed with my storytelling and crafted style of content was hitting a sweet spot not just for punters but the wider racing industry. We were making ground with the breeders, the trainers, the owners, all through content. We had a formula that worked and we had the drive to see how far we could take it.

Cue Covid.

Funnily enough when Covid 19 first hit the radar of Australia and New Zealand in a serious way I was in Melbourne on a ‘content junket’ of sorts at the All Star Mile, a horse race. No one knew how serious to take it or what to really expect but once we were rushed out of the country everything changed. Only a couple of weeks later my professional world had been tipped upside down, I’m not special - so many people were made redundant during this period and for a lot of people including myself, it hurt. My time at NZME was essentially over as Radio Sport was deemed not to be viable as a business proposition for the company anymore. I could write a whole essay on the bu****it way it was handled and lack of sincerity offered but that’s not really the vibe I am on here. The point was, what is next and how does this become an opportunity.

I won’t rewrite my own history and pretend like I didn’t sulk for a period of time, but what I managed to do okay was multitask my sulking with I guess, revenge content. I wanted to keep working, keep pushing and prove that this was ultimately the change of pace my life needed. I’d only worked at NZME, it was my only employer and all of a sudden the canvas was blank as a freelancer and a leg up in the form of a Boys Get Paid audience who knew me and I knew had the thirst for more of what I could offer. So we started scheming and I must say, being empowered by your friends and mentors to create whatever you wanted with a community they had built was an amazing position to be in. I couldn’t be more grateful for having support from Luke and Ben during this time and I’m proud we kicked goals we didn’t even know we wanted to.

Trackside Radio had also shut down and there was an even bigger gap in the market than we initially thought, it turns out the content we had been offering within BGP was truly craved in the wider racing industry also. So we went to work. We spoke to industry stalwarts Mark Claydon & Michael Guerin who were keen to get on board, we leant on administrators and BGP’s influential supporters who understood the vision we were painting and soon enough through huge amounts of trial and error we essentially had an online radio station supported with continuous video content that could reach whoever wanted to listen. I can’t start listing the individual podcasts or shows I am proud we produced because it would get out of hand but you can go back and reflect on the amount of on air minutes we logged during and post Covid at the BGP podcast feed, it is an amazing reflection considering the bootleg fashion we were doing it in.

Personally it was an eye opening and empowering time where I had to take control of my own fortunes and not get stuck in the backwash of Covid 19. The reward was not just enhanced credibility and kudos within the racing industry which became very important down the line, it was a lesson in how to value and lean on my skillset which I’d worked so hard on building to sustain myself but also create new momentum for my career. I was extremely lucky I had people around me at this time that could teach me how to do this my showing me the way they personally operated. In a way professionally, it was survival mode to start which quickly became a realisation of what you can do when you look at the pieces of the puzzle from a different angle. Radio Sport having the plug pulled was truly a sliding doors moment in my life because I had never known what it was like to depend on myself and a couple of others to create a framework and then make an impact to stay sustainable. The tough times felt tougher but the highs were infinitely more rewarding as a freelancer and with Boys Get Paid in particular because it was all organic content that was designed for a community then consumed by an industry.

I wouldn’t change how things played out through this period, inivertidly I invested so much into in myself and by proxy what was to come next. I’m so grateful to the whole Boys Get Paid universe for giving me the opportunity because as much as I offered with what we were creating, I have no doubt I could not be where I am now without the exposure and experience I had in return.

And right now, it’s SENZ. Next.

*** A slight side note briefly. Just to be very clear, the way BGP has morphed and grown to become a vehicle and tool for racing in New Zealand aside from any of my input before or since is truly a staggering thing. I shouldn’t have to say this but I still think there are some powers at be who don’t quite grasp how influential and crucial of a cog BGP has become to an industry trying to regain a foothold in New Zealand culture. Use them, value them, work with them and be grateful for them.

22/01/2023

As y’all know, I’m leaving Auckland after Seven years of career here. From an intern at ZB to my gig at SENZ now there’s been a few different phases so I’m reflecting on them. This is part 2/4, Radio Sport.

🏏 📻

Much to the shock of almost everyone reading this, it didn’t take me too long to work out that I wan’t going to make a crust as a professional athlete in life. I like to think I’m of reasonable coordination and moderate fitness levels but apparently it takes a bit more than that to crack the big leagues. That realisation never dulled my passion for sport though, like many Kiwis if anything it just super charged my obsession over studying, watching, consuming all genres of it.

When it came to make a choice as a teenager about what life after the cushy gig of being a high school sh****ad looked like, the idea of being as close to the action of professional sport without playing was extremely appealing. I can’t exactly remember how or why but at some stage it became stuck in my dome that the Broadcasting School was the only option for me, I was going to become a sports journalist. And long story short, I did. Well kind of, here is the actual long story.

Whilst working at Newstalk ZB, I was fortunate enough to be rubbing shoulders with the stalwarts of sports radio in New Zealand. Radio Sport, the prized jewell of many New Zealand summers and crusty AM radio receivers was being stewarded on the other end of the newsroom by a group of New Zealand’s best sports broadcasters and journalists. The relationship with ZB & Radio Sport at that time in 2017 was very much big brother and tiny, growth stunted, slightly malnourished little brother, this is important information to remember when I finish this chapter. For me the opportunity to produce sports content daily was always the dream, it really was. I loved ZB and the cut throat, hard paced culture of news news but f**k me there was nothing easier than writing notes previewing a Blackcaps game after trying to decode a Reserve Bank press release and give the good parts to Larry Williams. What I’m trying to explain is sport just came easy to me, it was natural.

After picking up weekend and odd summer shifts at Radio Sport the opportunity presented itself to take up a role producing Daniel McHardy’s new afternoons show for a 9 months stint, I was fizzing at the thought of it and when the green light was given - I was buzzing. So in I leapt. The dynamic at the station was interesting, it had a far more locker room vibe to it than ZB and the eco system again was very delicate. The sports news desk was run by some of the sharpest journalism minds in NZ sport and the daily programming on air was shows hosted by some of the bigger characters I’d come across. I ‘d be lying if I said it was an easy environment to assimilate into at first, I think there was always a bit of wariness to new people, very much a ‘prove yourself’ set up, so that became the goal.

Being honest about it, in hindsight It was obvious that Radio Sport was not what it once was, there was already a lack of zest about the place and there was the small issue of an extremely prominent presenter in particular to navigate that nobody could trust because of their very erratic and public meltdowns on multiple occasions. I guess in short, the culture was iffy and you could feel that.

For me though, It wasn’t a big deal, I sniffed opportunity and that’s what I craved. Daniel McHardy is a champion Kiwi, he is a tough nut but he was enthusiastic, passionate and a very talented broadcaster. Working on a daily sports show for 4 hours of on air time takes a lot of planning and it takes a hell of a lot of creativity. I got a front row seat for years to not only Daniel’s daily work ethic but also pure desire to be accurate and entertaining for the sports fans of New Zealand. As our relationship grew so did our show and the Cantabrian V Wellington bit is one that we hung so many on air minutes on happily. Well I was happy but my team was always winning. We did broadcasts from Cardrona, racecourses, golf courses, I couldn’t look back more fondly on my time in the afternoons at Radio Sport. My initial nine month stint turned into three years and it was the first time I had the luxury of being able to take time to develop.

Of everything Radio Sport provided, the thing I’m most grateful for is the blank canvas it left for me to hone my abilities and make opportunities to be better. I can safely say I wouldn’t be where I am today without a little project me and my good buddy Mitch Powell started in our own time whilst at Radio Sport called ’Stoked’. It was a podcast which currently lies dormant of which we produced nearly 100 episodes and interviewed some excellent Kiwis, talked huge amounts of s**t and shone a light on off beat or extreme sports we didn’t think were getting a fair shake from the mainstream sports media. Stoked grew weekly as our abilities to articulate grew and confidence in what we thought people like us cared about developed. It was the first time I had truly created something that was organic and it was ground up. It might have been smaller scale but the hard work and reward for developing and owning something was addictive, it was worth every second of unpaid time and I am pretty certain Mitch would feel the same.

I think what this point in time at Radio Sport taught me was how to be the bus driver of your own career and I guess, destiny. If you don’t push and you don’t kick the door down to make opportunities for yourself, no one else will. Relationships, projects, businesses, they all spawn from somewhere but they need to spawn in the first place and if you don’t make yourself make the move, things become chance. Chance can’t beat action. Of course it’s impossible to know what crowbarring a crack in a door open might lead to but I think if you have the right energy and ambition you can make what you find into the next stepping stone and again, and again, until there is a real opportunity to maximise.

So, whilst midway through our Stoked on Sport podcast journey, again, all in our spare time but using the New Zealand Herald and Radio Sport platforms, Mitch and me decided inviting what looked like a couple of pretty loose units who were running a rapidly growing social media platform called ‘Boys Get Paid’ on the show would be a fun idea. They were young racing fans and starting to run some punters clubs that looked pretty bootleg but were garnering a lot of interest. Founders of ‘BGP’ Luke Kemeys and Ben Masters came into our podcast studio with a box of green Vodka Cruisers at 10am (true story) and they told us in pretty colourful fashion about their journey with Boys Get Paid. It was a day I won’t forget and in short, I’ve now got a couple of best mates and another chapter to tell you about.

Boys Get Paid and just doing it, next.

12/01/2023

Hey! If you caught my last post you would have seen I’m going to try something a bit different for me and share the four stages of my professional journey during my seven years in Auckland. This is before I make the transition back south to start the next chapter and I’ll explain what they taught me and how they’ve shaped me. I hope I’ve managed to wrap this first effort up into something not too dull and equally representative of how it actually felt to live it. Thanks for reading, slight novel territory.

📖 📻 🎙️

On the 18th of January 2016, I hopped on a bus from my mattress on a damp living room floor on the North Shore and turned up to my first day as an intern journalist at Newstalk ZB. I was close to an hour early despite rehearsing my travel schedule on multiple days the week prior but I was also fully engaged in take-no-chances mode, a mode I stayed in for a number of weeks, probably months in my new day to day.

I think the Broadcasting School’s biggest lasting legacy in my personal psyche at that point in time was, “you’re lucky to get a chance - don’t f**k it up.” It turns out I was extremely lucky too, as my first boss, then longtime big boss at NZME, Jason Winstanley told me in time - they actually had forgotten I’d been employed at all until I emailed the week earlier asking if the internship I moved Islands for was still going ahead.

There is a decent reason things were a bit dicey at ZB during that time, the merger with the NZ Herald had just happened and the teething issues of moving into a brand new shared building downtown were evident. Change was the season and with a gulf in leadership at the very top of the station (wearing noise cancelling headphones daily), it was a precarious time to have a crack at being the bottom of the food chain in an NZX listed media company.

In a way the chaos suited, it’s easy to smile, be keen and helpful, it also presented huge opportunity. The first major card to fall setting my career on the path it would go was the concept of being a show producer instead of a radio news journalist. It was a missing piece in the tertiary system we went through but being able to have hands on impact and create meaningful news or talk radio via producing the programmed shows rather than being bound to writing 30 second radio news stories developed my skillset and confidence faster than I knew was possible. Literally, I barely knew these jobs existed.

The weekdays line up at Newstalk ZB was new, Marcus Lush was back in the nights and Kerre Woodham, then McIvor, had moved into the Afternoons to form a new show with Mark Dye. Larry Williams and Leighton Smith were still the force in their slots and Rachel Smalley’s Early Edition led into some minor Breakfast broadcast hosted by the enigma who is Mike Hosking. Across the years I worked at ZB I was lucky enough to work on all of these broadcasts and with these people (plus a whole lot more, especially in weekends and holidays where the the playground of opportunity existed), and I say lucky because the diversity in personality and needs each show presented really was the most incredible way to learn to produce in totally different environments. Yes, it is one radio station but the eco system was not and is really not that straight forward.

I spent my internship with two shows mostly, Afternoons with Kerre and Mark and Nights with Marcus. If Kez and Mark are reading this I’m sure they are already laughing recounting some of the days we had. The Afternoons experiment was ambitious, it was hilarious, it was exciting and ultimately it probably wasn’t quite right BUT I loved my time involved because It was a baptism of how to try and grow a show, build connection to an audience and fight to craft the idea in your head of how something could sound. I’ve since done a lot of exactly that again and again and it never gets easier but you do learn patience prevails. Some of the moments I had only months or weeks into my career on this show were so weird and so bizarre it is truly hard to explain, but they were crucial and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. The evenings I spent with Marcus Lush are equally as testing to explain, I’ll put it like this. He is one of the most unique people I have ever come across and I had never seen somebody be able to pinpoint the mood of a group of people (his listeners) and then take them on a journey so simply. Newstalk ZB needed Marcus and that was clear, his change of pace and unapologetic individuality was like catnip to the nighttime audience. No one will replicate what Marcus can do with a four hour blank canvas of silence but I soaked up as much as I could from the way he made every show it’s own safari and the way he reads the room of New Zealand. Genius.

There hadn’t been a lot of traditional ‘journalism’ done at this point, I was using my news sense daily but to produce talkback broadcasts rather than interview based news shows. When the opportunity came about to take the step into the that world as assistant producer with Larry Williams Drive & Early Edition I thought I was ready, I probably wasn’t. It was a shock to the system, going from talkback based topics and lifestyle segments to 8+ interviews a show bidding politicians, scouring for international correspondents, reading detailed reports on the economy. The challenge was real, I leant on my bosses and colleagues, I had self doubt about whether I could actually be a journalist, I questioned my intelligence and work ethic, I thought about going back to North Canterbury to pick grapes daily. I’m glad I didn’t. Being 20 and pitching stories on immigration figures or tech start ups to Larry Williams was daunting but it was rewarding, I had to really try, really focus and that pressure became addictive. I was lucky to be surrounded and mentored by amazing producers like the Lauras (there was literally three of them lol), especially Smith who, not much older than me had the task of driving Drive and showing no fear or trepidation in her decision making. I had my beautiful friend Briana there with me working on Hosking’s show, empathising with the stresses of the job. I learnt so much about the actual world producing those shows but somehow learnt more about my own abilities and what could be achieved with no a lot of resource but a great amount of desire to progress and achieve.

There are so many stories, days, moments or loose survey parties I could ramble about from the time I spent at the news and talk behemoth which is Newstalk ZB. There were so many kind and talented people who pointed me in the right direction and gave me the chance to help them, ultimately helping myself. The point of this exercise was to look back at the four relatively obvious phases of my career based in Auckland as I prepare to move and keep building something I can be proud of. When I think about this first period in time and try to sum it up, I think this is about as broad but detailed I need to be.

I turned up on day one in my new life with zero specific expectations but a lot of pressure on myself to find a way to succeed. I had an idea of what a journalist was but no idea how to actually be one. In hindsight I was always going to gain momentum because I wanted it bad enough. What I didn’t know how to do was to truly apply myself. This time at ZB gave me the gaping opportunity to apply myself, it then taught me how to do that with a cool mix of deep end swimming, adrenaline and great people. I felt like I could start to see my own professional potential and after 18 months or so, I guess the only issue was I wasn’t then where I saw my potential growing. That would be my real love, the real reason anyone who knew me, knew why I wanted to work in media. Sport.

Radio Sport, next.

09/01/2023

As my seven year anniversary in Auckland is only days away, I’m fairly confident there won’t be an eighth and if there is, my 2023 plans have really taken a detour.

Currently we’re packing our house up ready to move back to Christchurch, Shan and me have done that thing and bought a house so we thought we better go live in it. I’m staying with SENZ and I’m very grateful for that and their flexibility on being able to progress my life but also keep the job I love, talking sport every morning with a couple of legends and about fast horses on Saturdays.

What I have done a lot of reflecting on very recently is how seven years in Auckland has really felt like a lot longer, professionally. I am quite honestly struggling to explain how much I’ve learnt and different I am as a person because of my experiences and career development. I think I can break my time in Auckland down into four distinct phases of my career in pretty logical fashion by the versions of journalism/broadcasting I was involved with. There’s too many moments and people to individually acknowledge all of them, but there are those who’ve impacted my life to a point not acknowledging them would be ignorant.

So, over the next month I’m going to post four times with the four crucial phases in my professional journey whilst living in Auckland and try and encapsulate as best I can, the opportunity that was given and the development which I took. I personally do believe reflection is necessary for progression and I hope this will put me in good stead for the next seven years, whether they are lived in Christchurch or further.

That means I better get started, at the start. First up I’m going to look back on my first gig, my time at Newstalk ZB from an Intern I’m pretty sure my bosses didn’t know they had signed up for, to a competent and contributing producer at New Zealand’s biggest radio station.

That’s next..

19/07/2022

Been very quiet on this page which I’m not proud of but it’s probably been because I’ve been busy busy with SENZ which I AM super proud of!

One year on air and growing everyday. We’ve had some incredible experiences and done the highs and lows every business/start up experiences during a journey.

Thanks if you’ve listened and as always, really appreciate everyone’s feedback, support and chat along the way.

LHW.

Happy birthday to us! One year old, let there be cake! 🎂🥳

22/07/2021

BIG first week, thanks to everyone who’s reached out over the last few to say good luck or that they’ve been listening. Genuinely has been overwhelming the support we’ve received. 🙏

Going to boot the week home strong with Baz and Izzy tomorrow 6-9am and then you can tune in to myself and Mickey G(uerin) 8-10am Saturday morning setting the day on the punt up in our unique style.

Talking sport and fast horses, living the absolute dream. 🚀🐎

08/07/2021

I think we all know the real answer is Izzy Dagg in an absolute canter.. 🏉

Just over a week out from launch of SENZ, head down bum up time as we get ready to absolutely send it! 🚀 📻

20/05/2021

Melody Belle - Equine Excellence. 🐎

14 x Group Ones in total, an exclusive Australian G1 to her name, multiple distances conquered, a headache and heartbreak for rival stables and horses, five seasons at the top. A marvel.

Jamie Richards has been there the whole time with Te Akau Racing, no one knows the intricacies of the star mare better than him.

This weekend she has one last assignment, another Group One against the best middle distancers in Australasia in Brisbane. This isn’t a cruisy last day on the job, it’s not a wrap up at lunch and head to the pub situation, it’s as tough as it gets. That’s okay though because one thing Jamie knows and I believe is that Melody Belle won’t want to knock off early, she has built a legacy on trying harder than the other horses and Saturday won’t be any different.

Win, place or lose she is an equine icon and she is one of the finest athletes I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Congratulations to Jamie and her connections on being involved with such a marvellous career, I’ll be screaming the great mare home as loud as ever.

Go on The Belle 🔔