Morning Report celebrates 50 years on air

At 7am on April 1, 1975 the theme played and Canadian Joe Cote introduced a programme that today ticked over 50 years - Morning Report. Today is its golden anniversary.

Mike Lee was Editor that first day. He described the shock it was to listeners who were used to listening to music as "suddenly this programme came on between seven and eight and shattered their listening pleasure".

The Director General of Radio New Zealand, Geoffrey Whitehead in the Listener said of Joe Cote, "they kind of loved him or hated him, but he was a kind of icebreaker for the whole programme. It's not that we set out to rock the boat but people were just so shocked to hear something happening on the National Programme".

Bill Rowling was Prime Minister in 1975 and came on the first programme to wish all his best for the new venture.

In 1977, Prime Minister Rob Muldoon classified himself as a regular listener and said he quite often managed to hear the whole programme.

Presenters Geoff Robinson and Des Fahy followed on from Joe Cote. Geoff Robinson's career went from 1975 till 2014. In a quote in The Listener in 1977, Head of News Buzz Harte described Geoff this way: "In an era of rampant egos, he's got great humility; he talks to you not at you or down to you".

Then it was Lindsay Perigo and Maggie Barry.

For Morning Report's 40th anniversary, Maggie said of her appointment on Morning Report and Good Morning New Zealand from 1986, "the audience of National Radio has always been a little resistant to change and very vocal and insisted on high standards so I copped a bit of flak as the first woman presenter on Morning Report with what was described as a tragic Kiwi accent and many bemoaned the fact there were no decent male announcers left in the country".

Then of course there was Kim Hill who went to TV then came back.

She said: "It is true of Morning Report [it] is a strange, dimly lit, intense experience largely because you get up in the middle of the night of course, it marks you for the rest of your life."

More than a 100 producers and editors have worked the unsocial hours that bring you Morning Report each weekday morning.

They include early Editors Mike Lee, Ken Gibson, Nick Turner, Kelvin Dick and Dennis Reich.

The first executive editor was Colin Feslier then Allen Walley and since 1999 Martin Gibson has been in the job.

Morning Report newsreaders included Philip Sherry, Bill Saunders, Peter Fry, Peter Sledmere, Boris Moiseiwitsch, Hewitt Humphrey, Warwick Burke, and of course, Nicola Wright.

International correspondents including Judy Lessing and Connie Lawn in the US, Keith Chalkley and Wayne Brittenden in London and Ranjan Gupta in India became household names. Connie Lawn who was a White House correspondent even wrote a book about working for Radio New Zealand.

Then there were the rapid fire fruit and veg reports from Jack Forsyth.

Linda Rose presented with Geoff for two years in the early 90s before Mike Hosking joined the programme from commercial radio.

In 2015, at the time of the 40th anniversary, Mike Hosking looked back at his appointment, and described it as a controversial choice.

"I remember standing in the supermarket line and I picked up the Evening Post and on the editorial pages were letters from people from leafy and refined areas of Wellington like Khandallah and they were talking about their indignation and despair that the end of the world had come to National Radio and it would never be the same again and there was this headline 'nasal whining not welcome'."

Sean Plunket occupied the seat for 13 years and was famous for his run-ins with politicians such as Winston Peters and Shane Jones.

In an article in the Sunday Star Times in June 2008 he said he did not consider himself an aggressive interviewer and it was better to call it assertive or direct - "or I'll bop you in the nose".

On the 30th anniversary then-Opposition Leader Don Brash congratulated Morning Report and Sean and Geoff for making the programme that everyone with a strong interest in current affairs is obliged to listen to.

Prime Minister Helen Clark paid tribute to Geoff Robinson saying, "he has just gone on and on and on with just the most fantastic high quality interviewing always pleasant always reasonable but firm."

Morning Report came out of two cities Wellington and Auckland, with the appointment of Simon Mercep in 2011 following Sean's departure, and then Geoff Robinson retired on the 1st of April 2014, the programme's 39th birthday.

During Geoff's final programme, RNZ was inundated with good wishes for him and newspapers, websites and TV channels documented his legacy.

He said to The Press after his last programme, "I feel it is time to retire but I know there will be a big gap in my life tomorrow. I won't miss getting up at 3.30".

Then-Government Minister and future National party leader, Simon Bridges, texted into the programme that morning, "my wife just told me she cried when she heard Geoff Robinson's leaving Morning Report. She says she wakes up with him more than me".

Geoff said, "For me it's been a job that I've been able to come to work and enjoy - you're very lucky when you have that".

Guyon Espiner and Susie Ferguson were next on deck for the early shift, Guyon in Auckland and Susie in Wellington.

Guyon describes it as a real privilege to work on Morning Report with all its history. He says it's the sheer volume and pace which is the real challenge of the show. "One minute you're speaking to someone across the world in some international conflict zone, the next minute there's a New Zealand politician live on the line."

Corin Dann joined Susie Ferguson in 2019, and said when looking back at his time so far, "you never know how any programme is going to play out, but it's a great thrill and a huge honour to do the job".

As well as broadcasting from the studio, Corin has come live from the US for two elections and from London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.

And most recently, Ingrid Hipkiss joined the programme in 2023. She describes presenting as "a dream job for any journalist and two years on I am still pinching myself. We are just so lucky to have the opportunity to interview so many people."

Speaking about the programme, long time editor Martin Gibson said, "Morning Report has never stepped back from providing RNZ listeners the views and perspectives that allow them to make up their own minds about the events of the day. Our aim is to inform without bent or bias, cover all the major local and international news stories, bring to our audience breaking news as it happens, hold the powerful to account and reflect Aotearoa New Zealand back at ourselves".

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