One week until Christmas and as is normally the case at this time of year, you look back and go “wow, that year went quick,” which is such a cliche, but most likely because it’s true. A year ago I was the sound engineer / DJ / unofficial tennis guy at Club Med in the Whitsunday Islands, Australia, amidst 18 months of travels around the world while taking time-out from my broadcasting career. Six months later I’d left Club Med and accepted a job with Princess Cruises to be an Assistant Cruise Director (in charge of on-board entertainment) and returned to New Zealand briefly to sort out the paperwork.

While back in Auckland, it became apparent there was going to be a bit of work going at New Zealand’s number one rated radio station Newstalk ZB and if I wanted it, I could be hosting overnight talkback anywhere from one night a week to four. The dilemma was: do I continue the world adventures, or do I return to New Zealand radio with only a guarantee of part-time work, but in a new discipline (talk radio, rather than music)? Right there was the big fork in the road, but the feeling that three months exploring Asia, several months in Canada and eight months up and down the east coast of Australia represented an OE to be pretty thankful for, I chose the vocation I love and missed.

Five months after touching down in Auckland again, full-time ZB host Pat Brittenden announced his resignation and the pieces fell into place for the next phase of my career. From January, I will take up where Pat has left off and host three overnight talkback shifts a week, plus one Sunday evening programme. With more than 400,000 listeners, being part of the ZB team is not only an honour, but the biggest challenge of my broadcasting career and one I can’t wait for.

As ZB breakfast host Mike Hosking told me in a very kind text message after my first week on-air, overnight talkback can be a death-pit of misery and madness, or intelligent and thought provoking. He told me I was nailing it, though didn’t specify whether it was the former or the latter. Modestly assuming he meant the best, I am under no illusion there is a long way to go to achieve what I want to be capable of in broadcasting but regardless, if you have listened in, then I thank you for that. Have a wonderful Christmas and best wishes for 2012. To Pat in particular, may next year be all you hope it to be – all the very best.

It wouldn’t be Christmas (at least for me) without the Bee Gees, mainly because it wouldn’t be any time of year without the Bee Gees. So here we go! This a brand new release from Bee Gee Barry Gibb, all about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan this year. The song is called Grey Ghost and is indicative of the compassion found in much of Barry’s writing, alongside the mastery of melody he’s had ever since he received that first guitar as a gift more than 50 years ago. Merry Christmas.