Welcome to the Wednesday-Monday-what-day-is-it show! Short weeks tend to throw us off. We spin brand new tracks, and on The Mind Trench, Rob Bollix impersonates elephant seals (as well as telling us a whole bunch about them, too). Rachel chats to Neive Strang about her new single Living In Two, and her upcoming show at Whammy Bar. Batanai Mashingaidze talks to Rachel about Dakota of the White Flats,a punk anarchic noir play for rangatahi. Whakarongo mai nei!
The state of renting in New Zealand has been an important discussion for the past few years. While rent prices continue to increase due to the ongoing housing crisis and high demand, the quality of rentals has remained largely the same. Many renters across New Zealand, especially university students and first-time renters find themselves living in uninsulated and unsafe flats which cost hundreds of dollars a week. Many landlords and property managers in New Zealand do not properly maintain the properties they are renting out to the Healthy Homes Standards which became law in 2019. Despite this, many renters have to stick it out in what are considered to be unhealthy living conditions due to the high demand for renting in New Zealand.
Emily Bell spoke to three university students from across the country about their experiences flatting and flat hunting for the first time, and the changes they would like to see. She also chatted to Green Party MP and spokesperson for renters Chlöe Swarbrick about the power imbalance between renters and landlords and what can be done to improve this. Finally, Emily spoke to Anna Bykova who is a spokesperson for the advocacy group Renters United. Renters United aims to raise awareness and aid those who are experiencing unfair renting situations.
If you would like to fill out the Green Party’s survey regarding renting as well as see what ideas they have to improve renting in New Zealand, you can go to greens.org.nz/reasonable_rents
If you are interested in learning more about Renters United’s Plan to Fix Renting or want to show support to them by donating, you can find all this information on their website at rentersunited.org.nz
Tonight's show was actually entirely curated by bFM's own Samuel Harmony, who sent Oto and Jaycee, not just a playlist, but a stack of CDs and Casettes that he collected while he was in Indonesia as part of the New Zealand Delegation attending AXEAN Festival 2025. Whakarongo mai to experience 2 hours of Psych rock, folk, disco and more by Southeast-Asian artists playing at the festival!
Pōneke shredders Dartz are in Tāmaki Makaurau for their EP release show at Whammy Backroom tonight. Danz popped in to studio to have a chat this morning about crappy flats, illustration, and road trip tunes. Whakarongo mai nei!
Ol' mate Kirin J Callinan is in Aotearoa and popped in to chat about his brand new record label Worse Records. Tune in to hear about the project and to hear tracks from three artists on the label: Hubert Lenoir, Seconds Flat, and Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders.
Tonight on Friendly Potential Radio, we hear from two Tāmaki touchstones - Friends Of All The World and Carlotta.
Friends Of All The World is an undersung producer and deejay who haunts Bandcamp and K Rd. Def check out his catalogue at friendsofalltheworld.bandcamp.com. He starts off with a witching hour set recorded at his brother's flat in Naarm.