Radio Sport – One Year On. Part 2

Where are they now?

Kent Johns

Kent Johns has started his own company, ‘Kent Johns Health’ where he helps his clients achieve their health goals, whether they are physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. Johns is a regular guest on Newstalk ZB’s ‘The Weekend Collective’ during their ‘The Health Hub’ feature between 4pm and 5pm on Sunday afternoons.

Nathan Rarere

In the months after Radio Sport closed down, Nathan Rarere worked for Māori Television covering sports events. Since the start of 2021, he has been the permanent host of RNZ’s 5-6am show  ‘First Up’. He also still works closely with former colleague Marc Peard (see below).

Marc Peard

Just hours after the cancellation, Marc made sure the Breakfast team got together on Facebook Live to ‘Let it ride’ one final time, via his page ‘Marc Peard Sports. He continued to pump out the content along with Rarere and retired NRL star Blake Ayshford in the weeks and months that followed via the ‘Daily Debrief’ and creating shows such as ‘League and Order.’ More recently, Peard has been developing a new quiz show for TVNZ, and next month will be taking over as the producer of the Mai FM breakfast show, ‘Mai Morning Crew’.

Jason Pine

Jason Pine prepares and reads news bulletins for Newstalk ZB Wellington on weekday mornings and presents the Wellington edition of the ‘All Sports Breakfast’ on Saturday mornings. He has recently been NZME’s lead commentator for Hurricanes home games. He has been writing for the New Zealand Herald, primarily covering the Wellington Phoenix. He also works for Sky Sport on a contracting basis, as a lead commentator for domestic football matches. Last week Pine resigned from NZME and he has been named as the Content Manager for SENZ.

Sam Hewat

Sam Hewat has developed and launched ‘After the Whistle’, a website that brings the entertaining stories of Kiwi athletes, in their own words, direct to the reader. Contributors so far include Jess Kerr, Ewen Chatfield, Eric Murray, Nathan Brown and Louis Fenton.

Daniel McHardy

After Radio Sport finished, Daniel McHardy had a break and enjoyed being a father. He did some cricket commentary for Spark Sport during the summer but has now ‘moved on to the next challenge professionally’. Daniel says that it has nothing to do with sport but apart from that, his lips are sealed….for now.

Louis Herman-Watt

Louis Herman-Watt continues to produce radio shows for NZME and was the producer of the network’s recent America’s Cup Coverage. He is heavily involved in producing and presenting content for horse racing community ‘Boys Get Paid’ which includes Facebook Live and a Saturday morning show called ‘The Bottomless Punt’. He is also the co-presenter and producer of the ‘Outta The Screws’ golf podcast alongside Phil Tataurangi.

D’Arcy Waldegrave

D’Arcy Waldegrave continues to be employed full time by NZME and presents ‘Sportstalk’ on Newstalk ZB, Tuesday to Friday evenings, along with the ‘All Sports Breakfast’ each Saturday morning out of their Auckland studio.

Angus Mabey

Angus Mabey produces the ‘All Sports Breakfast’ in Auckland with D’Arcy and also produces various shows as required across Newstalk ZB. He is also a referee for Auckland Rugby and is part of New Zealand Rugby’s National Referee Squad.

Nigel Yalden

Nigel Yalden is the lead commentator on NZME for Chiefs home matches in Super Rugby. He has commentated on rugby, football, water polo, track & field and BMX for Sky Sport. He also runs his own Facebook page, ‘Nigel Yalden Sports’ which includes a regular Facebook Live Q&A session each week, called ‘Wednesday Nite with Nige.’ This and other content from the page is also available via podcast. Nigel also does MC assignments, occasional shifts for a landscape supplies business in Hamilton and most importantly, concentrates of being a good husband and father.

Brian Ashby

Brian Ashby prepares and reads sports news bulletins for Newstalk ZB Christchurch on weekday mornings and is NZME’s lead commentator for Crusaders home games. He also covers events such as the Ironman NZ and Coast to Coast for NZME.

Jim Kayes

Jim Kayes had a short spell at Radio Sport presenting the Radio Sport Weekender. He currently has a number of roles. He is the editor of NZ Rugby World and produces ‘The Breakdown’ on Sky Sport. He is the media manager for Softball NZ and the New Zealand Ocean Swim Series. He provides advice to Surf Lifesaving NZ and often works in a MC capacity. He also runs his own Facebook page, ‘Jim Kayes Media’.

Matt Buck

Matt Buck’s full time role was and remains that of Registrar Team Manager at The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. He has continued his role as sideline commentator for NZME at Hurricanes home matches. He also performed presenting duties for NZME when the All Blacks played Australia at Wellington’s Sky Stadium last year.

Elliott Smith

Elliott Smith continues to work for NZME, primarily on the news desk, preparing and reading sports news bulletins. He has continued to be the lead commentator for home matches for the Blues. He has also become the lead commentator for All Blacks matches for the network, with his first match being the 16-16 draw between the All Blacks and Australia in Wellington last October. He has also been presenting Newstalk ZB shows including the ‘All Sports Breakfast’, ‘The Devlin Radio Show’ and ‘Sportstalk’.

Mark Kelly

Since January this year, Mark has been the full time producer for Gold AM’s weekday breakfast show, ‘The Country Sport Breakfast’ where he works alongside presenter (and his father) Brian Kelly.

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