Help keep conversations about faith on the radio
21 years ago, our first ever episode of Real Life went live on Newstalk ZB.
Now, 800 guests later, Real Life, hosted by John Cowan, has been an incredible vehicle to bring conversations about faith to a large, mainstream audience - ensuring spirituality is a normal and expected part of each conversation.
Over these two decades, we've featured a number of celebrities talking about their life, work and passions – the likes of Buzz Aldrin, Dame Trelise Cooper, Colin Mochrie, Sam Neill, Hilary Barry and Sir Ian McKellen come to mind, along with 10 different Prime Ministers.
We’ve also hosted a number of prominent Christians on the show – among them Sir Cliff Richard, Cardinal John Dew, Anne Hegerty, Archbishop John Patterson, Jim Hickey, Dave Dobbyn, Paul De Jong, Nick Farr-Jones and Philip Yancey.
In the last six months alone, we’ve interviewed Nikki Bray about how God has led her on a deeply moving journey of forgiveness, Todd Muller on how his faith stayed strong amid his mental health battles as National leader, Kaitlin Aldridge on how Christianity has shaped her journalism, and Prof Philip Bagshaw on how his hope in God sustained him after the tragic death of his son.
Adding to the impact of Real Life, since June last year we’ve been producing weekly articles for the NZ Herald about each episode of the show. Written by Matt Burrows, the Managing Editor of our xvox initiative, these articles have multiplied the reach and influence of these conversations by bringing them to the Herald’s massive print and online audience, which totals more than 2 million weekly readers.
For the past 13 years, Real Life has been made with partial funding from NZ On Air. This ceased at the end of 2023, and the loss of this funding means we need to find $53,600 to ensure that Real Life can continue on, bringing authentic and heartening conversations about faith to a large, mainstream media audience.
Would you help us? Every donation will enable us to continue to put time, resources and energy into sharing with people the love and reality of our Christian faith. Please give as generously as you are able.