Saturday Morning RNZ Radio

We're heading to Gore, where the Gold Guitar Awards are in full swing as part of the Tussock country festival. It's one of New Zealand's most prestigious country music events, drawing contestants from around the world to converge on the Southland town to celebrate country music and compete for a chance at the top prize. We'll talk to RNZ's Samuel Robinson who's in town, soaking up the music, learning how to line dance and make cheese rolls. Plus we'll catch up with Kiwi country singing legend Jodi Vaughan who is being inducted into the hands of fame.

Since launching his YouTube channel four years ago, Max Miller has amassed more than two million of subscribers - all tuning in for his videos that fuse history lessons with a cooking show. Neither a trained chef or historian, Los Angeles-based Miller fell into the world of being a YouTuber when he was furloughed from his job at Disney due to the Covid pandemic. His videos, which are thoroughly researched and well-produced, span thousands of years and all four corners of the globe - and even delve into the outer space culinary experience. Some of his most popular videos include "Making Medieval Mead like a Viking", "Dining First Class on the RMS Titanic", and "Macaroni Cheese from 1845". Some of his recipes have even been collated into a cookbook, Tasting History: Explore the Past through 4,000 Years of Recipes, which was released last year.

Donald Trump is a convicted felon. A New York jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels. He intends to appeal, and major Republican donors say they're willing to back him still, despite his criminal record, but what does Trump's guilty verdict do for the Republican Party's hopes for re-election? American political commentator and 2016 Republican candidate Lenny McAllister joins Susie from Pensylvannia.

A phenomenon that hasn't occurred since 1803 is in full swing. Trillions of periodical cicadas are emerging in a rare double event. Brood XIX and XIII are either above ground, or emerging in 17 states, from Chicago through the Midwest. It's the first time in 221 years that these two broods have come above ground in the same place at the same time. Professor of biology at George Washington University, John Lill and his research team are in Chicago observing birds and other species feasting on a cicada banquet, which is changing their diet and causing much disruption to the food chain. John Lill has written about the consequences of this shift in avian foraging in Science.

A "miserable" moment on the banks of Lake Wakatipu was the initial inspiration for Matt Heath's new book A Life Less Punishing: 13 Ways To Love the Life You've Got. The radio host and writer tells Susie Ferguson we all have the power to change our own mindset for the better.

Some of the world's humanitarian crises are well known - Gaza and Ukraine for example - but many more are less likely to make international news: Chad and Sudan. One of the organisations operating wherever there is conflict is Médecins Sans Frontières or Doctors Without Borders. It's working in a world emerging from the covid pandemic, with inflation rampant and people increasingly disconnecting from bad news. MSF's International President, Dr Christos Christou is a trauma surgeon with extensive experience working in warzones.