Country Calendar celebrates 60 years with Dan Henry

For six decades, Country Calendar has marked the lives of New Zealand's farmers, growers, and rural communities. More than half a million people, both rural and urban audiences, tune-in to watch our longest-running television show.

If anything is an institution in our cultural landscape, it is TVNZ's Country Calendar. Joining the conversation is the voice behind the show, and its producer, Dan Henry.

Episode Transcript

(00:09):
You're listening to Blue Sheep Diary.
Who did you write since podcast for farmers and growers?
My name is Milton Monroe, national technical team manager
and your host. And I'm gonna say, folks, we are
in rarefied ear today. For 60 years, Country Calendar
has marked the lives of New Zealand's farmers, growers and
rural communities. Each week more than half a

(00:30):
million people. TuneIn, if anything, is an
institution in their cultural landscape.
It has to be our longest runningtelevision show, Country
Calendar. Joining the conversation today
is Dan Henry, producer and voiceof TVNZ Country Calendar.
Welcome to the show, Dan. Thank you very much for having
me, Milton. Ohh, it is an absolute pleasure

(00:51):
to have you on and I have to geta little bit of fanboy gushing
out of the way. Like most people in the rural
industry, some of my earliest memories are sitting around the
TV as a family growing up and inrural Southland watching Country
Calendar, Pikes, Procurious Sly balanced on our knees was the
only time we were ever allowed to watch TV and have dinner.

(01:14):
So it was. It was quite a special moment
growing up. Yeah, yeah.
That'd be a very familiar scene,I think for so many listeners
and viewers around the country. It's certainly been an
institution and that time slot and just a terrific way to go
into the working week. Celebrating a diamond
anniversary, 60 years, that is an incredible accomplishment.

(01:37):
And you've already said it is. It's a rural institution.
And not just rural as well, I guess a lot of people in our
cities and towns actually enjoy watching it too.
What do you think's made it thatinstitution for New Zealand?
Well, chief among those reasons is its longevity.
I think it, you know, anything that has been around

(01:58):
consistently for 60 years is just part of the fabric of who
we are. You know, it's, it's so
familiar. That's, that's part of it.
Programme has constantly strivedto stay relevant and to evolve
with the times. And because we're, we're sort of
gimmick Free TV, the way we makethe show is classic, simple

(02:21):
storytelling. It doesn't.
We, we, we worked hard to not draw attention to the way we
tell the stories. We just try and hold up a lens
to rural New Zealand and showcase the great things that
have been done in the country bysome fantastic people.
And so with that, we're not drawing attention to the fact
that it's television. It should feel like people just

(02:42):
watching the programme through awindow and seeing what's going
on in the country. And so that has allowed us to
move with the times and, and reflect what's going on.
And you know, that's why a programme you'll see, you know,
on a Sunday night this year is as rewarding and fulfilling and
joyous as you know something youmay have watched in 1971.
How do you choose your stories? I'm sure they'd be many of our

(03:04):
farmers and growers out there that would love a chance to be
showcased. How do you how do you pick the
right ones to do a story? On there's a raft of different
criteria that we put up against any potential story idea, but
our programmes have to be the sort of story that is gonna make
up a top prime time half hour attelly.

(03:25):
That's, you know, we're competing against some pretty
noisy, shiny, you know, brand new programmes on other channels
and and and competition for eyeballs and 2026 has never been
more fierce, right. There's so many options for
viewing. You can, you know, there's any
number of streaming platforms orthere's YouTube and TikTok and

(03:45):
and you can watch on your phone or the iPad or the laptop, all
the television or whatever. So competition is fierce.
So our stories have to be a cut above.
Not just any old yarn will do so.
So we go looking for stories ourselves and we've got about 10
directors work on the programme and when they're out and about
in the country, they're rubbing shoulders and running into

(04:07):
characters, you know, up and down the country.
Um, so word of mouth is, is a big one for us.
We get stories through there. We've got a researcher who
trawls through the industry papers that, you know, magazines
and the weeklies and things, youknow, looking for stories we
might not have touched. The characters that we feature

(04:28):
have got to be the sort of person you'd want to spend half
an hour with on your Sunday night.
They've got to be able to stringa sentence together and, and
they've got to, they've got to want to do it.
So it's got to be, they've got to be front footing the story
and be a little bit proud or passionate about what they're
doing. Shrinking violets, you know,
don't make fur 1/2 hour a good telly.

(04:50):
So, but you know the other thingtoo, Milton, obviously we're
always looking for variety. We can't do 40 sheep and beef
stories a year. The sheep and beef families
would love that, I'm sure, but the dairy, dairy farming
families not so much. So we've got to strike the right
balance of meeting the viewers expectations and also offering

(05:13):
enough variety across the year that people don't get sick of
it. You've already raised a really
interesting point, you know, in the age of TikTok clips and
Instagram three hours and YouTube Shorts, we're consuming
this fast, short, sharp, snappy,you've got 30 seconds.
There's your tidbit, off you go.And yet country calendar you

(05:33):
still take your time, your taller story, you, you, you, you
build the audience through that journey.
Has there ever been a thought that you you, you need to change
that? You need to country calendar
shorts or. We you've you've stuck on
something that yeah, that is so relevant and, you know, country

(05:54):
calendar is on TikTok. Tell your friends we're up there
doing, we're not doing the sillydances so much, you know, or
whatever the current trends are,but we're trying to, we're
trying to post some short form. Don't think we've got, we've got
a huge back catalogue of 1600 episodes from over the last 60
years. So we're trying to serve some of
that up and and I guess catch the eye of a new generation of

(06:15):
viewers. So that's one thing.
But I think one of our strengthsis the slower pace of the
stories that we tell, you know, because it's not just the media,
the way you've described it withthe, the speeding up of
everything, but everything around us.
You know, like you, every time you sit in front of your
computer and turn it on, it says, ohh, I need to update.

(06:35):
I need to, you know, refresh anddo another thing.
And, you know, we constantly finding that life is faster and
quicker and there's more noise and it's a lot, right?
So on Sunday night at 7:00, if we serve up a sort of a slower
pace of storytelling and, and just allow you to hear the wind
through the trees or, you know, the distant dog working up and
doing a backup on the hilltop or, you know, the the footfall

(06:58):
of a herd of cows as their hooves, you know, treat over the
gravel. Those kinds of things just help
you to relax and ease you into the story.
And the writings show that people are here for it, you
know? You're right, it is a little bit
of a meditative process. You do just slow down, take a
breath and and it is actually quite nice to have something

(07:19):
that does take you on a journey but doesn't rush you through it.
Never mind the fact that it doesprovide a fantastic source of
water cooler conversations for the Monday and Tuesday in the
office or wherever I might find myself at some point in time.
Someone's going to ask for my thoughts on what was on country
calendar. Do I agree with that?
Do I like that? And you have those fodder for

(07:43):
conversations up and down the country and across the rural
communities. That's great.
That's good to hear. That's good to hear.
You've still got a water cooler to turn up to Milton.
You know, so many of us are working remotely and I think I
think that's part of it's another of the strengths of the
show is that it is harks back toa time, you know, it started
when there was only one panel inthe country and and for many of

(08:06):
its years on screen, you had a choice of two channels only.
So so television viewing was a unified common experience.
You would all have been watchingthe same thing because there
were no other things to watch. So the fact that we have a foot
and neck camp and allude to thattime, I think has is one of its

(08:28):
strengths. Absolutely.
And there's something to be saidfor the heritage that we have
got as an industry and sort of it is something I think that is
a primary industry we are prettyproud of.
So yeah, itself beloved by farmers, but also by our urban
cousins as well. Now for a show that's that's
based on New Zealand's rural landscape, and we're quite often

(08:50):
told, rightly or wrongly, that there is this rural urban
divide, what do you think the attraction is for so many of our
urban viewers to tune in on a Sunday night?
Yeah, I mean, you're stuck on something that's so key to the
identity of the programme. And New Zealanders live in
towns. That's, that's just the
statistical fact now, you know, and I think when the show
started, obviously our rural towns and and farming service

(09:13):
towns and things were much more heavily populated, relatively
speaking. But now we've got 2 million
people living in Auckland. And so that's just the fact of
life that our programme needs toappeal to and urban audience and
the rural sector and I, and we need both of those populations,
both of those viewerships to make the show what it is and

(09:34):
make it authentic. But firstly, it needs to be
real. It needs to be authentic.
It needs to genuinely tell stories about what farmers are
up to, what's happening on the land, how people are feeling
about things, what their concerns are and and you know,
what their challenges and triumphs have been.
So needs to reflect things accurately, but it needs to be

(09:55):
digestible and understandable toto tell lies.
That's a fine line to balance and sometimes if I guess if we
done things down a little bit touse that terrible term for
people who may not know the difference, may not be so
familiar with some of the farming technical terms.
I think that's okay. Because, you know, we're just

(10:16):
making sure that we're not alienating our rural folk.
Because if the programme cease to be relevant to farmers and
was just some lifestyle nonsense, then before before
long our urban audience would stop watching too, because they
would get the wind that it's notactually genuine farming.
It's just sort of made-up or, orit's not real and it's not

(10:38):
gritty and it's not proper and it's not its scale.
And I think people would switch off.
So we need, we need everybody totune in and watch, yeah.
And then look at it, it's obviously a testament to your
success there that we're celebrating 60 years this year.
So fantastic. Let's talk a little bit about
yourself then. You know you're an important

(10:59):
part of the show, the voice thatlinks everything together.
How long have you been involved with with Country Calendar?
But joined the show in 2008. I, I'm a freelance director by
trade, 30 years in the business and was doing a range of
different programmes at the time, current affairs and

(11:19):
documentary and, and a bit of kids TV and cooking shows and,
and what have you. But I got the call from then
producer Julian O'Brien saying, would I have some time to do an
episode of Country calendar? Is that something I'd be
interested in? And you know, I didn't need to
think very long at all about that question.
It was, yes, please, where do I,where do I turn up and what

(11:41):
time? And that role has grown for me,
obviously over the last 1718 years.
I, I directed one story that season for the 2009 season, and
then that grew to two stories the following year.
And before long I was associate producer and, and helping to
produce the programme and share that workload and then took on

(12:01):
the narrating duties in 2016 from Frank, Frank Torley.
So yeah, it's, it's a more than a full time job wrangling our
fantastic team of 28 or 30 odd people.
It's a, it's a, it's a huge job to produce 40 prime time half
hours of, of telly and a lot of moving parts.

(12:22):
As you might have mentioned, youknow, we're, we're out in all
weathers and, and all corners ofthe country.
And it's a, it's a tricky 1 to line things up ahead of time.
Obviously we, we need to fit in with the farming calendar and
what's happening on farm. And, and sometimes things don't
always go to plan when we might have teed up travel plans to go
and film a story in a particularspot.
And then those plans change because the stock trucks not

(12:44):
coming any longer or the woolshed burnt down or, you
know, whatever it may be. And we need to be adaptable and,
and move with those plans. So that that's a big amount of
my time is just sort of creatingan environment where our amazing
team can do their best work and bring the best stories to our
viewers. Do you?

(13:05):
Yourself come from a rural background or.
I do not I'm a townie through and through and I have a huge
love for, you know, the incredible parts of our country,
the rural landscapes and and thegreat people we encounter out
there. Thoroughly enjoy my time and
that but you know I I a total imposter farm and and you know I

(13:26):
I felt that keenly when I first began.
I did feel a real sense of Oh myGod, what if they find out?
I don't know how to back a trailer or a, you know, tie off
AA fencing God or whatever it was.
But I think coming from a standing start like that and,
and being unfamiliar has allowedme to kind of see things through

(13:47):
the eyes of the audience and, and have some of those dumb
questions maybe that people are too afraid to ask or whatever,
you know, because if, if it's not, if I don't know the answer,
then most of the viewers may need to have it explained as
well. So.
Yeah, gives you a real differentperspective, especially when you
got to try and thread that needle for making something
that's entertaining for both therural community and for the

(14:09):
urban centres in New Zealand. That's why.
Look, given that you've been involved with Country Calendar
for nearly 20 years, I do have to ask this question.
It's a bit of an awful one, to be fair.
You've got to have a favourite. Sorry, you've got to have a
favourite episode. Which one you?
Wanna be ohh, there are so many and it seems like a cop out.
But because they're all so good and so enjoyable, because we

(14:33):
have such a good process of a rigorous process of filtering
things before we actually go outand film it.
The quality of our of the peoplewe meet and the places we go is
so high. I've always enjoyed the stories
that allow us to get to places where you'd otherwise have no
chance of getting to or no business going or, you know,

(14:54):
you're not going to just drive past it and see it.
So some of those wild places like the top of the car bringing
range and Nelson and spending a week under canvas with some pest
control goat hunters wiping out the last of the goats in that
range. Just really fond memories of, of

(15:17):
the sort of adventures, you know, having to carry the tripod
and the camera and the sound gear for 10 hours on foot uphill
and down Dale and, and just to sort of find this one goat that
the dog had bailed up. But it completely joyous with
Jason and Sean and his and his great team crayfishing and and
dusky sound and being moored up and lunch and Cove off Anchor

(15:39):
Island and waking in the night to hear kakapo booming on those
predator free islands down there.
You know, so many great stories and, and, and also just some
sheep and beef farms where people are just trying things a
bit differently. You know, a great time spent in
February last year on devastation just out of Tiano

(16:03):
with McDonald family there. And they were just such lovely
people to hang out with for a week.
And, and, you know, the, the kids, they're all just trying
something a little bit different, you know, creating
woollen jerseys from the farm's own wool clip, selling them at
the farm gate. And it was quite a good snapshot
of what the programme does. It's sort of traditional tightly

(16:27):
held family farm where they do mustering on horseback and, you
know, big mobs of sheep and things, but with a modern twist
and and, you know, trying some breeding initiatives to improve
the wall and then, you know, selling these high quality
garments at the farm gate. So, you know, a foot in the past
and a foot in the future. You've already mentioned, you

(16:49):
know you've got to put together 40 episodes in a calendar year,
and that requires quite a team of people to be able to do it.
How many people do you actually have working at any one time?
A lot, yeah. We have a big team.
And it would be, you know, I think we're about 28 strong.
And so everyone who works on theshow, freelancers, so they're

(17:10):
all contractors, TV professionals.
And so they have other work thatfills their calendar year.
But for for many of us on the programme, this is the main
event. It's the, it's the best game in
town and, and one of the biggest.
So, you know, on, on a busy, busy shoot periods are probably
between October. You know, there's summer months

(17:30):
between October and March. I'd, I'd like to tell you we're
still in summer in Wellington, but I've got to be honest, it's
been a bit rubbish. I think we, we had summer last
week on Tuesday and, and boy, itwas good.
No, so busy shooting times for us are over this summer months
and on, on a, on any given week in February or March, we might

(17:51):
have four different crews out there working.
So we've got 3 or 4 camera operators who are regulars with
us and the same amount of sound recordists and then 10 or so
directors who, and we mix and match our, our teams according
to who's available and, and who's best suited to any given
job and you know, those kinds ofthings.

(18:12):
So yeah, we're, we're pretty flat stick throughout the year.
When I joined the programme, there were only 24 or 26
episodes year. So we would genuinely we we
would probably not be filming through the winter months
because there's not much happening on farm during those
periods. But now with 40, you know, we
are, we are looking for stories that, you know, where there is

(18:36):
something we can capture in Junejust to keep things ticking
along. And and that's allowed us
probably to devil and stories that demonstrate a bit more
variety too. So, you know, that might be a
bit more horticulture, you know,a couple more fishing stories,
if we can find some good ones on, you know, and, and just
showcase a few different things that are happening out there.

(18:57):
And you know, people respond well to that.
I think the variety is is something that really appeals to
people. 60 years, What are you doing to celebrate?
This going to be something we have to be in on the secret we
we had a. Bit of a party in Wellington a
couple of week or a week ago to mark the occasion.

(19:18):
And we, you know, raised a glassto the old girl.
We had a, we had a cake. We piggybacked that party off.
It was a production meeting essentially with our staff.
We, you know, bring people together because we're all work
remotely in this modern age and,and it's, we don't often get
everyone together in the one room.
So we had a bit of a strategy session which involved cutting a

(19:40):
cake and blowing out some candles.
But really, the, the the way theprogram's marking the occasion
is to not not just have a A1 offspecial programme and then leave
it in the past where we're celebrating throughout the year.
So at the end of every one of our episodes this season, we've
got a little clip from a sort ofa remember win moment from a

(20:02):
past episode, one of our greatest hits, if you like, from
the last 60 years. So that little moment as a
pointer to, you know, the, the viewers can go online to TVNZ
plus and see the rest of that whole episode.
And, you know, by the end of theyear, there will be 40 odd old
shows up there on online. So you know, our treasure trove
of 1600 episodes up there in thearchive.

(20:27):
We're just trying to shed some light on that and and.
Given in another run, some of these programmes have not been
seen since they heard and you know, 1972 or whatever it may
be. So they're definitely deserving
of another look. A little bit, yeah.
It's fantastic way to go and celebrate their history in the
primary industry and certainly the impact the country calendar

(20:48):
has had. One last question for you, Dan.
I'm going to finish on a bit of a philosophical 1 try and get
you to just sum up in a nutshell.
What story does Country Calendartell us about New Zealand?
What's your mark on that? On air, air, air, communal,
rural. Psyche I think Hyundai Country
Calendar really demonstrates thebest of New Zealanders.

(21:10):
You know it, it's at its best. It's a look at who we are and
what's good about us and our landscape.
You know, we've got, It demonstrates the resourcefulness
and the resilience, the pride and the passion that our farmers
have for what they do and, you know, just how hard working and

(21:33):
humble they are. I think those qualities,
qualities that New Zealanders view and, you know, they, that's
just who we are. And so the fact that they're on
the land is, is almost irrelevant, you know, because we
can watch that programme and seesomething of ourselves in it, no
matter what their background. So yeah, I I think it's just a

(21:53):
showcase of ordinary New Zealanders, but the very best of
us all. What a fantastic way to sum up a
great interview. Hey, listen, thank you for
telling your story. And here's the 60 years and made
many more Roland. Thank you very much and thank
you for watching. And you know, long may it

(22:14):
continue. Milgram.
Fantastic, brilliant. All the best in and all the best
for the rest of the year. Thank you for joining the
conversation of Blue Chip Diary.Be sure to give us a follow for
more great content about and forour farmers and growers.
Until next time.