Real Life With John Cowan

Real Life With John Cowan

John Cowan hosts ‘Real Life’, a weekly nationwide chat show on Newstalk ZB featuring a different high-profile guest every week. John talks with them about their life, their upbringing, their passions and their view of the world.

Episodes

November 16, 2025 23 mins

Jon became CEO of Consumer NZ in 2020. Jon has enjoyed a varied career in the consumer protection field, including roles as Assistant Privacy Commissioner, Head of Trust & Safety at online marketplace Trade Me and as a Senior Investigator at New Zealand’s competition authority, the Commerce Commission. Jon and his team also keep traders honest by calling out illegal or unethical conduct when it occurs.

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November 2, 2025 22 mins
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October 26, 2025 24 mins

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October 19, 2025 23 mins
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October 12, 2025 23 mins

Nadia Lim is a New Zealand chef, nutritionist, and farmer who lives and works on Royalburn Station — her family’s high-country farm on the Crown Range in Central Otago — with her husband Carlos and their three sons. At Royalburn, Nadia leads a regenerative approach to food production, growing grains and seeds, producing pasture-raised eggs, honey, and vegetables, and raising what she proudly calls the world’s best lamb. A qualified...

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October 5, 2025 25 mins

David Bussau, founder of Opportunity International Australia, began life in an Anglican boys’ home and started his entrepreneurial journey at 15 with a rented hotdog stand. After building several successful businesses, he turned to aid work following Cyclone Tracey and an earthquake in Bali, where he realised traditional aid didn’t break poverty cycles. Pioneering microfinance, he gave a $50 loan to Indonesian farmer Ketut Suwiria,...

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September 28, 2025 23 mins

Creed Bratton is an American musician and actor, best known for playing a fictionalised version of himself on NBC’s The Office. A former member of the 1960s rock band The Grass Roots, he has also released several solo albums. He studied drama at the College of the Sequoias and Sacramento State College before leaving to travel and pursue music. His acting credits include films such as Mask and The Sisters Brothers, and TV shows like...

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September 21, 2025 24 mins

Greg Murphy is a NZ motorsport icon whose impact on V8 Supercars is indisputable. Known for his fearless approach and ability to perform against the odds, he has earned a reputation as one of the sport’s greats, with over 400 race starts, multiple Bathurst 1000 victories, and stints with some of Australasia’s top teams.

Beyond the track, Murph has become a familiar voice and face as a commentator and motorsport TV presenter. He is ...

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September 14, 2025 25 mins

This week, John's guest will be Alex Walls co-host of Love It or List It.Alex Walls is a New Zealand interior designer best known as one half of Alex & Corban, co-founder of A&C Homestore (also known as achomestore), and a familiar face from The Block NZ and Love It or List It NZ. With over a decade of experience in residential design, Alex is also the founder of Walls Studio—a boutique interiors studio offering considered ...

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September 7, 2025 25 mins

Andy Robinson is the Acting Head of Fragile and Developing Contexts, International Partnerships for World Vision New Zealand

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August 31, 2025 23 mins

Sam Gibson, better known as Sam the Trap Man, grew up beside the Hamanatua Stream in Tairāwhiti Gisborne. From an early age, the bush was where he truly belonged—hunting, fishing, trapping and living wild.

As a teenager starting to go off the rails, a unique deal betw...

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August 24, 2025 24 mins

Author, literary advocte and founder of Verb Wellington, joined John on Real Life this week. Claire Mabey won the NZSA Best First Book at the recent New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults earlier in 2025, and spoke to John from the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

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August 17, 2025 25 mins

Ian Foster is a New Zealand rugby coach and former fly-half born in Putāruru. He played a record 148 games for Waikato and 28 for the Chiefs, also appearing for the NZRFU President’s XV in 1995.
Foster began coaching with Waikato before joining the All Blacks as assistant coach in 2012, helping win the 2015 Rugby World Cup. He became head coach in 2020, leading New Zealand to multiple Bledisloe Cup, Freedom Cup, and Rugby Champi...

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David Squire (MMus (Hons), PGDipMus, BMus, DipTchg) is one of New Zealand’s leading choral conductors and Music Director of the New Zealand Youth Choir. Under his direction, the choir has toured internationally to high acclaim, with standout performances at Notre-Dame in Paris, Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, and major wins at the International Festiva...

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August 3, 2025 24 mins

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Jared Savage is an investigative reporter for the New Zealand Herald and has won more than a dozen national and international journalism awards, including being named New Zealand’s best reporter twice. He lives in Tauranga with his wife and children.

He began rep...

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Fraser Grut is the kiwi filmmaker behind the '10,000 Dreams' project, his plan to record and publish the aspirations of 10,000 individuals. The project started as a bet with a friend, and has now ballooned into a globe-trotting project. At age 27, Fraser was broke and going through a divorce when a call came from The Wiggles asking him to film a music video with them and Richie McCaw. That video led to the chance to make a document...

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