
The Fold
Conversations about the intersections of media, culture and technology in New Zealand, hosted by Duncan Greive, founder of The Spinoff.We'd love it if you're able to take a few minutes to fill out this short survey about The Fold so we can learn more about our listening community and what you'd like to hear on this series. Please click here to fill out the survey.
Latest episodes

Sep 17, 2023 • 47min
Nikki Wright and David Robertson on how to communicate climate change
The challenge of climate change is discussed every day, but another issue that's almost as knotty: how do we talk about it in a way which induces the desired response? Nikki Wright runs Wright Communications and has worked with clients like Toyota and Urgent Couriers for almost 20 years in the sustainability space. David Robertson runs Hardwired, a consultancy which deploys behavioural psychology to nudge consumers toward the desired behaviour. Together they tell Duncan Greive how to bring your audience with you when you’re talking about the big, gnarly issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 10, 2023 • 49min
Noelle McCarthy on her new podcast Dear Jane
She arrived off the boat from Ireland, and within a couple of years was interviewing the prime minister weekly. That led to one of the biggest political scoops of the decade, a long career at RNZ and the extraordinary life she lays bare in her acclaimed memoir Grand. Now McCarthy runs the exceptional podcast company Bird of Paradise, and has collaborated with The Spinoff on Dear Jane, a brand new narrative podcast out now, which reflects on one woman's experience as a 14 year old girl in an inappropriate relationship with the youth group leader at her church. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 5, 2023 • 36min
Emergency podcast: NZ on Air’s Cam Harland on the latest Where are the Audiences? research
It’s WATA day, Duncan Greive’s favourite day of the media year, when the latest in the vast longitudinal New Zealand on Air media research drops. Duncan gives some top line thoughts and then is joined by New Zealand on Air chief executive Cameron Harland to dig into the weeds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 3, 2023 • 52min
Letterboxd proves that social media doesn’t have to be a hellscape
Imagine a social media app where the algorithm didn't prioritise the most divisive content on the platform. Letterboxd co-founder Karl Von Randow and editor-in-chief Gemma Gracewood join Duncan Greive to talk about how they purposefully built a slow, community-centric and non-capital intensive platform. Plus, the current state of film and how it is tracking at the end of the pandemic and the beginning of the strikes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 27, 2023 • 54min
No one gets the internet quite like Embedded’s Kate Lindsay
Over the past two years TikTok has risen to become the cultural heart of the internet, for better and worse. And throughout that time, Kate Lindsay has been there to document it. The former staffer with The Atlantic joins Duncan Greive live from New York to spend a very entertaining hour unpacking the current state of the social media nation, and why reporting on social media often feels so weird. She also recaps when she inadvertently became the internet’s main character after popularising the divisive “millennial pause” discourse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 20, 2023 • 40min
The mystery of the missing pan-Asians in media
Chamanthie Sinhalage-Fonseka and Victoria Young met at a party earlier this year, and ended up talking deep into the night about their experiences as Asian wāhine working in the fields of communications and journalism respectively. They wondered why they had met so few colleagues with backgrounds like their own, given the burgeoning pan-Asian population of New Zealand. Instead of shrugging and moving on, they started an organisation dedicated to helping both practitioners and organisations increase that representation. They join Duncan Greive to explain what binds the experiences of such a diverse community, and how people can engage with Kiwi-Asians in Media and Communications (KaiMaC). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 13, 2023 • 47min
Milly Olykan on exporting country music to the world
She left New Zealand for London 20 years ago, and fought her way into the edges of the music industry the hard way. But a chance encounter with country music a decade ago saw Milly Olykan rapidly become a key figure in unlocking this famously regional music for international audiences. Now she’s VP of international relations for the famed Country Music Association trade group, and she tells Duncan Greive how country music came to sell out Spark Arena – and the lessons for other media forms it contains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 6, 2023 • 56min
Shayne Currie has the whole of New Zealand’s news media talking
Earlier this year, NZME’s long time managing editor resigned – but instead of going to governance or a competitor, he walked straight across to his newsroom. Shayne Currie became “the media insider”, creating an informed, dishy column which has quickly become one of the most-discussed products in NZ’s media. He joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to talk about the road to the c-suite, what drew him back to the shop floor, and how he balances reporting on his own organisation and its competitors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 23, 2023 • 44min
Thompson Spencer are growing into a major new agency
We are now more than a decade into what was once known as influencer marketing, and has now grown into the much more complex and sophisticated creator economy. Wendy Thompson founded Socialites, and recently hired Melanie Spencer as CEO. The pair have been on an acquisition spree, and now have six businesses and almost 50 staff. They explain how they’re taking on major agencies with a singular approach to creative and media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 16, 2023 • 44min
Bronwynn Bakker on taking kiwi comedy to the world
A television veteran and co-founder of comedy production powerhouse Kevin & Co, Bronwynn Bakker joins Duncan Greive to talk about the strange media era we're in, the foundational role Jono and Ben played in nurturing a generation of comics and her plans to take that talent to global markets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices