Waiheke Radio's very own Shirin Brown (formerly Vocal Local, currently Island Life) will be screening her latest cinematic excursion Plan B at the Waiheke Community Cinema on Monday the 25th. Plan B follows the trials and tribulations of working mother Katrina as she tries to get her children to school and herself to work on time. Plan B will be followed by local resident Matias Pinochet's movie Rollin' Guadalupe. You can watch the trailer for Plan B here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBXixpZfgHE

This Saturday 23rd sees the welcome return of Simon and El to The Saturday Morning Breakfast Show. Following a bout of feverish activity in which the boys got together to create lots of exciting new features for the show, they eventually decided that if it ain't broke - don't fix it. So expect a lot more of the same sort of music and chat that allowed them to coast through most of the last year without so much as breaking sweat. "It's a fun-filled rollercoaster of a ride" through your Saturday Mornings whilst daring to take an unashamed look at their weird lives...their wild loves...in a jazz-haunted, desire-tormented world. (It also includes the fishing report).

Local Christmas productions will be the centrepiece of Waiheke radio's special Christmas programme this week. Our own theatre group, Neptune Theatre on Air, have produced a radio play of Dicken's A Christmas Carol and the station has also recorded the recent performance of Handel's Messiah by the combined choirs of Waiheke.

Both productions will be broadcast on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. A Christmas Carol, featuring an all Waiheke cast, goes to air at 7pm Christmas Eve and 3pm Christmas Day. Messiah, recorded live at St Peter's Church, Little Oneroa earlier this month, will be broadcast at 8pm Christmas Eve and 3pm Christmas Day.

On Christmas day the station is also broadcasting a special childrens' Christmas Show with Mr Fox at 7am Christmas morning, a Counting The Beat NZ music Christmas songs special at 7pm, and a Christmas themed Variations on a Theme classical music show at 8pm. There will also be plenty of Christmas music throughout the week with many classic Christmas songs and a few suprises.

Waiheke radio have a number of special programmes lined up for Christmas, so keep an eye on the site as we announce these over the next week or so. In particular, watch out for details of our very own Neptune Theatre on Air's Christmas production.  One programme we can confirm now is a broadcast of the combined Waiheke choirs performance of Handel's Messiah, recorded live at St Peter's Church on Sat 12 Dec. We'll be broadcasting the entire performance on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day. Here's a taster - conductor Richard Melville in full flight.