As we now know, ZM’s Kiwi Drive stars Jason ‘Jase’ Hawkins and Polly ‘PJ’ Harding are heading to Melbourne to do Breakfast at KIIS 101.1.

BUT, they’ll still be doing their regular Drive shift in New Zealand from studios in Melbourne as well. 

Currently they’re on-air from 3pm – 7pm on ZM. And if they do another three hours on Breakfast for KIIS, they’ll be on air for seven hours a day. Double that and more if you include show prep, production, social, promotions and voiceovers. 

If they were doing two Australian voice-tracked music shows a-la Ron E. Sparks, maybe. But two different shifts in two different countries? Sure, we have a lot in common with our Kiwi cousins but it will take a Herculean effort to keep up with local culture and events on both sides of the ditch.

Assuming they wake up at 4 am to start work at 6 and finish Breakfast at 9 am in Sydney, it’s already 11 am in Auckland which means that they’ll have a four hour break til they’re on air again at 1 pm Melbourne time or 3 pm Auckland time. And they won’t finish for another four hours which is 5 pm in Sydney and 7 pm in Auckland. Whichever way you cut it, it’s a minimum 13 hour day, provided they can fit all the show prep and off-air commitments in between on-air shifts.

We know they breed ‘em tough in the land of the long white cloud but seriously? Recently in Japan, a country with arguably the highest work ethic in the world, a woman reportedly died from “karoshi” – the Japanese word for a death due to overwork. A Japanese journalist’s gruelling work schedule – including 159 hours of overtime and just two days off in a single month – triggered the heart failure that killed her at the age of 31. Ouch!

We wish Jase & PJ the best and look forward to lifting a glass of Guinness when they break the world record for hours worked on radio over two shifts in two countries in a single year. If there isn’t a category for that already, there should be!