New Zealand broadcasting great Kim Hill is signing off from her flagship Saturday Morning show on RNZ National.
Hill joined RNZ in 1985 and has presented a number of key programmes, most recently Saturday Morning with Kim Hill since 2002, and as a popular fill-in presenter on Morning Report.
RNZ chief executive and editor-in-chief Paul Thompson said Hill was incomparable as a broadcaster.
"Our audiences trust and love her deeply. Her work over many years at RNZ has provided listeners with immense pleasure and enlightenment. She is a national taonga and we are all going to miss her Saturday Morning show incredibly. I am so pleased she will be doing some work for us next year after she has had a break.
"She has maintained the highest standards in robust, engaging, fact-based public service broadcasting. Her combination of professionalism, high intellect, curiosity, wry humour and thorough preparation is unique.
"We have been incredibly fortunate to have Kim on RNZ National for so long and thank her for her service to public media in Aotearoa.
"Kim will continue to do some work for RNZ in 2024 and is working with us on some ideas for a series of in-depth interviews. We are delighted and will have more to say about that in the new year."
Hill said that stepping down from Saturday Morning was a hard call as she has loved presenting the show.
"It is time for a change for me. I look forward to having a break."
"Grand babies, they're quite tempting to spend more time with... I'd like to play the cello, don't know what my chance of that are. You can't do Wordle more than once a day, so I'll have to find something to do, won't I?," she said.
"It's going to be a huge change. I really, really love my job. It's better to leave a job loving it than to feel like you have to go because you don't like it any more."
Hill has interviewed many famous world figures, including Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and Dolly Parton, and sparred with others.
British journalist and author Tony Parsons hung up part-way through an interview after telling her "you've got your head up your arse," while British author and politician Jeffrey Archer told Hill she was rude and he had "every right to tell her so".
She has received many domestic and international awards over her remarkable career, including being named the Association for International Broadcasting's International Radio Personality of the Year in 2012.
Hill's final Saturday Morning show will be on Saturday 25 November. The search for a new Saturday Morning host will commence soon.
- RNZ
