Iconic duo ‘grateful’ to head into new media space as podcast is announced

The iconic radio duo known as “Nickson and Nate” have returned to the media space in a new podcast that went to air this week.

Nickson Clark and Nate Nauer created the podcast intended to tell exclusive stories and behind the scenes scoops, from their 20 year careers.

Nauer, who was recently released from prison, says he is “grateful” to be given a second chance.

“You don’t really realise what you had until it’s gone. Sometimes when you work in the business (for) so long, you forget about what a privilege to do what you do, and have the platform you have.

“I’m not saying everyone should experience what I went through. But it’s a good reminder of how precious time is, and how opportunities (like this) are hard to come by.”

Nauer was sentenced to prison last May under money-laundering charges, and was released in September to complete the rest of his sentence on home detention. Coming back into the media space, Nauer says he wants to be mindful of his community and the influence his platform has.

He adds that the reaction was “mixed” after the announcement of the podcast.

“I’ll be honest, it’s a bit mixed. There are people that are angry at me, and that’s fair. Some people care and that’s the way they reflect that back to me and I understand that.

“There are other people who are like ‘hey man, dust yourself off and get back up’ and there are others who are standing back and watching to see if this is legit. All those reactions are valid, and I’m ok with that.”

The former Mai FM and Niu FM hosts have not been on radio as a duo in several years.

Now stepping into the new media space, Nickson says it’s a huge opportunity to branch out.

“It was an opportunity we’ve been talking about for a long time, but we’re so used to radio, stepping into podcast is a little bit different. We’re trained to talk for three minutes, but when you’re in a podcast we can actually tell our stories properly.”

Nickson says when the opportunity came up, he asked Nauer if he was certain he was ready to tell some of the harder stories.

“The first thing I said to Nate is ‘are you sure you want to share all the stories?’ and he said ‘that’s the realness of who we want to be and who we are. That’s the best opportunity.”

In its description, the podcast guarantees access to “unfiltered, untold stories. The highs and lows, the good, bad and ugly.” Entering into this new form of media, Nickson says it’s a chance to take their careers to another level.

“You always think ‘I’ve hit the ceiling’ and to be at our age now, we’re aging, I mean we’ve got more grey hairs since we first started here at Niu Fm.

“To have this opportunity and to know you can still evolve in your career when you think it’s come to an end, it’s quite encouraging to keep moving forward.”

And the pair hope podcast can be a source of inspiration for others.

“The attributes when I was younger was, I was ambitious, and I’d always keep my eye on the prize. My motto was whatever it takes, get there. Now it’s just enjoying the little things, and I told myself when I was locked up it was the little things I miss. Those are things I’m looking forward to now,” says Nauer.

“(My goal) is just to hear more brown voices, that’s our biggest aspiration to go ‘you know what, we’re just two guys that grew up Samoan in two different areas of Auckland’. We know there’s so many others who are just like us with probably better stories,” says Clark.

“If we can encourage more people of our culture, Pacific or Māori to step into this arena, do it. We’re just helping guide the way.”