Barry Jenkin

Barry Jenkin, also known as Dr Rock, was the inaugural host of late night music show Radio with Pictures in the late 1970s; his famous signature line was "good evening citizens". Kiwi musician and author Michael Larsen has compared Jenkin's influence in New Zealand to that of legendary English DJ John Peel, since both "consistently championed music that is very much off the mainstream". 

Jenkin's broadcasting career spanned four decades, decades that saw him passionately championing everyone from to Little Feat to Steely Dan to The Cure, and contributing to many television voice-overs. 

As a child Jenkin played cello; his parents were both classical musicians. As a teen he heard rock music for the first time. In the late 60s he trained as a radio announcer for the NZ Broadcasting Corporation. After three years at Palmerston North station 2ZA he returned to Auckland, where he joined 1ZM.

In 1975 David Gapes invited him aboard indie station Radio Hauraki, which often dominated the Auckland market. It was there that programme director/DJ Fred Botica gave Jenkin his nickname, Dr Rock. "I signed up on the proviso I got to play whatever I wanted, which lasted a couple of years until punk came along..."

In 1977 director Alan Thurston decided that Sunday night TV show Radio with Pictures needed a host. For its first year, the show's music clips had been linked by graphics, instead of a presenter. Jenkin got the job. For a year and a half he earned $65 a week; then his pay rose to "$95 and all the T-shirts I could eat".

Initially sourcing "quality film clips" of rock bands proved expensive and challenging, and being part of a team meant some adjustments. "In the end, I just threw away the script, and boogied on — like with radio, where I can do my own thing." Jenkin hosted RWP for three years, before DJ Phil O'Brien took over. He returned to RWP to discuss some of his favourite local punk acts on this 1984 episode.

Jenkin described the late 70s/early 80s as "a unique period for New Zealand music". When he began hosting RWP, Bob Dylan and The Band were still show staples. But "from 77 onwards, it was just a revolution...you were either a punk or a hippy. And if you were a hippy, pity help you."

Initially Jenkin had no love for punk flag-bearers The Sex Pistols, thinking they were "all just shock value and bollocks". He was won over to the musical revolution after hearing Brit band The Stranglers at the RWP office. "They weren't really punk, but by God did they have attitude." The Boomtown Rats and The Stranglers helped complete his conversion. 

Old RWP and Radio Hauraki playlists of The Rolling Stones, The Doors and Led Zeppelin were quickly discarded. "It was a dreadful decision in many ways  — it was suicide and I knew it — but there was nothing I could do. It was too bloody exciting . . . "I pitched all that other stuff out and started to play punk". Jenkin's radio ratings steadily drifted away from 51 per cent to 17 per cent. He was repeatedly encouraged by his Hauraki bosses to play more classic rock, but the 'them and us' mentality of the times meant that mixing the new music with old school acts left few parties satisfied. So Jenkin quit. 

Soon he was offering early airplay to The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen on a midnight till dawn slot, on the national ZM network. ZM was required to play 'alternative music' as part of its broadcasting licence. A number of local musicians listened in avidly. Thanks to acquaintances in the music industry, Jenkin was allowed to pillage local record company shelves for punk and new wave acts, and "grab all their samples. They didn't care." Radio New Zealand boss Geoffrey Whitehead arranged for the latest punk and new wave music to be sent from England via diplomatic bags. Over the years, Jenkin's song choices resulted in customer requests, occasionally convincing record companies to release product locally (eg Crusaders' album Chain Reaction). 

In the 1980s Jenkin burnt his bridges, and left DJing and music behind. He claimed to have been fired by five radio stations (he farewelled ZM, after falling asleep on his shift after a party). Jenkin plunged into a busy second career of voice-over work. As Bryan Staff has written, "advertising agencies, film companies and corporate video-makers discovered that Jenkin's gruff tones and measured delivery had many uses".

His screen work included reading Colin Hogg's award-winning script for Barry Crump documentary Crump (1999). He also narrated Whitbread yacht race tale Two Boats, Two Dreams, bestselling NHNZ documentary Expedition Antarctica - Into the Frozen Abyss, and this 2003 documentary about Whale Rider.

Over the years Jenkin noticed a change in how documentaries were created, from the early days when pictures came first. "Now I'll do the read and they'll cut the pictures around that." 

In the late 80s Jenkin was kept busy doing voice-over work in Australia, under the name Barry Howard (his name had already been taken). He got his foot in the door by dressing as a courier, and dropping his CV at a voice agency that claimed not to be taking on any new talent. 

While in Australia, Jenkin discovered he was a neighbour of Kiwi musician/manager Brent Eccles. Back in New Zealand, Eccles tapped him to handle publicity for a Kiwi tour by Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn, and Tim Finn. Jenkin also dabbled in music production, and once personally flew members of post-punk band the Herco Pilots to a gig by aeroplane (Jenkin was a long time fan of flying). 

There were further stints on radio: in 2004 he bought his own station on Waiheke Island. But "the local economy didn't need it —  particularly not what I wanted to play." Later he was kept busy running Waiheke's first wireless broadband company, Ynet.

Barry Jenkin died on 16 May 2023, at the age of 75, His daughter Andrea wrote on Facebook that he had "lived exactly as he chose to. To the full, larger than life, belligerently listening to punk."

Written by Ian Pryor; updated on 18 May 2023

Sources include
Barry Jenkin
Ray Castle, Interview with Barry Jenkin, Rip It Up 4, September 1977
John Dix, 'Barry Jenkin aka Dr Rock' AudioCulture website. Loaded 1 December 2015. Accessed 18 May 2023
Sean Gillespie, ‘Rock solid’ (Interview) - The Aucklander, 6 March 2010
Michael Larsen, See Me Go (Auckland: Penguin Books, 2003) 
Rob Mayes, 'Barry Jenkin Saved My Life' (Interview) AudioCulture website. Loaded 17 May 2023. Accessed 18 May 2023
Bryan Staff, ‘Gruff Enough’ (Interview) - AdMedia magazine, February 2001