“You’ll get a lot of people saying, ‘Hello, everyone’, [but] when everyone’s trying to talk to everyone, you’re kind of talking to no one. So we would just try and look down the camera, me and my old mate Thingee, and just imagine that one kid at home watching.
“And what’s the most beautiful thing is, is as I’ve got older, a lot of those kids obviously have got older, but they come up to me and they say, ‘Hey Jase, thanks mate, for being there’.”
Gunn said his shows and others like them serve as surrogate parents for kids and keep them company while their parents are at work, and he would try to stress that message and companionship as the host.
“And just that key message I always used to say to that one kid, you’ve got what it takes, you have got what it takes to be all that you wanna be. And I don’t know, two things have happened. I don’t know where the kids today get that message enough, number one, and number two, a lot of those kids that I spoke to with that message back in the day, a lot of us could do with that message again now that we’re slightly older.”
Gunn has since gone on to produce kids’ television with his company Whitebait Media, alongside his wife, Janine Morrell-Gunn. Changing viewing habits and budget cuts are having an impact on the local sector, and this year saw What Now end its live studio broadcasts and go pre-recorded across digital and linear television.
Gunn said the platform is irrelevant to him, but the main thing is to still tell our own stories.
“I still believe New Zealand children should be growing up, hearing stories about New Zealanders and being reminded of this awesome country they live in.
“As they’re only getting Nickelodeon and, and Netflix and the whole shebang, it’s a sad, sad day.”
To keep telling local stories, Gunn has transitioned to children’s books. His Jason Mason series, which he co-writes with his brother Andrew, has become a bestseller amongst local kids, and Gunn confirmed a third one is on its way. He is heading to the Auckland Writer’s Festival next week to discuss the book and engage with its family events.
It’s just one of the many projects Gunn has picked up since leaving full-time broadcasting behind. After a decade on the radio, Gunn quit his role with More FM in 2019 to pivot to his own ventures, including his public speaking company, Easily Said.
Talking to Bennett, Gunn said his heart attack in 2017 pushed him to “take nothing for granted”. He only wants to do work he enjoys, admitting of his final stint in radio that he “hated it towards the end”.
“The show I was on and where it was at and what we were doing, those values compared to my values, which is a million miles apart. And this can only sound arsey, I didn’t think what we were doing was clever and I’m quite a perfectionist, quite a performer. I just thought, ‘this has just become remarkably average’.
“And it was my beautiful son, Louis, who said to me one day in the kitchen, ‘Dad, this is not what success looks like’. I said, ’What do you mean?’ He said, ‘You come home and you know, you’re a bit shitty and you’re a bit wound up. You’re not happy. And it’s not what success looks like.’
“So with his permission, and obviously Janine’s, I tore up that radio contract and said, ‘Hey, thanks, but no thanks’. Best thing I ever did.”
Listen to the full episode for more from Gunn about his health, losing his mother, his pivot to writing and the importance of communicating with kids. Gunn will be taking part in the Auckland Writers Festival, which runs May 14 - 19.
Ask Me Anything is an NZ Herald podcast hosted by former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett. New episodes are available every Sunday.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
