He and wife Anne moved to Hastings last year, but he still travelled to Dannevirke every Tuesday for his show, which now ran for three hours instead of two.
Cushing plays a variety of songs from the 50s and 60s and called it Music Memories with Murray.
"I just thought M M M and what can I make of it."
He wanted to play songs that evoked memories of his youth and still considers some of the songs that came out of those two decades to be some of the best.
He said even those in their 20s and 30s know the music from that era.
"It's the sort of music that transcends the generations."
Cushing said he would often get requests, and had even been stopped on the street to ask for a particular song.
Sometimes he would be asked for a song that would evoke memories of people who had died.
"It does bring back happy memories and sad memories for people.
"Songs have a wonderful way of bringing back memories and associating you with events and things like that."
One of the songs in his top 10 was called Love is a Beautiful Song, by Dave Mills, released in 1969.
"That was a song that I heard when I was in Sydney, doing an OE. I heard it on the radio, and the first time I heard it, I thought, man that is fantastic."
He chose to play that particular song as his 10,000th song.
For his 500th show, he picked out 50 songs, including some that hadn't been as popular.
Radio Dannevirke had gone from "strength to strength" in the 12 years he'd been there, giving him the opportunity to help promote events run by various organisations or offer tickets to shows.
He'd also had the opportunity to interview various people, including a member of Australian band the Deltones, and the managing director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
When he's not helping with Radio Dannevirke, he volunteers for the Fantasy Cave and was looking forward to the Fantasy Cave opening again.
He also helps at the Anglican Church and keeps his mind active by doing crosswords or sudoku, or reading thrillers.
When he's not presenting on Radio Dannevirke, Murray spends time reading or doing puzzles to keep his mind active. Photo / Leanne Warr
"Once I get hold of a book, put my nose into it, I won't put it down. I'll waste a whole day sitting in the chair reading."
Cushing said he remained committed to Radio Dannevirke and intended to keep doing his shows for as long as possible.
"When I finished my 500th show, I said the reason I do it is because of the listeners. We realise that to a lot of those people we are just about family.
"We're also very thankful to all our advertisers. We've got a great set-up there and it's all because of their support ."