Kerre McIvor: And it's goodnight from her

Kerre McIvor is leaving night-time radio but will be back for the afternoon shift. Photo / Michael Craig

As Human League sang all those years ago, I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar - well, actually, I was managing my cousin's restaurant in Hamilton - when NewstalkZB boss Bill Francis called.

Out of the blue, he asked if I'd be interested in being the night show host on ZB. I wasn't. I'd left working in television and radio and decided hospo was the life for me.

But he rang again, and a couple of days later, I was offered another job hosting a television cooking show and all signs seemed to be pointing to Auckland.

Midway through a Wednesday-night shift I was having a fag out the back of the restaurant, sheltering from the Hamilton mid-winter sleet, and a rat ran out of the rubbish tins and into the kitchen.

Stuff it, I thought. Talkback has to be better than this. And it was.

I did my last night-time radio show on Wednesday after 18 years of eight-to-midnight shifts. It was lovely hearing from so many people who'd never rung in but who'd got comfort or a few laughs from me at one time or another. Quite humbling.

It was a rocky start, though. When I first began, I couldn't believe how mean people could be. Thin-lipped misanthropes took advantage of me being a newbie to crowd the airwaves and I thought I'd get cancer of the ears, such was their bile.

But Bill told me to take them on and my producer Jim was a rock and I started to attract people who were willing to have a conversation.

And then I stuffed up majorly.

Three weeks after I took over the microphone, Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed.

The entire weekend, the radio was full of people grieving for her. And then all Monday. And Tuesday.

When I came into work on Tuesday, I asked Jim what topics we should put out there overnight. He looked at me incredulously. This is a man who knows more about radio than I will ever know in 10 lifetimes. "Mate, they'll still be on Diana."

"Oh, surely not," I groaned. "It's sad but no sadder than any other parent dying and leaving children behind."

Which is what I said on air. And then pointed out Diana wasn't a saint - saints don't kiss hairy Arab playboys. And so on and so forth. The response was tsunami-like.

People were appalled and outraged. I received death threats in the mail and my nascent talkback career was almost over.

I learned a valuable lesson, though - sometimes people need you as a conduit. It happened after the Rugby World Cup losses as well. I learned something new every night.

The most embarrassing was being told by 12-year-old Lewis, as I was musing about why there were no tiger sanctuaries in Africa when they worked so well for elephants, it was because there are no tigers in Africa. They're in Asia.

He told me he listened to the radio to learn stuff and I was obviously stupid and he wouldn't listen again.

People didn't listen to me solely to learn stuff. Night-time can be a scary place. It's when your fears and uncertainties can crowd in on you and leave you raw and vulnerable.

For the first few days after the February quake in Christchurch, the only contact thousands of Cantabs had with the outside world was the radio. I felt the power of radio then.

I have loved the night shift. I'm not leaving radio. I'm moving to an afternoon show with a new co-host and it's going to be a lot of fun.

But, oh, I'm going to miss my night-time people. So many never rang but sent letters and emails and gifts and hugs. I have gone from being a 32-year-old flibbertigibbet to a 50-year-old member of the bourgeoisie.

Thank you. It has been an absolute privilege being invited into homes every night for the past 18-and-a-half years.

• Kerre McIvor is on Newstalk ZB Monday-Friday, noon-4pm