Including Summer Report and Jazz at Lincoln Center

BOXING DAY

Music 101 - Summer Edition with Emma Smith (Radio New Zealand National, 12.11pm). A huge afternoon of music ahead, starting with From the Crate to the Cradle at 12.30pm, a two-part programme made by Auckland musician Barnie Duncan about his pilgrimage to Africa. Duncan wanted to get to know the music in his record crates better - that is, African music from the late 60s and 70s. This led him on a journey through Morocco, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Ethiopia, and to meetings with a wide variety of musicians, from hip-hoppers in Ghana to the man who started Ethiopia's first record label.Music in Review 2009 at 1.05pm allows critics free rein on the past year; Real Wild Child at 2.30pm is a six-part series, presented by Stuart Maconie, about the hellraisers of rock'n'roll. It begins - where else? - with Keith Moon; at 3.05pm Lawrence Arabia and Friends are captured live at Auckland's Powerstation on their Having a Baby Tour; and finally at 4.05pm, Mix Tape (how retro - surely they mean Mix MP3s?) gives musical guests a chance to spin their favourites, and this week it's Dave Dobbyn's turn.

Jazz at Lincoln Center (Radio New Zealand Concert, 1.00pm). A new season of Jazz at Lincoln Center kicks off with From the Heart of Steeltown, a tribute to the greats of Pittsburgh. It features drummer Jeff Watts and vibraphonist Steve Nelson, both Pittsburgh-born musicians with illustrious careers in performing and teaching. They perform the songs of Mary Lou Williams and Billy Strayhorn and some of Watts' own compositions.

SUNDAY DECEMBER 27

Spectrum (Radio New Zealand National, 12.15pm). Spectrum takes a trip on the ocean blue with Robin Falvey, a deckhand aboard the 19th-century rigged sail-training ship Soren Larsen. This grand craft - all scrubbed decks, gleaming brass and elegant square sails - works off the coast of northern New Zealand during the summer. So, with a yo-ho-ho, Falvey joins the trainees as they head out for an adventure.

Opera on Sunday (Radio New Zealand Concert, 3.00pm). Gramophone's Best Opera Recording of 2009 gets an airing today: Puccini's Madame Butterfly, starring Angela Gheorghiu (as Butterfly) and the St Cecilia Academy Chorus & Orchestra, conducted by Antonio Pappano. "It is," -said Gramophone, "a recording to set alongside the great recordings of the past."

The Beatles - Live at the Hollywood Bowl (Radio New Zealand National, 3.05pm). If you can hear them over the screaming, some of the early hits are here: Twist and Shout, Ticket to Ride, A Hard Day's Night. That was 1965; just four years later, the Beatles were on the Apple Corp rooftop performing Let It Be, and some of those tracks are also broadcast today.

MONDAY DECEMBER 28

Summer Report (Radio New Zealand National, 7.00am). You can tell it's summer when the frenzied chatter of Morning Report gives way to the relaxed sounds of Summer Report. Simon Morton and Rowan Quinn are in the lukewarm seat, in shorts and jandals no doubt, covering the news and presenting reports from up and down the country - sports, music festivals and even bugs, presumably of the insect variety, are promised.

Summer Noelle (Radio New Zealand National, 10.06am). Noelle McCarthy opens a lifestyle magazine of goodies to take us over the next four weeks, including interviews, live studio performances and a look back at the year. There's a daily mini-series after the news at 11.00am and reports from correspondents.

Matinee Idle (Radio New Zealand National, 12.35pm). Idle minds are the Devil's workshop, so they say, and that workshop has got the radio tuned to Matinee Idle where Phil O'Brien and Simon Morris have plenty of Beelzebub's tunes lined up for the summer break. In Classic Concerts after the news at 3.00pm, there's diabolical Jeff Beck - Live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club on Monday; nefarious Simon & Garfunkel - Live 69 on Tuesday; heinous Commander Cody - Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas on Wednesday; depraved Slade - Alive! on Thursday; and sinful Shirley Bassey - Live at Carnegie Hall 1973 on Friday. Evil, all.

Led Zeppelin - The Mighty Arms of Atlas (Radio New Zealand National, 9.04pm). Pretentious, overblown, self-important - and yet, Led Zep's legacy lingers on. And on. Perhaps this two-part BBC series on the first heavy metal band will explain why they sold more than 200 million albums worldwide and why Rolling Stone called them "one of the most enduring bands in rock history".

TUESDAY DECEMBER 29

Pop Goes the Jazz Star (Radio New Zealand National, 7.30pm). Mel Hill presents a four-part programme about artists who crossed the musical Rubicon from jazz to pop. He begins with Louis Armstrong.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

New Year's Eve with Warwick Burke (Radio New Zealand National, 7.06pm). Yeah! Warwick Burke is in da house! Are you ready to par-tay? Yeah! No? Oh, okay.