William Dart bows out after 45 years of New Horizons

William Dart, the host of Concert’s New Horizons, remembers well being commissioned to present a 10-part series to look at ‘present-day trends in rock music’.

It was Helen Young, then-manager of Concert, who asked him to present the programme in 1980, “a very dramatic and terrifying occasion,” he told RNZ’s Bryan Crump.

“[She was] standing on the staircase of the Broadcasting House, the now demolished Broadcasting House, and saying something along the lines of, ‘my dear boy, we’d like to do a programme on rock music, and we’d like you to do it’.”

On Christmas Day, New Horizons will broadcast for the final time on RNZ Concert.

Dart has been hosting the programme for 45 unbroken years – “surely the longest run for a single host in New Zealand radio history”, his long-time producer Tim Dodd said.

The first programme’s playlist reflected Dart’s eclectic taste, including Bob Dylan, 1910 Fruitgum Company and Van Dyke Parks.

Subsequent episodes took in Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Kate Bush, Ry Cooder, Randy Newman, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, XTC, Talking Heads and Pere Ubu.

New Horizons doubtless caused a stir among Concert listeners, who were more accustomed to Chopin than Elvis Costello.

“I remember I had dear old Pat Towsey as my first producer, who did it, I think, under gentlemanly sufferance,” Dart said.

“And he was a Mozart man. He was from one of Auckland’s great musical families, the Towseys. And I remember playing a Nick Lowe song about Lupe Vélez, who got eaten by her pet Chihuahua or something when she committed suicide.

“And the line goes in the song, ‘she was a winner who became a doggy’s dinner’.

“And I remember looking through the glass of the studio and dear old Pat’s eyes went up to the ceiling. His hand went on his head. I could imagine him saying, ‘what an end to a career’.”

William Dart has showcased his eclectic music taste on New Horizons for decades.
Photo: RNZ / Jeff McEwan

Happily, it was the start of a 45-year New Zealand radio institution.

Dart said one of the reasons he was bringing the show to an end was that his producer for 25 years, Tim Dodd, was also retiring.

“I really do consider us quite a team. As I’ve got older, I’m a little bit dithery. Occasionally names get muddled, and Tim is wonderful. He checks names through and comes back to me and says ‘the album’s title is whatever, not whatever’, and I appreciate that so much.”

Much fun was had too, he said. An upcoming programme featuring various versions of ‘These Boots Are Made for Walking’ was a prime example.

So, what would life after New Horizons bring?

“One thing I can do is, I suppose, tidy up the mess in my basement, try to work my way through pyramids and pyramids of CDs, and get them in some sort of order.”

And he will keep discovering and enjoying new music.

“I find lots of joy in discovering strange and wonderful things, and I’m very interested in the concept, it’s hard to explain to people, of music played badly.

“But in thrift stores and places I find amateur CDs, amateur recordings, and some of these things are very touching, audition cassettes, singing out of tune with a little wavery synthesizer. And it touches me very deeply.”

He enjoyed the absence of self-censorship in such recordings, he said.

“These people are creating music, totally of them, and they’re just not worrying about it.”

The last episode of New Horizons will be broadcast at 5:30pm on RNZ Concert on Christmas Day.

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