Jim Sutton


Jim Sutton had just the right skill to become one of New Zealand’s most beloved radio hosts. It wasn’t his voice, which was unadorned “genus kiwi” and mercifully lacked a jock’s macho rumble and attitude. It was his background. Sutton was in his mid 40s before he got involved in radio in his spare time, and by then had already tried several careers. 

These past lives accidentally created the perfect CV: he had been a plumber, a policeman, and a publican. He had dealt with real lives at their most basic and vulnerable, and this made for a crucial difference when Sutton got behind the microphone. He was a listener, not a talker.

Neil McGough receives a Variety Artists Club scroll of honour in 2005, with club president Tom Sharplin at left, and broadcaster Jim Sutton.
Photo credit: Neil McGough collection
Nostalgia 2 - one of several compilations prepared by Jim Sutton, 1999. 
Jim Sutton talks to Danny Watson, Newstalk ZB, 2013
Jim Sutton in the ZB studio, Auckland, April 2013
Photo credit: ZB publicity picture
Jim Sutton launches 'Home Grown', a CD of Upper Hutt music, 2000. 
Photo credit: Upper Hutt Leader
The Tanza Years - compiled by Jim Sutton
James Arnold Sutton, JP, receives a Queen's Service Medal from the Governor-General, Sir Michael Hardie-Boys, 2000. 

Funded by

Partners with