Ryan Bridge talks old jobs, new jobs and his wedding with Paula Bennett - Ask Me Anything

Ryan Bridge is set to join Newstalk ZB after Newshub announced its closure earlier this year. Photo / NZ Herald

When the news came through earlier this year that Newshub would be closing its doors, broadcaster Ryan Bridge was among the many journalists shocked but not entirely surprised to learn he was going to be out of a job.

“I sort of thought that it would be more death by a thousand cuts,” he told Paula Bennett on her Herald podcast Ask Me Anything. “I mean, I had seen our financial results. I am not an idiot. I can look around the marketplace and see what’s going on.”

For Bridge, the news meant the end of his planned 7pm current affairs show before it had even aired. He had left AM, Three’s morning show, at the end of 2023 to take over the 7pm slot from The Project, and while the show was well-advanced in the planning process, it was never meant to be.

“We were doing photos, we were building the set. There was an amazing, cool graphic set thing happening and we were having meetings about that, but you know, especially when you’re a journalist, you can kind of sense when things might be changing or people are shifting in their positions, and you know, I was doing calculations in my head and wondering about it, and from basically the get-go.”

Bridge is bouncing back, though. From July 8, he’ll be fronting Newstalk ZB’s show Early Edition, replacing Kate Hawkesby, who left the role at the end of last year.

Bridge said he’s excited by the role and the show, which airs at 5am daily, as it’s fast-paced and needs to deliver the top stories from overnight to listeners.

And while ZB may have a reputation of being centre-right, Bridge said that he doesn’t see himself as being conservative.

“I don’t consider myself a conservative - socially conservative, no way. I mean, look at the state of me. I had long hair, I sleep with men. I mean, what? I don’t think I’m socially conservative. And to be honest, I think there aren’t many. If you compare us to a different country, I don’t think New Zealand has a hell of a lot of social conservatives, and [they’re] certainly not as conservative as you would have in places even like Australia, for example.”

Bridge on Thursday celebrated his wedding to his long-term partner Ferg, though the six months of not working has been a pain with regard to their relationship.

“My poor partner has been putting up with the fact that there’s not room for, ‘I [haven’t had] an audience for the last six months’, and I keep saying, ‘Well, it’s an audience of one, but I’m still performing’,” Bridge joked.

They’ll be avoiding releasing any wedding photos publicly as Ferg would prefer to maintain his privacy.

As for the wedding, Bridge has left most of the planning to his partner to do, but one thing they’ll be skipping is individual vows.

“A good friend of ours is the celebrant. He’s written a beautiful ceremony and he sent it through to us to read, which we did individually, and both of us cried. He’d written beautiful things and he has a sort of formula for [that], and that was beautiful.

“And I just feel like... Look, there are many non-conventional parts of this wedding. It’s two men to begin with. It’s nice to have some more conventional parts of it.”

Listen to the full episode for more from Ryan about how he nearly got into his politics, dealing with negative feedback online, his wedding, and his new job.

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge will start on Newstalk ZB at 5am on July 8.

Ask Me Anything is an NZ Herald podcast hosted by former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett. New episodes will return later this year.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.