ON AIR and off, The Hits radio hosts Martin Good and Sarah van der Kley are able to laugh at themselves.
It's a quality which has seen their 6am to 9am breakfast show achieve top ratings and survive a major revamp of The Radio Network's Classic Hits station, which was renamed
on April 28.
A close relationship is vital when working in confined quarters, especially considering Sarah isn't much of a morning person.
"It's a rapport thing - you don't know how it's going to go until you get in a room together. It's like any relationship: it can be a bit clunky at first ... but we are like an old married radio couple," Martin says.
"It's lucky we gel so well ... Martin calls me his radio wife and last week accused me of giving him my pimple - we don't even touch each other," Sarah adds, face beaming with a cheeky smile.
Of course they've had some practice after four years and two months working side by side - and, like any good relationship, they accept each other's strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes.
"While we are quite similar we are also different in a lot of ways. Martin doesn't like to relax - he's always doing something. I could lie on the couch all day."
Their popularity extends to the street where both are often stopped for a chat. While feedback was mostly positive, they sometimes fielded comments about their radio other half, she said.
"I have women at the supermarket who say, 'I wake up with you every morning' and I'm thinking, who's listening to them say this?"
"They form quite a personal relationship through listening to us every morning," Martin says.
"I have had people come up to complain about Sarah's laugh."
Being able to relate is key for the duo, who have a loyal following, and, while they are given free rein on most topics, some words cannot be uttered on the airwaves.
They present a dog-eared list, rating the most offensive words to the least, as their main guideline.
"We are always going to talk about stuff that annoys people but we are true to our personalities," Sarah says. "While some stations give one presenter an opinion and the other a different one, we go with what we actually think."
Embarrassing moments have been few over the years. Talking over music is among their tales of woe, though it is all part of the learning curve.
Martin's most shameful experience was not something he said, rather a photo he didn't expect to live down.
"A little while ago I did a full make-up selfie - the opposite of the no make-up selfie for breast cancer - that was a most unpleasant day," he says.
There had also been bad interviews - the worst of the bunch being Australian X-Factor winner Reece Mastin.
"He was just awful. We were really excited to talk to him - he was a big deal at the time - but every answer was like 'yeah, good', Sarah says.
"We actually said before playing the interview how bad it was."
Other stars such as Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees and Sir Ian McKellen were more forthcoming but a teenage obsession made Ronan Keating Sarah's top pick.
"He has been my idol since I was 12. Just to get to meet him face to face was really cool."
Although sharing personal experiences on air sometimes leaves the pair vulnerable to criticism, it has also allowed others to share their stories.
Now, Martin and Sarah will have another avenue to "open up", in a new VIBE column which will run every week.
It will act as an extension of discussions from the past seven days, as well as hot topics from their social-media feed.
"From stuff you hate to streakers, it's normally topical, a personal story, with some other people's stories," Sarah says.
Martin and Sarah's new column:
Yep, we've got faces for radio ... but do we have write stuff?
When we were asked to do a weekly column for Hawke's Bay Today, initially we were excited.
Wow, someone cares enough about what we think to offer us part of the paper to share our thoughts with the world? Amazing.
The excitement was quickly overtaken by apprehension. Hang on a second. We have to write stuff? We work in radio. We don't write! We speak.
Words that are spoken then disappear into the airwaves and are gone and sometimes, hopefully, forgotten.
Print is a whole different kettle of fish, where people can actually see what we're saying and even quote us.
So naturally, we were a little nervous. Our angst only grew once we were informed photos needed to be taken. Again, we work in radio and not television for a reason.
Photos were taken at our studio in Napier, then more as we were shown around the beautiful new Hawke's Bay Today building in Hastings. (Seriously, have you seen that place? We are extremely jealous of their tea room - it even has its own pie warmer - and plan to suggest to the boss that perhaps we'd work better in a building that isn't 100 years old with a malfunctioning air conditioner.)
Flash bulbs were going off left right and centre, so much so that Sarah felt like Hawke's Bay's Kim Kardashian, with a slightly smaller bum. (Martin disagrees with the smaller bum part.)
But now here we are, you've seen our faces and now you're reading our words. Hopefully you enjoy them because they'll be coming at you every week from now on.
Don't expect anything too serious to appear in this column, or anything too intelligent - a bit like our on-air show, actually.
After all, there's a reason we studied radio at broadcasting school and not journalism - journalists are required to have an IQ over 100, unlike most of the nutty announcers you hear.
Aside from the photo shoots and the daunting task of writing actual words every week, we are indeed very excited about this column.
It fits in well with our plan of world domination, mwah ha ha.
Next step? Our own TV show. Oh no, that's right, faces for radio. Hmm. Well, until we have enough money for liposuction and botox, you're safe, Simon Dallow. But after that, watch out!