JASON ‘JT’ TIKAO

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MC · Voice Overs · Guest Speaker · Quiz Master · Debate Facilitator · Brand Partnerships

Jason Tikao, more commonly known amongst friends and on the airwaves as JT, is the host of the Coast Nights show. He’s interviewed music legends from Sir Bob Geldof to international celebrities such as Eddie Izzard, so knows how to keep his cool in all manner of situations.

A familiar voice, JT has been involved in the radio industry, either on or behind the microphone, when he got his start as the Mid-dawn announcer on Star FM in Whanganui in 1996. He’s hosted almost every day part you can think of since then, as well as working behind the scenes as a content producer, creative director, executive producer and in promotions.

JT grew up in Whanganui, and though he now lives in Auckland with his wife, he’ll always have a soft spot for small-town New Zealand.

When he’s not in studio or emceeing events, you’ll find JT cleaning up at a pub quiz.

GET TO KNOW JASON

  • I love them both. Prepping a four hour show every day takes a lot of work, but the payoff to that hard work is executing a show that sounds like it’s just a lot of fun and not hard work at all! The difference between producing and hosting is when you produce, you put in that work and then hope the hosts deliver it how you pictured they would. Hosting means I get to make sure it does. There’s more pressure in hosting, but I love it.

  • The best part of growing up in small town New Zealand is that it forced you to use your imagination. You had to be creative. You didn’t have the things big city kids had at your disposal. Both my older brother and sister had left home by the time I was 10, so I was like an only child and my imagination became my outlet. I would create plays, skits, and yes I had a boom box with a microphone so I would record my own radio shows. Funny how that came to form the confidence I would have now behind a microphone!

  • I LOVE pub quizzes. Love hosting them, love taking part in them. I am the guy at the quiz who knows that random answer to a question that others have no clue about. The kind of knowledge that only comes in handy at a quiz night. My specialty is anything pop culture like movies and TV. And of course, music. And sport. They’re all my specialty!

  • Most people don’t know I can sing. It’s not something that comes up very often. I do some song parodies on my radio show every now and then. But get me two drinks deep at a karaoke night and suddenly it’s “Tonight Matthew…I’m going to be…” like it’s something off Stars In Their Eyes. Again, and this is a recurring theme, anything to do with a microphone and I’m all in!