The Afternoons team and RNZ recently lost our Executive Producer Melita. Jesse wrote and read this tribute to her on air.
When I meet listeners on the street they often say the same thing. They say "you must have some great producers behind the scenes"
Sometimes I think about saying, "no, I do it all myself" so that I can soak up maximum glory but usually my conscience gets the better of me and I admit that yes, we do have a brilliant team of producers who make my life as a presenter pretty easy.
For most of my ten years at RNZ the Afternoons show has been produced by Melita Tull. That's probably not a name you know. I don't think she's been on air once during that whole time. But she has always been right behind me - literally and metaphorically - right there when I needed her, nearby when I didn't.
Melita almost never took a sick day. Then last year she told me that the illness that she had successfully beaten once before, had returned. She went home from work that day, and for the past few months I've heard from her occasionally on text as she's made her way through the gruelling treatment in her usual fashion - stoically, and without a fuss.
The last text I personally have from her is in December wishing me a great summer break, sending love to my family, assuring me that her treatment was going well and she would return - not straight away, but soon.
All of us thought that was that. I hadn't checked in on her recently because I was waiting for someone to tell me she'd be back in tomorrow.
But yesterday her family told us that Melita has died.
I'm sharing this with you even though you probably didn't know her, because I feel like many of you feel an attachment to and ownership of this afternoons programme, and I wanted to let you know that as of yesterday a big part of it is now missing. I wanted to remind you to tell the people in your own life - in your family and at your work - that they are appreciated, that they're not taken for granted, and that you would miss them if they weren't there.
Some of the best, visible parts of the afternoon show were thanks to her - the tote bags, the critter t-shirts, the reading parties - but then she was also responsible for the stuff you couldn't always quite point to. Making every guest feel welcome, making every contributor feel valued, making the every team member feel heard.
On behalf of our team at Afternoons and behalf of all of us at RNZ, I want to send our love this afternoon to Melita's partner Colin and her son Lorenzo. She was a private person but we all know how much you meant to her, know that though she was devoted to her job, her family was both her priority and her purpose.
