15 Minutes With Flo Dill

For the uninitiated, The NTS Breakfast Show isn’t just another morning radio slot, it’s a sonic journey that cuts through the noise of formulaic playlists. Hosted by Flo Dill every Monday to Wednesday, the show is an ever-evolving mixtape, blending deep cuts, unexpected gems, and genre-defying sounds to soundtrack mornings around the world.

Last week, Flo took the show live from Tāmaki Makaurau, tapping into the city’s creative pulse and sharing the airwaves with two of its brightest rising acts: Womb, the latest dream-pop signees to Flying Nun, and LEAO, the genre-blurring force from NOA Records. The setting? Goblin, where the energy flowed as freely as the affogatos we poured to fuel the evening's broadcast.

We were lucky enough to sit down and chat with Flo between sets (and affogatos).

Q: Hey Flo, you’re broadcasting the NTS Breakfast Show live from Aotearoa. What’s it been like bringing your morning ritual to the other side of the world?
A: It’s been brilliant — connecting with the music scene here and meeting some musicians I’ve admired from afar for a long time has been amazing.

Q: Your show is known for its eclectic, genre-agnostic playlists. How do you approach curating the perfect morning soundtrack?
A: It’s usually a mixture of new music that I think listeners will be into, go-to favourites of mine and then I usually use the weather as a bit of a guide. In London, when we get a sunny spring day, you can feel the energy shift in the city, and I try and mirror that — even though it’s a show with a global listenership, if it’s a gloomy January morning, I’m usually playing gloomier stuff!

Q: Coffee and music both set the tone for the day. Do you have a go-to album or song that pairs perfectly with your morning brew?
A: I reckon it’s hard to go wrong with Haha Sound by Broadcast.

Q: NTS has such a strong community, from its global reach to the live chat during shows. What’s a memorable moment of connection you’ve had with a guest?
A: I had a really fun thing happen with Cruel Santino, an alté musician from Nigeria: the day before he came on, I had played this silly 2000s pop hit by Milky called Just the Way You Are. It’s a proper nostalgic earworm for those of a certain age. Then he came on the next day and was talking about how when he was a kid, he heard this song, and never knew what it was until recently and how happy he was to find it — he started singing the hook, and it was Milky! The hook he was singing is actually a sample in the track of another of my all-time favourite songs: Streets of Your Town by the Go Betweens. We played both, and the chat room went off. It was just perfect.

Q: You’re passionate about presenting music as an art form rather than just passive listening. What’s a record that completely changed the way you think about music?
A: Probably Chris & Cosey - Dancing Ghosts. I remember hearing it for the first time at an after and just being mesmerised by it, and it was perfect for the 4 am dingy flat we were in. It was like functional art.

Q: When you’re not unearthing deep musical gems, we hear you’ve got a green thumb (we’re enjoying Digging With Flo). What’s growing in your garden at the moment?
A: Right now, not much — it’s about to be spring, though, so as soon as I get home, I’ll be getting my early potatoes in the ground and hardening off the tomato seedlings my friend has been carefully looking after for me while I’m away!

Q: After this NZ adventure, what’s next for you and the Breakfast Show?
A: More of the same, I hope — I’d love to do more international broadcasts like the one I did here, so hopefully make it back to Aotearoa in the not-too-distant future.

Check out the video of Flo's time in Aotearoa here. 

Keep up to date with Flo Dill: 
@flollid