Jon Doe was an Auckland commercial radio programmer and a friend of Ripper Records boss Bryan Staff. It was Doe who suggested the concept of a compilation album of Auckland punk bands to Staff in 1979, but before he could contribute to what eventually became AK79, he was transferred to Christchurch by Radio NZ and played no further part in Ripper.
Back in Auckland in 1981, Doe launched his own label, Hit Singles. The first releases were issued via RCA, with the label moving to WEA in 1984. The debut release was an EP from influential New Plymouth post-punkers Nocturnal Projections, 'Another Year', released early in 1982.
Over the next five years, Doe issued some 28 records. All were all singles or EPs aside from Play Up – a 1983 album of Hip Singles recorded live at Mainstreet. The label’s other releases included records by From Scratch (the important 3 Pieces From Gung Ho 1,2,3D in 1983), Terror Of Tinytown, YFC, Pop Mechanix, Graham Brazier, Diehards, Ian Morris (as Jag Moritz), and The Wastrels.
Hit Singles releases: Hip Singles - This Is Goodbye 7" (1982); Jag Moritz (aka Ian Morris) - Boot Up 12" (Let X = Y) (1984); Peking Man - Lift Your Head Up High 7" (1985)
Hit Singles is also notable for two singles by Sons In Jeopardy, a band mostly famous for their very big hair and the membership of future Universal/RIANZ boss Adam Holt, plus the first recordings by Peking Man, who would go on to much bigger things, albeit very briefly, at CBS before Margaret Urlich moved to her successful solo career.
Sons In Jeopardy (L-R): Paul Cairns, Wayne Flintham, Adam Holt, Andrew Bishop, Paul Masja. - Murray Cammick Collection
As at 2026, most of the catalogue remains unavailable.
Jon Doe passed away in January 2026 in Thames. He will be remembered as a stalwart supporter of New Zealand music at a time when many broadcasters were not. And as the man who came up with an idea for an album, AK79, which kick-started the modern New Zealand music industry.
Barry Jenkin and Hit Singles label owner Jon Doe in 1986. Jon is wearing a Sons In Jepoardy t-shirt. - Photo by Bryan Staff
Bryan Staff writes, January 2026:
Jonathan Bruce Doe was born in Britain and attended high school in Auckland where Jonathan became Jon and he became known as Jon Doe. On leaving school, Jon was selected as a broadcasting cadet at 1ZM around the same time as Karyn Hay; she went into the copy department writing commercials while Jon joined programmes, selecting and assembling the daily radio shows.
Jon and I became good friends when I became a night-time announcer 1ZM, arriving in Auckland in mid-1977. We met the two entrepreneurs who set up Zwines punk nitespot, as Jon was a big fan of the venue. I also became interested in Auckland’s music scene and invited bands to send in tapes to his show and come and tell the radio audience about their act.
Jon suggested that I apply to Radio New Zealand to put together an album from these demo recordings, as in 1978 the Wellington studios of RNZ had released a compilation album called Radio Trax (Radio NZ, TRAX 001). No one else in Auckland’s RNZ studios wanted to pursue the idea though, and Jon Doe was transferred shortly after to 3ZB in Christchurch. I carried on though, and Ripper Records was born with the release of the compilation album AK79.
Jon didn’t like Christchurch radio and returned to Auckland where he was offered a place at Radio Hauraki. Barry Jenkin was working nights there and he and Jon embraced the new music of the early 80s to the extent that Jon began his own label, Hit Singles, with a release of Nocturnal Projections EP Another Year in 1982. Several singles followed until, in 1984, Tim Murdoch offered Jon better royalties and distribution through WEA. When FM radio came to Auckland in 1981 Jon was headhunted and he ran the programme department at 89FM.
Left: Andrew Snoid and Jon Doe. Right: Jon Doe and Bridget De Launay at 89FM. - Photos by Bryan Staff
As the music scene shifted in the mid-80s Jon drifted away from radio and music to work on a deer farm at Dairy Flat. When Barry Jenkin died in 2023 Jon moved from Dairy Flat down to Thames where, for the next three years, he flatted with Barry’s widow Wendy Adams. At the beginning of 2026, Jon was admitted to Thames Hospital with acute myeloma and he passed away in the first week of January.
Jon is remembered as a garrulous party animal, always with a drink and obscure tales of rock and roll trivia. Andrew Snoid (Pop Mechanix, Swingers) remarked “I remember throwing Jon out of my house well after midnight once when he had drunk all my wine and was berating my girlfriend because she didn’t know who had been the bass player in the James Gang!”
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