Promoter Phil Warren had telexed all the media outlets and told them Bill Cosby would not be available for interviews.
Cosby was the highest-paid comedian in the world at that time, and certainly the most sought-after, and here he was coming to do a show in Dunedin.
So the day he was due to fly in I suggested to the station boss that Ian Dickson, a colleague, and I pack up the station Holden Kingswood and go out to the airport and report Cosby's arrival live.
There were no air bridges in those days, so we were able to stand on the tarmac and watch Cosby's entourage coming down the steps from the plane, followed by the man himself dressed in a full-length trenchcoat.
He must have seen me with my microphone doing the live cross because he veered away from his people, came over to me and said: "What's going on?" in that drawly voice of his.
I introduced myself and told him this was a big day for entertainment in Dunedin and I was here to report on his arrival.
He said he was pleased to say hello to the folks of Dun-ee-dun and proceeded to do just that.
Phil Warren came over waving his hands and indicating I should shut the interview down.
He told Cosby he had told the media there were to be no interviews.
"Don't worry about it," Cosby said.
"I'm happy here with my new friend Neil Collins."
Phil told Cosby it was time to leave to drive into the city.
Before we knew it, Cosby had shunned the limo and invited himself to drive back with us in the Kingswood.
There was no motorway in those days.
As we drove through Fairfield, we stopped to let a little old lady with her shopping cross the road.
Cosby was impressed.
"You stop for little old ladies here?" he said. "In New York, we'd be making plans for her funeral."
We dropped him off at the Southern Cross Hotel.
He asked us where he could go for a meal before the show and I suggested Chequers, in Moray Pl.
Cosby suggested we invite a few friends and meet him there in a while, which we did.
He paid for everyone's meals and regaled us with stories.
He was a really laid-back and humorous guy.
After the meal I told him it was time to go to the town hall, as the show was about to start.
We walked there, Cosby smoking a cigar and still wearing the same trenchcoat he had worn all day.
I took him in the back way, showing him where his dressing room was.
"Which way to the stage?" he asked.
I pointed to the stage, and he went straight out there - coat, cigar and all - and did a brilliant three-hour show.
Afterwards he asked me to drive him back to the airport the next morning which I did, in my gold-coloured two-door 1970 Ford Capri.
As we were going through Green Island, a little old lady came out of Moyles supermarket with her shopping and started to cross the road.
I couldn't believe it. I thought it would amuse Cosby, so I stopped to let her cross.
"I don't believe it! That little old lady is still trying to cross the road," he exclaimed, leaping out of the car, taking her by the arm and escorting her across.
The American soap opera General Hospital was very popular at the time and she thought he was one of the doctors from the show.
He thought it was very funny.
Two years later Cosby came back to New Zealand and did a show in Christchurch.
I took couple of days off work and went up to see it, booking myself into the hotel across the street.
It was the same hotel Cosby was staying at, and about 4pm he turned up in the house bar.
He was very friendly, coming over to say hello and asking where I was from.
I told him I was from Dunedin and had come up to see the show.
He asked me how far I had come and I told him 1000 miles there and back, thinking it would impress him.
It did, and he invited me to join him for supper after the show.
He didn't remember me - I hadn't expected him to.
He asked if I was a commercial traveller and I said no, that I was a radio broadcaster.
A look passed over his face.
"Don't I know you? Aren't you Noel?" he asked.
"Close enough," I said, shaking his hand. "I'm Neil Collins and I drove you to the airport in my car."
"Oh yeah," Cosby drawled. "I remember. Say - is that little old lady still trying to cross the road?"