Richard Fidler is an Australian radio presenter and writer, best known for his hour-long interview program, Conversations with Richard Fidler on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and as a former member of the Australian comedy group the Doug Anthony All Stars. The program is ABC Radio's most popular podcast, downloaded more than three million times per month. It features local and international guests from all walks of life, engaging in in-depth interviews.
Career
Fidler came to prominence in the 1980s as a member of the Doug Anthony All Stars, an Australian musical comedy group also comprising Tim Ferguson and Paul McDermott. The group disbanded in 1994. Fidler began his broadcast career on TV and presented shows including Race Around the World, Aftershock, Mouthing Off and Vulture. In 2001, he was elected to the national committee of the Australian Republican Movement and was the chair of their Constitutional Issues committee. He resigned from these positions in 2007. In 2005, Fidler moved to Brisbane, Queensland, to host the 7pm to 10pm shift on ABC Local Radio station 612 ABC Brisbane. The following year, he took on the newly configured 11am to 3pm shift on 612 ABC. The first hour, a long-form interview program known as Conversations, was also heard on 702 ABC Sydney. Since 2012 Fidler has focused solely on Conversations. The show is heard each weekday between 11:05 am and midday on ABC Local Radio in all Australian states except Victoria. It is replayed on ABC Radio National at 3pm and at 4pm on Saturdays. Conversations is the ABC's most downloaded podcast. In December 2015, Conversations was named by iTunes Australia as 2015's Best Classic Podcast and Most Downloaded Podcast. It was again iTunes Australia's Most Downloaded Podcast in 2016, and 2017. In 2018, the program's name changed to Conversations and former Radio National arts journalist Sarah Kanowski joined Fidler as a regular host. The two presenters share duties, with Fidler usually presenting on Monday to Wednesday and Kanowski on Thursday and Friday. In 2011, Fidler was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate new forms of public radio in the United States and the United Kingdom. Saga Land, written with Kari Gislason was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Douglas Stewart Prize for non-Fiction. Fidler is the immediate past-president of Brisbane's Institute of Modern Art and a member of its board of directors.
Personal life
Fidler is married to Khym Lam and they have two children. The guitar Fidler used often during his time with the DAAS was a black Yamaha APX 9-12 tuned to D standard; however he did use a metallic green 6 string acoustic in standard tuning in a couple of songs on Live at the National Theatre and used a generic electric guitar in a cover of "Anarchy in the U.K." on The Big Gig. That guitar was in standard tuning. On DAAS Icon, the bulk of the album was recorded with an electric guitar in standard tuning, however some songs featured the APX 9-12.
Fidler was scheduled to appear in two events at the 2017 Brisbane Writers Festival in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Fidler was also the presenter of the annual 2018 Seymour Biography Lecture at the National Library of Australia, speaking to the topic "Telling and writing the story".
