Media Innovation Technology Series: Richard Fidler

Australian media personality Richard Fidler, visited PCU as a guest of the School of Media & IT’s Media Innovation Technology Series. Broadcaster and PCU lecturer David Vaughan, interviewed Richard, who is host of Australia’s most successful podcast and radio series, Conversations. Richard also launched his book The Golden Maze, a history of Prague.

Students learnt about Richard’s media career, the popularity of podcast storytelling, as well as the importance of working with a producer when creating a podcast. Richard strongly believes that a producer is integral to a series success, not only in terms of researching guests and preparing the host for the interview, but also for shaping and editing each production. The audience also included members of the Czech Australian New Zealand Association, many of whom work as actors, directors and journalists, all interested in meeting Richard and hearing about his career and links to Prague.

An unconventional career path

Richard has had a long and varied career in the entertainment industry. He first came to public notoriety as a member of the Doug Anthony Allstars, a provocative musical comedy-alt rock group who toured Adelaide and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. They were immensely popular in Edinburgh which led to regular, comedic television appearances in the UK. On returning to Australia The Doug Anthony Allstars grew in popularity and eventually landed their own television show DAAS Kapital.

Richard left the group in 1994 to pursue a writing career and occasional hosting gigs on TV. In 2005, he began his career in radio for the national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC).

Conversations

Richard is best known for his Conversations programme on ABC Radio. Conversations is a one-on-one conversation with local and international guests who have a story to tell and is broadcast in Australia every weekday and internationally through the Conversations Podcast. It is the most popular podcast in Australia with more than six million programme downloads a month.

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The Golden Maze, A history of Prague

Richard has a long held fascination for Prague and its people having made the decision to fly to Prague during the Velvet Revolution to witness the Czech nation emerge from communism.

His latest non-fiction book, The Golden Maze is the result from years of research, as well as one-on-one interviews with Czech historians and dissidents undertaken during his Prague residency at Prague City of Literature. Since publication, The Golden Maze has been shortlisted for the General nonfiction book of the year at the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards.

Learn more about PCU’s Media Innovation Technology series and Bachelor’s (Hons) in Creative Media Production programme.