The good listener

Bestselling author Richard Fidler, here for the Auckland Writers Festival, has an interviewing style that has made his radio show one of Australia's top podcasts. 

- ELEANOR DE JONG

Richard Fidler is regarded as one of the best interviewers in the world - standing alongside the likes of Ira Glass and Michael Parkinson. His ABC radio show, Conversations, is one of the most popular podcasts in Australia, with millions of downloads a month. In its 17 years on air, he has conducted around 3000 interviews, making him something of a dab hand.

Fidler is also the author of four acclaimed books blending travel and history, and will be appearing at the Auckland Writers Festival this month.

Famously, the broadcaster hates being interviewed himself and starts our phone call by flipping the script. "Are you in Derby, are you in WA?" he chimes, his voice lively and animated, almost musical. "What an amazing place that is." We go on to discuss my background, my reasons for living in the remote Kimberley region, and my experience of the landscape and history. Like the interview pro he is, Fidler has taken gentle control of this chat.

He inherited Conversations in 2005 but completely overhauled the format, ignoring his then boss' advice that no radio segment should last longer than seven minutes. He tends to avoid celebrity guests - his adage being that famous people often make boring interviewees, particularly when spruiking their latest output.

At the heart of the programme are curiosity and intimacy. For an entire hour, Fidler and a guest he has (usually) not met sit alone in a room together, deep within the bowels of the ABC in Sydney.