Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa 10 years on: ‘We’re very different but it works’

Ten years into their radio double act, Nova’s breakfast team Fitzy and Wippa say it’s their differences that make their show successful.

In 10 years of interviewing the world’s biggest stars, a couple stand out in particular for Nova radio double act Ryan “Fitzy” Fitzgerald and Michael “Wippa” Wipfli.

Aussie Hugh Jackman is up there with the very best, while Daniel Craig left them shaken but not stirred.

“Daniel Craig for some reason thought he was still James Bond during the interview and gave me one- word answers,” Fitzy recalls of that excruciating encounter.

Clocking up a decade together as they have this month is a big milestone in the fickle world of radio – and one in true Fitzy and Wippa fashion, one they don’t particularly want to talk about.

“Just messing with ya,” Fitzy laughs.

“We did that for Father’s Day once – a journo was doing a special on us for Father’s Day, and we got our publicist to go back to her and say, ‘look, that’s fine, but don’t ask them anything about kids or fatherhood’.

“It was pretty funny.”

Fitzy and Wippa have been on the air together for 10 years. Picture: Tim Hunter

Fitzy – always joking, but not about the fact he’s not necessarily a morning person – moved to Sydney from Adelaide for Nova’s Drive afternoon drive show in 2011 before being moved to mornings.

They’ve since done 2000 shows, including broadcasting from the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and suspended from hot air balloons.

“It was a big move for my wife and I to make, leaving our family and friends which was huge for us and then it was this day 10 years that they asked us to go into Sydney breakfast,” Fitzy says.

“And he was so excited, jumping for joy,” Wippa interjects.

“They came in and said ‘hey, you get to get up at 4am and tell your stories at a different time of the day’, and I remember you were just so happy about the offer and that’s what got us over the line.

“Now, I’m not a morning person, and it doesn’t get any easier. You just have to keep going. But I’ve done shows that aren’t as much fun as this before and that’s hard. But when you know you’re coming in to work and you’ve got a good team and you’re going to have fun — this is a place where you can act out the ridiculous and you have a network that supports your ideas – that’s when it’s good to get into work.”

Fitzy and Wippa are the first to admit they are very different people – but are convinced that if they were too similar, the show wouldn’t work.

“Yes we’re very different but we both love the ridiculous and have a very similar sense of humour,” Wippa says.

“So once one starts, the other one’s encouraged and I think that’s kind of the connection that happens once you work with someone for so long. You can start to understand where they’re going and what angle they’re going to take.”

The radio duo’s interview with English actor Daniel Craig was a disaster. Picture: AAP/Tracey Nearmy

Fitzy admits they were initially nervous about the pairing.

“One of the hardest things in this industry is finding a show that just connects,” he says.

“And a lot of people say, why don’t you do a show with your best friend?

“You can’t do a show with your best mate because when you’re in each other’s pocket all the time, you don’t have that same chemistry as you do when you’re catching up down the pub for a beer.

“But when Tommy, our executive producer came on board and the team came together, it’s really hard to explain, but in the studio, it just clicked, really deeply.

“And you know what? We’ve had our moments over the last 10 years where we might disagree on things outside the show or things like that but when the mics go on it just flushes you out and you just have a great time.

“We’ve never really shown any cracks or strains in that relationship.”

And the prospect of each day – despite the decade of early nights to be up for their early mornings – still excites them.

“I still can’t believe we’ve got this opportunity to talk into a big stick and anybody in Sydney can possibly hear,” Wippa says.

It’s not just celebrity chats Fitzy and Wippa pride themselves on. It’s drilling down issues of the day – such as Covid vaccination – and making them accessible, relatable and if possible, funny, through song parodies and rap battles.

“It’s information for dummies,” Wippa says.

“At the end of the day, when you wake up in the morning, we always want to always put a smile on people’s faces – but then we had this tough choice to inform people about topical stuff like pandemics and vaccinations.

“And I think it is our duty to do that but we don’t want to make it fully serious the whole time that people get bored of it and flick over. ”

The guys are now married dads. Fitzy and his wife Belinda have two boys, Hewie, 11, and “Loose” Lenny, 6. Wippa and his wife Lisa have Francesca, 1, Jack, 5, and Ted, 6.

After 13 weeks of homeschooling their young children, they’re ready for a break. But like so many, slower weekends have been a welcomed by-product of lockdown.

“Just to get up in the morning to go to a park with the dog, to actually spend the day together and then come home, and I’ve been introducing the boys to new movies,” Fitzy says.

“You know, I think we are going to look back at this down the track and go, I wish there was a time where we come home for three months and have no commitments and time as a family.”

And the next decade?

“I consider this first one a pretty good warm-up,” Wippa says.

“I’m still stretching and learning to talk and read and spell but I’m starting to warm up.”