195: Andy Richards

My guest this week is Andy Richards, Channel Director of KMTV. Born in Guernsey in 1982, Andy reveals what it was like to grow up on a small island. The first film he saw was ET and Andy discusses the importance in those days of Blockbuster Video where he worked when he was 18, and we learn about the migration in that era from VHS to DVD.

We talk about the success of particular films from those days, such as The Shawshank Redemption, the role played by technology including AI, and we talk about the importance of theatre.

Andy also discusses the culture and professions of those who live in the Channel Islands, and how arts and humanities were really important to him.

Andy went pretty much as far away as he could to university, studying for a year at the University of Teesside. He had been told he wasn’t university material, and Andy discusses how Middlesbrough was quite a challenging environment, and quite a contrast to Guernsey, and we find out why he ended up transferring to Chichester.

Andy talks about his work ethic, what he has learned about himself, and what he learned about the poverty he saw around him, and how he got into journalism.

We discover that Andy loved radio but didn’t know he wanted to be a journalist until he became one. Andy talks about an interview that went badly and how the station asked him back and he ended up falling in love with journalism.

Andy also reflects on the nature of management, and why he draws on the analogy of the end of 8 Mile in terms of the importance of owning your own mistakes.

Andy, who also worked for ITV as an onscreen reporter, reveals who his heroes are, and we find out about the decision he took to finally leave Guernsey and how he ended up running KMTV.

Then, towards the end of the interview, I ask Andy whether one can be nostalgic about negative experiences and whether he is a looking back or a looking forward type of person, and Andy ruminates on the future of things at Kent. He discusses how the media world and academia work according to different timescales.

And Andy announces an exclusive on my podcast – that Generation Why, a series I made with KMTV and where I am the lead presenter, is going to be screening on ITV.