Adam’s Groundhog Day radio whirlwind

Dr Adam Daniel has unexpectedly found himself one of radio’s most wanted men this week.

Having already been interviewed on ABC’s Radio National, Adelaide’s FIVEaa, Melbourne’s 3AW, ABC Sydney and 6PR Perth Breakfast, today he’s due to chat to Charlie Pickering on ABC Melbourne as well as Triple M Bunbury.

There’s also a request in from BBC Radio in London.

And it’s all because of Groundhog Day.

That’s right. The 1993 movie starring Bill Murray, in which his character Phil is stuck living the same day over and over.

Adam decided to take the ‘Groundhog Day’ experience to a whole new level, watching that very movie every single day, for an entire year.

Now, he’s being inundated with requests from radio stations worldwide to talk about his experience.

In his article for The Conversation, Adam – a lecturer in film and media studies at Western Sydney University – said “In lockdown, I decided to experiment on myself and watch the same film over and over.”

Adam says that by the midway point, his viewing had shifted into a mode of cataloguing and memorisation.

He now has a different appreciation for the film.

“Phil Connors’ weather reports ran through my head unbidden, and I had built myself a mental map of Punxsutawney to where I felt like I could give directions to a visitor.”

“I began to talk to the film as it played.”