Lish Fejer knows full well that every morning from 5.30am she gets to tap into one of Canberra's best brain trusts.
As the new breakfast presenter on ABC Radio, she says no matter what questions she asks her audience, there's an answer out there, kept safely in the brains of her listeners, that will make its way back to her - and onto the airwaves.
"This is the beauty of the listeners, they are so rich in knowledge and experience and they're totally there for you so you just have to throw out a question or ask for comment and they're there," Fejer says.
"Like the other day, I asked about the world leaders and the sort of pets have they have had in the past and someone texted in that King Henry III had a polar bear. So that was just one and if you have a bit of time you can follow the river of knowledge, and who knows where it will take you.
"Each of them will know something about what you ask. And the history of Canberra, as well - if you need to know anything about Canberra and its past, it's all there."
The radio presenter has recently moved into 5.30am, Monday to Friday time slot from Sunday Brunch after previous host Dan Bourchier left the hot seat in December.
Fejer was ready for the early mornings. In fact, she is a morning person naturally - "although it is about where the morning starts. I think the morning starts at 5am, not 3.30am".
She was also ready to switch from Sunday's magazine-format style show to breakfast's more reactive approach to radio - "I know it has to be news but it also has to be enjoyable and entertaining".
But it's all par for the course for what Fejer describes as her dream job.
However, it hasn't been a straight trajectory to breakfast radio for Fejer. After growing up in a small town in the Snowy Mountains, Fejer originally moved to Canberra to study biochemistry at Australian National University.
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"I'm inquisitive and curious, and I think that's my science background," she says.
"But I was a terrible scientist, I'm such a cowboy. But I am great on communication, so that's where I went. That definitely plays in, not just with science questions but I think with every question I have.
"Science is more fact-driven than radio - I can flex and bend it a bit. I'm not always looking for evidence, but I'm storytelling. It's a perfect combination of my love of people and community and curiosity - it seems to wrap it all up."
Listening to Fejer on the airwaves, it's hard to believe that she considers herself an introvert, particularly since she speaks to thousands of people on the radio, most days of the week.
"I think that's a common tread among radio people because our audience, we know is there but it's actually one human heart listening," Fejer says.
"You're not talking to a vast crowd of people at a party, you're talking to one human heart, wherever they are no matter if they are in their car or their kitchen or at work.
"I love that one on one which I think is what radio is, or if I have a couple of guests in the studio, it's a third person in our conversation. That's why I love radio, it's personable."
