 That same year, he was offered to host his own show at Arab Radio and Television (ART), but initially opted to work on a project setting up a private Egyptian station for "Al-Ahram".The station was not launched and Qandil took up a position at ART in 1996 where he hosted his own show called "With Hamdi Qandil".Qandil's arrangements to interview Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on the anniversary of the 1969 coup that brought him to power, and also Tariq Aziz, the vice president of Iraq at the time, aroused controversy among ART's managers.