Dads on the Air
174 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsThe world's longest running radio program on fathers' issues | Australia’s leading radio program for fathers | 9 - 9:30am Thursdays | CRN
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Episodes
A Bloody Good Rant
April 10, 2024 23:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Thomas Keneally AO … in conversation with Bill Kable A Bloody Good Rant you might expect from the title that this is going to contain some wild and extremist views. However on the contrary except for some well-deserved and unapologetic criticism of one group of economists, you will not find in this book that sort of ranting and raving. It is instead Tom Keneally writing with intimacy and insight and an invitation to share his insight and humanity. Tom Keneally has,...
Nancy Business
April 03, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: RWR (Rob) McDonald … in conversation with Bill Kable This story can stand alone. But if you have read the first book in the series, The Nancys, you will be even keener to see what happens in Rob McDonald’s new book Nancy Business. For anyone who loves the British murder mysteries such as Frost, Inspector Linley, Taggart and all the others Nancy Business is a treat. But there are a few twists that you do not often find. The narrator and main character is a young girl ...
The Incredible Life of Hubert Wilkins
March 27, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Peter FitzSimons … in conversation with Bill Kable The title tells it all in the latest book by Peter FitzSimons whom we are excited to welcome back to Dads on the Air. In The Incredible Life of Hubert Wilkins we hear about the life of a genuine Australian hero with so many adventures that a fraction of them would seem to fill the quota to qualify for that description. This man was decorated in World War 1 while not a combatant, described by another hero, Monash, as ...
Bad Boy Boogie
March 20, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Jeff Apter … in conversation with Bill Kable Bon Scott as his name might suggest was born in Scotland but after his parents signed up to be £10 Poms he arrived in Australia at the age of 6 to a new life. That short life was filled to the brim and Bon provided plenty of his own commentary on his wild adventures before and during his time with the world beating rock band AC/DC. Our guest today is writer Jeff Apter the author of Bad Boy Boogie, a new book published b...
Men of Business Academy
March 13, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Marco Renai … in conversation with Bill Kable What comes across very clearly when we speak with Marco Renai is that he is a ball of energy. After Marco left school he had a path available to him in his family’s catering business. His first solo business venture was to set up a gym where members could improve their physical condition and wellness under Marco’s guidance. This was Marco’s first attempt at interacting with the community but alas Covid 19 struck. When the...
Convict-era Port Arthur
March 06, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: David W Cameron … in conversation with Bill Kable Port Arthur is a beautiful setting for what our guest today describes as “misery of the deepest dye”. In his book Convict-Era Port Arthur David Cameron takes us back to the days before it became a convict settlement, before its charms were viewed in a completely different light by the British newcomers. Its advantages as a proposed convict settlement included that it was surrounded by wild impenetrable bush except fo...
Still Standing
February 28, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Chrissie Foster … in conversation with Bill Kable This is the story of how Chrissie Foster responded and refused to back down when confronted by an all-powerful secretive protected institution. Chrissie Foster’s family tragedies and the tepid response by the Catholic Church changed her from living a life of domestic harmony and peace in a totally unexpected way. No doubt when the choice of schools had to be made for their daughters there were discussions between Chri...
The Kindness Revolution
February 21, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Hugh Mackay AO … in conversation with Bill Kable When we looked forward to 2021 we also looked back on the disaster of the national bushfires season of 2019/20. That changed us but we did not expect the floods and then the ongoing impact of Covid 19. Our guest today is Hugh Mackay who has been listening to what the community thinks and says for over 60 years as the country’s pre-eminent social researcher. Hugh draws on this immense experience to see where the communi...
Accidental Weatherman
February 14, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Sam Mac … in conversation with Bill Kable This show is not for anyone expecting to hear a TV weatherman in the mould of Alan Wilkie. Sam Mac has forged a new role for himself in the Sunrise program where he goes around Australia looking for interesting people, interesting towns in fact anything that will give his morning viewers a lift. Naturally Sam will pass on the essential weather information such as do you need to get your umbrella but he will not go into the de...
Far from Home
February 07, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Rosie Ayliffe … in conversation with Bill Kable All Hell broke loose on that night in 2016. When we speak with Rosie Ayliffe about her book Far from Home we hear firsthand how her loving 20 year old daughter Mia was put in harm’s way in a backpacker hostel. We hear how Mia and another backpacker who tried to protect her were both killed by another resident in the middle of a psychotic episode. What made it even worse is that Rosie was far away on the other side of th...
Behind Dark Eyes
January 31, 2024 22:00 - 9.67 MBWith special guest: Jeff Apter … in conversation with Bill Kable Everyone remembers Jon English with those raccoon eyes and tall thin frame contributing to a very distinctive appearance. Jon English had regular appearances in so many different forms of entertainment. He was a rock singer, a star of live musicals, a romantic star of acclaimed television series, and at all times a rascal. In between those activities he wrote sensitive music and became an entrepreneur. But there was a lot...
High Adventure
January 24, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Mike Allsop … in conversation with Bill Kable Mike Allsop was worried that marriage would spell the end of the adventurous life he had been living. He also had experienced a difficult family upbringing himself. So when he met the love of his life he certainly did not rush into that long walk down the aisle. But these days he has the “full disaster” with his wife Wendy and three beautiful children. And there are lessons to be learned from Mike’s progress that we can a...
Five Years From Now
January 17, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Paige Toon … in conversation with Bill Kable In today’s episode we speak to author and citizen of the world Paige Toon who has written a novel exploring the relationship between two children from opposite ends of the world and their fathers. We drop in on these lives every five years to see how things have changed and we find there are plenty of surprises as we trace the emotional development of the main characters. The fathers in the story start from different point...
Guy Tai Shanghai
January 10, 2024 22:00 - 9.7 MBWith special guest: Eric Johnson … in conversation with Bill Kable The number of American men who have completely left the workforce to raise children has more than doubled over the past decade according to a New York Times report on census data. And many others serve as primary caretakers for their families while maintaining freelance or part-time jobs. This situation is reflected in cosmopolitan cities around the world where expat wives are taking up new jobs and bringing with them the...
From Fiji to The Voice
January 03, 2024 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Voli K … in conversation with Bill Kable In the program today we speak to Voli K who distinguished himself by being a standout performer singing on the TV program The Voice. iTaukei is what the Fijian people call themselves and we have a picture in our minds of what this means. We may think of the Fijian Rugby team or other representative sportsmen who are built like trees and run like gazelles. We also think of their big smiles in black faces saying Bula a thousand ...
Malcolm Young
December 27, 2023 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Jeff Apter … in conversation with Bill Kable Malcolm was a younger brother of George Young guitarist and songwriter with The Easybeats. Music was definitely in the family but in such a fickle industry could lightning strike twice after the enormous success of brother George? The Young family story starts in an economically deprived part of Scotland. Then seven of the eight members of the family became Ten Pound Poms and settled in a migrant hostel in Australia. One o...
Christmas Tales
December 20, 2023 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: William McInnes … in conversation with Bill Kable Christmas means……what? The answer is not so easy these days with there being so much commercialisation of the season. What we can say is that Christmas raises lots of emotions in all of us including nostalgia, loss, indulgence, funny presents but most of all family and love. Our guest today is the very well-known actor and author William McInnes who takes us into his own Christmases over the years in his new book Chri...
Better than Happiness
December 13, 2023 22:00With special guest: Dr Gregory Smith OAM … in conversation with Bill Kable Now well and truly out of the forest he described in his first book, Gregory Smith has produced a new book called Better than Happiness in which he lets us know how he has progressed in the five years since we heard from him last time. Gregory’s life story is extraordinary and uplifting. Gregory had a type of epiphany when sitting on a park bench in 1999 when a stranger showed him some kindness. From there it has...
A Better Death
December 06, 2023 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Dr Ranjana Srivastava … in conversation with Bill Kable Most people in our society try to avoid death and taxes. But at least in the case of our mortality it is a universal experience, a bookend of our life, part of being human. Our guest today is Dr Ranjana Srivastava OAM who is an Oncologist working in the public hospital sector of Victoria. Ranjana packs into her daily life being a doctor, an award winning author, a journalist and also a family life with her husba...
An Unlikely Prisoner
November 29, 2023 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Sean Turnell … in conversation with Bill Kable It is a special welcome to our guest today Sean Turnell. Sean survived for 650 days in Insein prison under the orders of the military Junta of Myanmar. In Sean’s new book An Unlikely Prisoner we hear how this unarmed University Professor who weighs 50kg wringing wet became a dangerous prisoner to a foreign government needing armed escorts wherever he went. We hear from Sean that he was summarily arrested in his hotel bef...
The Boy Crisis
November 22, 2023 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Dr Warren Farrell … in conversation with Bill Kable The big issues of today include Hamas on the international stage, gangs of youths in our cities and disengaged sons in our families. Our guest today has found a common link in each of these and that is the preponderance of dad deprivation for both the boys and girls involved. Dr Farrell has been researching for 11 years in order to produce his latest book and some of his findings are eye opening. For example we disco...
Top Blokes Foundation
November 15, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MBWith special guest: Melissa Abu-Gazaleh … in conversation with Bill Kable We cannot avoid the bad news stories about young men. The figures show that 82.6% of articles in the press about young men are negative. In today’s program we speak with Melissa Abu-Gazaleh, the founder and CEO of Top Blokes Foundation, who counters that negative stereotype by encouraging the young men to become “top blokes”. Melissa argues that young men can be a force for good; they are a resource that is largely...
Saving Lieutenant Kennedy
November 08, 2023 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Brett Mason … in conversation with Bill Kable Most Australians have some knowledge of the turning point in the Pacific war when the fear of invasion lessened. Most of us know something of the heroic story of Lieutenant John F Kennedy or JFK as he became known. Brett Mason in his book Saving Lieutenant Kennedy fills in the gaps in this amazing and hugely consequential story. These events literally changed the history of the world because if JFK had not survived it is c...
An Awesome Ride: Through a father’s eyes
November 01, 2023 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Cameron Miller … in conversation with Bill Kable In 2012 Shaun Miller made a YouTube video in his bedroom called MY FINAL GOODBYE. In this video Shaun managed in only 2 minutes and 54 seconds to get out some important messages before it was too late. Shaun was only 17 years of age but he knew that he had at most a few weeks to live because of his heart condition. He said that he had no regrets and that we should live life to the fullest. We should express our love to ...
The Prettiest Horse in the Glue Factory
October 25, 2023 22:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Corey White … in conversation with Bill Kable Luckily for our guest today he always believed he was special. That belief was severely tested before too long. Corey White grew up knowing that his father was in jail and his mother was a heroin addict. Both parents disappeared from his early life and his life journey was about to become a roller-coaster with no guarantees. Corey is never one to sugar coat his experiences. He had to sell himself to totally unsuitable fos...
Would that be funny?
October 18, 2023 22:00 - 9.67 MBWith special guest: Lorin Clarke … in conversation with Bill Kable The mere mention of John Clarke’s name brings a smile to the faces of Australians and New Zealanders in particular. The much loved actor/writer/comedian died suddenly on 9 April 2017 but his memory lives on. Now with the new book Would that be funny? John Clarke’s daughter Lorin Clarke ensures that we learn some more about the man we all feel we grew up with. Lorin really did grow up with him and she has a unique insight...
Parents Acting Badly
October 11, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MBWith special guest: Dr Jennifer Harman … in conversation with Bill Kable Why is it that we never see young animals rejecting a caring parent in the way we see some children acting? The behaviour of the other parent may be the cause and this strange behaviour may be due to Parental Alienation. Our guest today is Associate Professor Jennifer Harman who tells us that the problem of Parental Alienation is all too common and getting worse around the world yet it is still decried by some as “...
Anxious Kids
October 04, 2023 22:00 - 9.67 MBWith special guest: Michael Grose … in conversation with Bill Kable Michael Grose and his co-author Dr Jodi Richardson are often asked when making parenting presentations if there is an epidemic of anxiety among our young people. If you were asked the same question you might immediately say yes but before he answers that question for us in today’s program, we ask our guest what it is exactly that we are talking about. Is anxiety the same as depression? Is anxiety built into us? When does ...
Moment of Truth
September 27, 2023 23:00 - 9.67 MBWith special guest: Prof Mark McKenna … in conversation with Bill Kable In the Quarterly Essay Moment of Truth: History and Australia’s Future Professor Mark McKenna presents a significant contribution to the general debate and he is our respected guest in today’s program. At a time when Australians are searching for their national identity on Anzac Day and there is talk of a Republic once again Professor McKenna asks why has a dispute arisen regarding Australia Day? Podcast (mp3)
Too Soon, Too Late
September 20, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guests: Ralph & Kathy Kelly … in conversation with Bill Kable There is widespread knowledge of the July 2012 attack on 18 year old Thomas Kelly in 2017. The sorrow felt by the community was compounded by the loss through suicide of Thomas’s brother Stuart four years later. Ralph and Kathy Kelly have experienced the unimaginable but as a measure of the innate qualities of them and their family they have, in the time since, made great strides in reducing the dangers on the str...
Tell No One
September 13, 2023 23:00 - 9.67 MBWith special guest: Brendan Watkins … in conversation with Bill Kable The title of this book Tell No One has an ominous ring to it. We can imagine sex offenders threatening their victims should the story ever get out. As Brendan discovered there may also be another reason for this instruction involving a power imbalance. Brendan knew at a young age that he had been adopted but when he started looking for his biological parents he did not know if his conception may have resulted from a s...
The Gap
September 06, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Benjamin Gilmour … in conversation with Bill Kable Paramedics. These are the people who answer the call when someone, anyone, is in a very serious situation. Paramedics have to be extra resilient, resourceful, caring and if they are going to be able to stay in the job they need to get on with their work partner in regularly stressful situations. And if that means sharing a joke that could be black humour it is all part of the job. Our guest today is Benjamin Gilmour ...
Dear Dad
August 30, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Samuel Johnson OAM … in conversation with Bill Kable Samuel Johnson gave his contributors only one restriction when he contacted them about writing a letter to their Dad for a book he was editing. Their letters had to start with the words “Dear Dad …”. Faced with this task what would you say? Samuel himself is such a noteworthy character and he is candid about the relationship he had with his own father. Samuel wrote his own contribution as well as editing those from ...
Black Pearls
August 23, 2023 23:00 - 9.67 MBWith special guests: Colin & Paul Tatz … in conversation with Bill Kable This program is dedicated to the memory of Professor Colin Tatz. Black Pearls: The Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame is a celebratory book about the earth shattering sporting performances of our Aboriginal and Islander Australians since the arrival of the white man in 1788. This handsome work is presented by the Aboriginal Studies Press. As our guest Colin Tatz explains, the book is also a Hall of Fame t...
Don’t Dream It’s Over
August 16, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Jeff Apter … in conversation with Bill Kable Jeff Apter has written the definitive story of Neil Finn, one of the Finns, including some remarkable things about this Kiwi icon we claim as an Aussie. Neil first appeared in our consciousness as a freaky member of the band Split Enz. He was the one up front singing I Got You which he also wrote. The band was not a one hit wonder but there were tensions among the members particularly between Neil and the leader of the ban...
Jeremiah House 2018
August 09, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guests: Peter Symes & Robert Stoker … in conversation with Bill Kable Jeremiah Chapter 20 Verse 18. For those of us not familiar with that extract from the Bible it is relevant to today’s show as our guest Peter Symes points out. Jeremiah House 2018 is not a religious institution but it is doing work that many Christians would like to claim as being core to their life principles. Podcast (mp3)
Transgender
August 02, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: “Sarah” … in conversation with Bill Kable Sometimes through no fault of our own the people closest to us will turn against us. People who do not even know us will take a position about who we are. Sarah, not her real name, was assigned male at birth but always knew something was not quite right. Finally after the trauma of a marriage breakdown Sarah decided to express her true self by confirming her gender.< While she expected this to be a challenge, she was not expec...
SHINE for Kids
July 26, 2023 23:00 - 9.71 MBWith special guest: Dennis van Someren … in conversation with Bill Kable Dennis van Someren is getting the word out that we have a crisis in the community, a crisis involving some of our most vulnerable children that impacts on all of us. Governments have responded to concerns about crime rates by building more jails with there being nearly 40,000 inmates in overcrowded jails around the country. This is up from 21,000 inmates only 10 years ago. At a cost of $292 per inmate per day the nu...
Letting Go
July 19, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Dr Charlie Corke … in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson Our guest today is Dr Charlie Corke who as an intensive care specialist regularly sees people who are reaching the end of their lives, where a decision has to be made, care or cure? Unfortunately many of us have not thought about our own death and how we can make it a good death until it is too late. We are not going to live forever so we need a Plan B and Dr Corke’s new book Letting Go: How to plan f...
Fathers Reaching Out
July 12, 2023 23:00 - 9.7 MBWith special guest: Mark Williams … in conversation with Bill Kable Our guest in today’s program is Mark Williams who has been awarded “Inspirational Father of the Year” at the Pride of Britain awards. This is impressive enough but it also shows how far he has come since the birth of his son Ethan in 2004. Both Mark and his wife Michelle suffered crippling anxiety after the birth and Mark hit rock bottom when he began to experience suicidal thoughts. And yet the reason for the torrent of...
Driftwood The Musical
July 05, 2023 23:00 - 9.67 MBWith special guest: Tania de Jong AM … in conversation with Bill Kable Something unusual for listeners today. Our guest is Tania de Jong who tells us about a new production called Driftwood The Musical. Tania happens to be the creator and producer of Driftwood The Musical as well as being one of the stars on stage. For her choice of song we have the special pleasure of bringing you a song Tania wrote and performed herself. The story of Driftwood concerns Tania’s grandparents who survive...
Ten Leadership Lessons You Must Teach Your Teenager
June 28, 2023 23:00 - 9.7 MBWith special guest: Dr Tim Hawkes …in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson What the world needs now is leadership and that is our topic today. Our guest in this program was one of Australia’s leading educators whose book Ten Leadership Lessons You Must Teach Your Teenager takes a different approach to the topic of leadership. This book is not addressed to the business people trying to get higher on the greasy pole of corporate success. Dr Hawkes writes for mums and dads to share...
The Power of Good People
June 21, 2023 23:00 - 9.7 MBWith special guest: Para Paheer … in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson Para Paheer was five years old when civil war between Tamils and the Sinhalese government started in Sri Lanka and continued for the next twenty six years. At the time Para did not know that the causes went back to 1830 when the Tamil people were imported to Sri Lanka to work on the plantations in conditions that were not far off slavery. Para had spent his childhood in poverty by Australian standards but w...
Is There Anything Good About Men?
June 14, 2023 23:00 - 9.71 MBWith special guest: Prof Roy F. Baumeister …in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson Something we have always wanted to know but never been game to ask. This book’s title Is There Anything Good About Men? How Cultures Flourish by Exploiting Men leads on to a whole range of surprises. We often accept without questioning that women are better networkers than men and that women are better at multi-tasking but is this supported in the research? At a practical level will women succeed...
Dads and their Babies
June 07, 2023 23:00 - 9.7 MBWith special guest: Dr Dawson Cooke … in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson We will all readily make the assumption that the bond between mothers and their babies is important for the health of the family but what about the dad-baby bond? Our guest today is Dr Dawson Cooke who is able to discuss that relationship based on the findings in his study published in Infant Mental Health. Dr Cooke has been working with parents and particularly fathers for the last 20 years both in his...
The Yield
May 31, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Tara June Winch … in conversation with Bill Kable The Yield is a big book that in Paul Kelly’s words “sings up language, history, home, blood – all the important stuff” with its focus being on an area of some 500 acres in western New South Wales. This is a novel by Indigenous author Tara June Winch that she has been working on for the last fourteen years. It tells of the experiences of the fictional Goondiwindi family based on the real history of Aboriginal people in...
Help! My Son Hates School
May 24, 2023 23:00 - 9.7 MBWith special guest: Janet Allison … in conversation with Bill Kable After listening to this show many men will be wishing that they could have had Janet Allison as their teacher in years gone by. Janet speaks to us from Portland Oregon in the USA where she has founded the organisation Boys Alive! to benefit teachers and children in the education process. Janet’s warm style is engaging and inspiring. Podcast (mp3)
Mothering Our Boys
May 17, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Maggie Dent … in conversation with Bill Kable It is ten years since we last spoke to Maggie Dent and in that time the pressure on our boys has only got worse. Now more than ever we need a consistent voice, a sensible voice backed by extensive research, in fact a boy champion. Fortunately this is recognised in the huge reaction given to Maggie’s new book Mothering Our Boys: A guide for mums of sons and in public forums that Maggie delivers around the nation. It is a pr...
Eat, Sleep, Play, Love
May 10, 2023 23:00 - 9.67 MBWith special guest: Dr Preeya Alexander … in conversation with Bill Kable Eat, Sleep, Play, Love sounds pretty good to all of us. But sometimes our very young children do not stick to the recipe and can distress both themselves and those caring for them. Today we go on a journey with our celebrity guest Dr Preeya Alexander who distils for us in her new book what we should be doing to have an easier life. We are happy to say that Preeya’s book does not start out with rigid rules on paren...
Mentoring Men
May 03, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MBWith special guest: Simon Jarvis … in conversation with Bill Kable Who says men need help in today’s society? Our guest today would answer by pointing to the shockingly high rate of male suicide with 7 out of 10 victims being male. Yet at a time like this it is hard to gain financial support for male issues because of the focus on other worthy causes. This is where Mentoring Men can make a difference and where Chief Executive Officer Simon Jarvis can build on the work by his predecessor...