Dads on the Air

Letting Go

July 19, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MB

With 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 MB

With 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 MB

With 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 MB

With 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 MB

With 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 MB

With 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 MB

With 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 MB

With 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 MB

With 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 MB

With 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...

Mentoring Men

May 03, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MB

With 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...

The First Casualty

April 26, 2023 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Peter Greste …in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson Our guest is Peter Greste who in the last two decades of reporting has journeyed through wars in some of the world’s most dangerous countries but does not describe himself as a serious risk taker. Over the years he has developed another sense of when he needs to take extra precautions for his own safety giving his family a certain degree of comfort. In any event there has always been an understanding that f...

On Our Doorstep

April 19, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MB

With special guest: Craig Collie … in conversation with Bill Kable The threat of invasion was very real to the Australian people in World War II. Within families decisions were made to kill wives and daughters rather than leave them to be raped and murdered by a ruthless invader. Our guest today is Craig Collie who has explored what was really going on in 1942. What were the leaders of Australia, Great Britain and the USA doing about the threat? How real was the threat from Japan anyway...

The Secret of Half-Arsed Parenting

April 12, 2023 23:00 - 9.66 MB

With special guest: Dr Susie O’Brien … in conversation with Bill Kable There is a toasted sandwich in the cover picture of her book and that leads our guest Dr Susie O’Brien to tell us that a toasted sandwich is a quite acceptable dinner alternative. This is the world of Susie O’Brien where parents can escape all that guilt about not being the best parent in the world and just start enjoying their children. In Susie O’Brien’s new book The Secret of Half-Arsed Parenting we get an insight...

Beer + Bubs

April 05, 2023 23:00 - 9.84 MB

With special guest: Carrina Hampton … in conversation with Bill Kable Our guest today is Carrina Hampton who has many qualifications that include being a qualified social worker, a family therapist, a clinical hypnotherapist and a doula. All of this expertise is put to good use when Carrina takes her Beer + Bubs program to the pub in locations right across Australia. Beer + Bubs is a one-night session at the pub where expectant dads learn how to best support their partner up to and follo...

From the Ruck

March 22, 2023 22:00 - 9.66 MB

With special guest: Gordon Bray AM … in conversation with Bill Kable Our guest today is part of a select group of legends. Peter FitzSimons has described Gordon Bray as ‘more than a sporting icon’, Gordon is no less than ‘the soundtrack of our sporting lives’. The Voice of Rugby joins us today after a career of over 50 years describing major sporting events on a variety of radio and TV stations. And yet despite being front and centre for all that time we do not know so much about Gordon...

The Dust of Uruzgan

March 15, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Fred Smith …in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson It is difficult to categorise Fred Smith. After completing University qualifications he became a diplomat but he is also a musician who has made “seven or eight” albums. When a diplomatic position in Afghanistan became available he decided to apply against some professional advice because he looked on it as a type of therapy. So after being selected to represent Australia in this beautiful but troubled land i...

Astronaut Father

March 08, 2023 22:00 - 9.66 MB

With special guest: Terry Virts …in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson In today’s show we reach for the heavens. Our guest is Terry Virts an American Air Force Colonel and test pilot who was selected by NASA to be an Astronaut in 2000 and subsequently made his first flight into space as the pilot of space shuttle Endeavour STS 130. In 2014 Terry launched into space again from Baikonur, Kazakhstan to ride to the International Space Shuttle where he was to be the Commander and ...

SHTUM

March 01, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Jem Lester …in conversation with Bill Kable In this program we cross to London to discuss with author Jem Lester his novel SHTUM. For anyone who has missed the British television shows and is not sure what “shtum” means Jem tells us that it means “silent or uncommunicative”. That is what a loving father may face when he has a child with profound autism. The book SHTUM won the 2013 PFD/City University Prize for Fiction but in writing the book Jem tells us he draws on h...

Sam’s Best Shot

February 22, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Dr James Best …in conversation with Bill Kable How many Dads will walk away from their jobs for six months, sell their home and then travel to the wilds of Africa in the hope that it will be good for their son? We like to think most Dads would do it. Today we get to speak to Dr James Best who did exactly that with his 14 year old son Sam. Sam said he went away as a boy and came back as a person summing up what his parents had hoped for when they embarked on this adven...

Men of Honour

February 15, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Glen Gerreyn … in conversation with Bill Kable Our guest today is Glen Gerreyn a man by choice as distinct from being born male. This personal development did not happen when he became a champion athlete but rather by some important choices that Glen has made in his life. So what does it mean to be a man, a real man? And what are these choices? Glen has spoken to groups around Australia and around the world on the topic of men of honour and some of the content probabl...

From Poppy with Love

February 08, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Rev Dr John Killinger … in conversation with Bill Kable In today’s program we are invited into the usually private world of conversations between a grandparent and his grandchildren. Strangely we can get the message very clearly from the other side of the world but the grandchildren themselves are completely unaware of the one way conversations in the letters written to them, letters that are so tender, thoughtful, wise and loving. Podcast (mp3)

Working Class Boy

February 01, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Jimmy Barnes …in conversation with Bill Kable Normally we expect to listen to Jimmy Barnes’s creative output as the lead singer and one of the main songwriters for iconic Australian rock band Cold Chisel. But Jimmy has now produced Working Class Boy which has become an Australian bestselling book. This is not the story of that well-known band or his more recent exploration of the soul music catalogue. In today’s program we hear about Jimmy’s family upbringing and the ...

The Equal Parent Presumption

January 25, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Dr Edward Kruk …in conversation with Bill Kable Our guest today has produced a book of 167 pages, The Equal Parent Presumption: Social Justice in the Legal Determination of Parenting after Divorce, that should be required reading for everyone who works in the space of parenting after divorce; and that includes judges who routinely make sole parenting orders, psychologists who offer family therapy, and all the other institutions that influence family relationships. The...

Are Fathers Important for Adolescents?

January 18, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Dr William (Bill) Fabricius …in conversation with Bill Kable Most studies in the area of children and families concentrate on the influence of mothers. Fathers are understudied in this area. For this reason we welcome the results of a paper on the role of fathers and we have the opportunity today to speak with one of its lead authors, Associate Professor Dr William Fabricius who joins us from New York. The title of the paper is Effects of the Inter-Parental Relationshi...

Our Boys: Raising strong, happy sons from boyhood to manhood

January 11, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guests: Richard Aston & Ruth Kerr …in onversation with Bill Kable On this program we get to talk to good people who are making a difference in our society. Our guests today, Richard Aston and his wife Ruth Kerr, fit this category and they speak to us from across the ditch in New Zealand. For 15 years Richard and Ruth through the Big Buddy program provided fatherless boys with a buddy, someone who can show them the way to manhood. These buddies are volunteer mentors who are c...

Fight Like A Pro

January 04, 2023 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Gavin Topp … in conversation with Bill Kable Today’s show is a knockout! Our guest is Gavin Topp and he tells us about his training program called Fight Like a Pro which he runs on the Gold Coast of Queensland. It is not an overstatement to say that the program has changed lives because on top of the physical aspects of training hard with a group of fellow amateurs Gavin looks for the mental changes in his charges. You might not expect to hear life lessons from a prof...

Transformation: Turning tragedy into triumph

December 28, 2022 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Dr Tim Sharp …in conversation with Bill Kable Our guest in this program is Dr Tim Sharp, also known as Dr Happy. Tim has produced a new book Transformation: Turning tragedy into triumph and he joins us today to spread a little happiness. The book has eleven people making a contribution with a story about themselves or someone close to them. Some of the contributors’ stories are well-known while others tell of living a quiet life before they reached a turning point in...

The Greatness of Dads

December 21, 2022 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Kirsten Matthew … in conversation with Bill Kable Kirsten Matthew was inspired by her father to take on the Big Apple where she worked as a journalist for ten years. This is a huge achievement considering that she arrived in New York without even a green card, no job offers, not even any friends. At a low point Kirsten rang her father who gave some simple advice to get on with it and that was enough to get her established. Podcast (mp3)

Reflective Parenting

December 14, 2022 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Dr Alistair Cooper … in conversation with Bill Kable “She has a mind of her own” is something we hear often enough when parents are talking about the challenges they face in trying to relate with their children. Yet if parents accepted this as fact and tried to find out what was going on inside this other mind the world would become a lot less complicated for both parent and child. With co-author Dr Sheila Redfern our guest today Dr Alistair Cooper has written a new b...

Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family

December 07, 2022 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Dr Anne-Marie Slaughter …in conversation with Bill Kable When our guest today Dr Anne-Marie Slaughter wrote an article for The Atlantic magazine in 2012 it created what could be described as a firestorm. The article had an estimated 2.7 million views and sparked intense debate. Someone seen as a leading light in feminism was questioning the feminist narrative. The article was called “Why women still can’t have it all” but clearly there was some unfinished business an...

National Suicide Prevention & Trauma Recovery Project

November 30, 2022 22:00 - 9.66 MB

With special guest: Gerry Georgatos … in conversation with Bill Kable We are honoured today to have as our special guest a social warrior, Gerry Georgatos. Gerry is the founder of the National Suicide Prevention & Trauma Recovery Project (the Project) set up in 2019. His colleague Megan Krakouer appeared recently on The Drum to talk about the work Gerry and she are doing with young Aboriginal offenders in Western Australian prisons. Footage has emerged of young children being hog-tied by...

Supporting Men and Boys in Tasmania

November 16, 2022 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Jonathan Bedloe … in conversation with Glen Poole Jonathan Bedloe has been an advocate for men’s health and wellbeing for the past fifteen years. Jonathan’s focus on men’s health and wellbeing has been a core passion since establishing a Men’s Shed in Hobart in 2005. He previously worked for seven years as the Men’s Health Policy Officer with the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services. Jonathan has held voluntary board positions with the Australian Men’s H...

The Forgotten

November 09, 2022 22:00 - 9.66 MB

With special guest: Dr Will Davies … in conversation with Bill Kable This book started when Will Davies’ insatiable curiosity got him wondering about a group of graves in the war cemeteries of northern France. These graves were all on their own, usually next to the boundary fence. When he went to have a look he found that they were erected for Chinese participants in the First World War. Since China was supposedly neutral in that conflict and did not have a seat at the table when the po...

Testicular Cancer

November 02, 2022 22:00 - 9.84 MB

With special guest: Dr Gideon Blecher … in conversation with Bill Kable This is a topic that is not often raised in polite company or even on talkback radio. Many men would be reluctant to discuss testicular cancer even with their doctor. This is despite about 700 men being diagnosed in Australia every year, and in men aged 18-39 it is the second most common form of cancer. In this program we go to an expert at Healthy Male (formerly Andrology Australia), Dr Gideon Blecher, to find out ...

An Attachment-Based Model of Parental Alienation

October 12, 2022 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Dr Craig Childress … in conversation with Bill Kable Why is parental alienation such a controversial topic? Nearly everyone knows someone who has had a child turned against them after separation of the parents. It happens unfortunately all over the world and looks remarkably similar wherever you find it. The construct was defined and given a label, “parental alienation” some thirty years ago by Dr Richard Gardner. More recently there has been a strong push to have it ...

Fathering Adventures

October 05, 2022 22:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Darren Lewis … in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson He doesn’t claim to have been the beginning of all fathering adventures but in July 2008 Darren Lewis started an organisation by that name which has made many fathers and their children come alive through adventure based activities. Darren quotes Howard Thurman in recognising that the world needs people who have come alive. Podcast (mp3)

Protecting Emilie

September 28, 2022 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Lisa Heim … in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson A check in the index of topics will reveal that we have explored parental alienation from different angles by talking to academics, psychologists and researchers. Today we cross to Florida in the USA to hear a very real account of what this type of psychological child abuse looks like to those who are personally caught up in it. Podcast (mp3)

SMS4dads

September 21, 2022 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Dr Chris May … in conversation with Bill Kable Who ya gonna call? Our guest today is Dr Chris May from the University of Newcastle and he has a simple message for new Dads with mobile phones. Sign up for SMS4 dads and you will get the advice you need to deal with the new challenges we face as a Dad. This is not limited to young Dads. The age range of Dads already accessing the service extends to the over 50 year olds. Podcast (mp3)

The Prostate Cancer Challenge

September 14, 2022 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Peter Dornan AM … in conversation with Bill Kable Our guest is not squeamish about many things. He opens up to us today about what it is like to face a condition that we still do not like talking about, urinary incontinence. Incontinence affects men and women; it has been described as the most widespread yet least known and understood affliction in society today. This problem can seriously impact on your lifestyle, job, emotional wellbeing, exercise activity and most i...

Life and Death Planning for Country Properties

September 07, 2022 23:00 - 9.66 MB

With special guest: Owen Catto … in conversation with Bill Kable Our guest today is Owen Catto from The Regional Men’s Health Initiative of Western Australia. Owen’s life as a farmer began when he worked on the family farm for 18 years with a small interest in that farming business given to him by his father. To back up this direct experience of conditions on the farm Owen also has a Bachelor of Business in Agriculture and has operated a farm consultancy business. When talking about lif...

Private Bill: In Love and War

August 31, 2022 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Barrie Cassidy …in conversation with Bill Kable It makes for a rare occasion when Barrie Cassidy goes to the other side of the microphone. Barrie is one of Australia’s most respected and experienced political journalists and we welcome him to Dads on the Air. But we are not going to discuss politics in this program. We are going to find out more about Barrie’s father Bill who is the main subject in Barrie’s book Private Bill: In Love and War. Podcast (mp3)

From Bullied to Brilliant

August 24, 2022 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Karen Clarke …in conversation with Bill Kable Have you been bullied? Has anyone in your family been bullied? In her book From Bullied to Brilliant: How to artfully avoid fitting in, our guest sets out how to understand and deal with bullies. In the program today we get to hear directly from Karen Clarke how to bounce back and turn pain into gain when confronted by bullies. We learn that bullying can be experienced by anyone at any stage in life and it is nothing to b...

The Alpha Female’s Guide to Men & Marriage

August 17, 2022 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Suzanne Venker …in conversation with Bill Kable Do you know any Alpha Females? We know them when we see them but it may be difficult to work out how to relate to them because of some of their defining characteristics. Equally the alpha females may need some guidance to find out what is missing in their lives even if the culture says they have everything. And our special guest today, Suzanne Venker has answered the call with her new book The Alpha Female’s Guide to Men ...

How much father? How have dads evolved since the 1930s?

August 10, 2022 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Dr Peter West …in conversation with Glen Poole How have dads evolved since the 1930s? In the 1990s Dr Peter West interviewed a wide variety of men who grew up in the decades between the Depression and the final decade on the 20th Century. The result of those interviews was the book Fathers, Sons and Lovers: Men Talk About Their Lives from the 1930s to Today. From footballers to policemen, from railway workers to farmers, he provided a rare glimpse into the lived realit...

Flesh Wounds

August 03, 2022 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Richard Glover …in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson Our guest today is famous. Richard Glover is the host of the top rating Drive show on 702 ABC Sydney, and the weekly podcast of Thank God It’s Friday. He is the author of twelve books including the bestseller In Bed with Jocasta. His new book Flesh Wounds is in a similar humorous vein but the big difference this time is that it is the real story of his unusual, to say the least, upbringing. Podcast (mp3)

Ugly: A beaut story about one very ugly kid

July 27, 2022 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Robert Hoge …in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson Robert Hoge has a daughter Imogen who sums it up best. She said about Robert’s book Ugly “It’s important to tell your story especially when you’re different.” As one of the many roles that our guest today has filled with distinction he is an advocate for those with a disability and today we hear what it is like to grow up in a special club. Podcast (mp3)

The Men’s Shed Movement: The Company of Men

July 20, 2022 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Prof Barry Golding AM …in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson When we think of great Australian inventions we might be referring to the Black Box Flight Recorder, electronic pacemakers, cochlear implants or even the stump-jump plough. But today we talk about another Australian invention that has spread internationally and saved thousands of men’s lives. Our guest today is Dr Barry Golding who is the honorary patron of the Australian Men’s Shed Association...

Living with Prostate Cancer

June 29, 2022 23:00 - 9.84 MB

With special guest: Max Michell We hear a lot of statistics relating to community health. We see major campaigns that raise the awareness of different threats to our everyday life. But the knowledge and awareness of prostate cancer has a long way to go if it is going to arrive at good community awareness. The sad part is that if more men went for regular check-ups they could be getting the diagnosis and treatment that would save their lives. Prostate cancer after diagnosis has one of the...

National Emergency – Suicide Rates for Our Men

June 22, 2022 23:00 - 9.7 MB

With special guest: Anthony Smith … in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson 1901 male deaths by suicide were recorded in 2012 along with another 634 females meaning a total of 2,535 Australians lost their lives in this way. There has been no significant improvement in the period since these figures became available. Our guest today, Anthony Smith, argues that these figures are conservative and the belief of the people working in this area is that the figure for men should be som...

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