Dads on the Air is the most successful community radio program in Australia. It is archived by the National Library of Australia and for researchers represents the most extensive collection of information on the push for family law and child support reform in Australia. It also documents the history of the fatherhood movement in Australia and internationally and provides a fascinating insight into mainstream society’s shifting attitudes towards fathers and fatherhood. The program began with a small group of disgruntled separated men in August 2000, and has since gone on to attract a team of people with extensive journalistic, entertainment, academic and internet experience. Dads on the Air is registered as a not-for-profit group with the NSW Department of Fair Trading. The show played a pivotal role in the debate over family law reform, acting as a conduit for groups and individuals who could not get their voices heard in the mainstream media. As the years have passed, Dads on the Air has widened its focus to cover broader social issues concerning parenthood and gender issues and to promote a positive view of men, boys, fathers and fatherhood. The program has attracted leading politicians, authors, academics, and lobbyists from Australia and around the world. Press releases, public notices and other material for broadcast can be sent to us via our website www.dadsontheair.com.au. Dads on the Air can be heard on Thursday mornings 9am – 9.30am on the Community Radio Network around Australia, in an easily downloadable MP3 format and as a podcast. An entertaining mix of music, public information and wide ranging interviews aimed at fathers and those who care about them, the show covers issues concerning fatherhood, shared parenting, the Family Court, child support, Parental Alienation, International Parental Child Abduction, child welfare, boys’ education, male suicide, men’s health, masculinity, gender bias and other father, children and family related issues.
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Dads on the Air is the most successful community radio program in Australia. It is archived by the National Library of Australia and for researchers represents the most extensive collection of information on the push for family law and child support reform in Australia. It also documents the history of the fatherhood movement in Australia and internationally and provides a fascinating insight into mainstream society’s shifting attitudes towards fathers and fatherhood. The program began with a small group of disgruntled separated men in August 2000, and has since gone on to attract a team of people with extensive journalistic, entertainment, academic and internet experience. Dads on the Air is registered as a not-for-profit group with the NSW Department of Fair Trading. The show played a pivotal role in the debate over family law reform, acting as a conduit for groups and individuals who could not get their voices heard in the mainstream media. As the years have passed, Dads on the Air has widened its focus to cover broader social issues concerning parenthood and gender issues and to promote a positive view of men, boys, fathers and fatherhood. The program has attracted leading politicians, authors, academics, and lobbyists from Australia and around the world. Press releases, public notices and other material for broadcast can be sent to us via our website www.dadsontheair.com.au. Dads on the Air can be heard on Thursday mornings 9am – 9.30am on the Community Radio Network around Australia, in an easily downloadable MP3 format and as a podcast. An entertaining mix of music, public information and wide ranging interviews aimed at fathers and those who care about them, the show covers issues concerning fatherhood, shared parenting, the Family Court, child support, Parental Alienation, International Parental Child Abduction, child welfare, boys’ education, male suicide, men’s health, masculinity, gender bias and other father, children and family related issues.
With 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 the bravest man he had ever had under his command, and yet few Australians had heard of him prior to the release of this book by our guest. Podcast (mp3)
With 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 detailed meteorological analysis behind that decision mainly because he is not a meteorologist. When you read Accidental Weatherman you get to find out what Sam has discovered in the course of visiting over 800 towns for his weather reports over the last five years, namely the real characters of Australia. Podcast (mp3)
With 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 community is now and what comes next. It may turn out that The Kindness Revolution is Hugh’s last non-fiction book to grace our book shelves so we should all listen up. In his usual articulate way Hugh sees that the horrors of 2020 and 2021 have in fact set the scene for a kindness revolution. Podcast (mp3)
With 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 by Allen & Unwin. Jeff is very familiar with the AC/DC story having previously written about other members of the band the Young brothers and original bass player Mark Evans. When we speak with Jeff again today we are able to go behind the scenes to find out how Bon fitted in so quickly and easily with the Young brothers in their closely guarded troupe. We find out more about the real Bon Scott, his wild side where a party could go on for days but also how many women who came into his orbit described his as a real gentleman. Podcast (mp3)
With 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 for one narrow access route that was easily secured. The security at what became known as The Dog Line involved half-starved dogs that were waiting for any convicts trying to escape. You could not swim away from confinement but just in case food scraps were often scattered to keep the sharks interested. However as we hear today there was one bold escape when convicts stole the Commandant’s boat and got as far as New South Wales before their recapture and return. David tells us what the conditions were really like and why Port Arthur had such a feared reputation as the last stop for the worst of the worst. Most of the inmates had committed a second offence on top of the original crime that had them sent to New South Wales or Tasmania. Podcast (mp3)
With 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 the world in England when this nightmare unfolded. Rosie’s dreams of a future life involving her daughter Mia were gone. Rosie thought that her daughter was working in a healthy environment on a farm in outback Queensland in order to comply with the Australian government’s visa requirements for an extended stay in Australia. After being told by the local Police in England about her daughter’s tragic death Rosie decided immediately to come to Australia and get to the bottom of what had happened. Podcast (mp3)
With special guest: John Broadbent … in conversation with Bill Kable Our guest today lets us know about secret men’s business. John Broadbent takes us on a journey to discover what we do not know about ourselves. John has written a new book Man Unplugged where he sets out some questions we should be asking ourselves. Surprisingly even elders, that is men who have been on this earth for fifty years or more, may be surprised to find out what is really driving them. Since the first edition of this book came out ten years ago there have been significant changes in John’s life and it became necessary to do an update with many many insights for all of us. One of these insights that could have a major impact on all of us is how relationships can more easily form and be improved. This is by men acknowledging that they have a feminine “aspect” as distinct from the somewhat critical reference to a feminine “side”. Once acknowledged men can take advantage of this in activities such as art and music. A man can learn to live between his masculine and feminine aspects. Wisdom emerges when a man can call on both or either of these principles. Podcast (mp3)
With special guests: Brendan Morris & Stephan Wellink … in conversation with Bill Kable The Thornetts, a band of brothers as Shakespeare might have called them. Today we explore what makes a champion when we hear about a sporting giant from 1960’s Australia, namely Richard, or as he was more commonly known, Dick Thornett. Dick was the youngest in a family of champions. Dick’s oldest brother was John who became the Captain of the Australian Rugby team, the Wallabies. Under John, the Wallabies had a legendary tour of South Africa. The next brother Ken also played Rugby at a representative level but is best known for his Rugby League abilities. Starting his Rugby League career in England he became known as the Mayor of Leeds before he came back to Australia representing Parramatta and Australia in the Kangaroos. Dick is called “the Natural” because he was so good at any sport he turned his hand to. After representing Australia in water polo at the 1960 Olympics in Rome he went on to represent Australia in two very different sports namely Rugby and Rugby League. Podcast (mp3)
With special guest: Dr Will Davies … in conversation with Bill Kable Will Davies has been on the program before, bringing us inside stories from The Great War. Today we get to discuss Will’s new book Secret and Special. We hear about a boys’ own adventure story that started at a beautiful part of Sydney and which took our adventurers on a dangerous trip to Singapore harbour. They were on a night mission to put limpet mines on some ships in port. The unsuspecting Japanese occupiers of Singapore never knew what hit them. The difference from most adventure stories is that this is all true and draws on the meticulous research of Dr Davies that we have come to expect. Podcast (mp3)
With 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 more to his fascinating story as revealed by our guest today. Jeff Apter wrote Behind Dark Eyes: The True Story of Jon English. It is the subtitle of the book which gives a clue that all was not sunshine and roses for Jon English. Podcast (mp3)
With special guest: Dr Sara Webb … in conversation with Bill Kable The title of this program may look as though it will make us doom struck or at least a little gloomy but strangely it does not. This might have something to do with our guest who is so bright and cheery talking about these biggest of the biggest of issues. Dr Sara Webb has written The Little Book of Cosmic Catastrophes (That Could End the World) for a general audience who will be able to get a better understanding of where we have come from and where our Earth and humanity itself will go. Today we talk about what has happened in the distant past, in fact when time began. An amazing number of things had to go just right for the universe as we know it to exist. This goes back to the laws of physics as explored in the recent past by Albert Einstein. Who knew that if the forces between the atomic particles were different, the matter of which we are made simply would not have formed? Podcast (mp3)
With special guest: Paul Ham … in conversation with Bill Kable Our topics do not come much bigger or more interesting than The Soul: A History of the Human Mind written by our guest today Paul Ham. Certain ideas come to mind when we mention the word “Soul”. Are we talking about soul music or the definition in the catechism or maybe the soul of America which was said to be lost during the Vietnam war? Paul tells us that the soul can mean all of these things and more. Paul has tackled a topic which is huge in breadth and also extended over the millennia to the beginnings of civilisation. His discovery is that what humans first called the soul was originally thought to be a part of all of us. The soul survived the death of the body and then ventured to an underworld which might be Heaven or Hell. Some Christians believed at one stage that there was also a halfway house called Purgatory but that has disappeared in more recent beliefs. In fact the soul itself disappeared mysteriously during the period called the enlightenment until we arrive where we are today and scientists tell us that the mind is a creation of the brain. Podcast (mp3)
With special guest: Dr Edward Kruk in conversation with Bill Kable and Ken Thompson 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 trouble really arises because although there is a mantra of acting “in the best interest of the child” this becomes a discretionary assessment by a judge who has no training in the area of child development or family dynamics and furthermore the Judge takes no interest in reviewing the outcome of the decision. Dr Kruk invites us to take the child’s position. Podcast (mp3)
With special guest: Dr Billy Garvey … in conversation with Bill Kable Our guest today is Dr Billy Garvey who is an expert in a field where you do not get provided with a guide book. All parents know the feeling when following the birth of your child you are set free expecting to know how to raise this very complex small version of ourselves. One of the first things Dr Billy tells us that it is quite normal not to immediately develop the bonding and attachment that we sometimes hear about. Using his own example with his two children we hear that it took some time for this to develop. Ten things I wish you knew about your child’s mental health is there to help all of us who encounter difficulties with children of any age. This extends from having a baby that cries at night too much, right through to sullen teenagers. That includes most of us. Whatever the problem is it is most likely that it has been seen before in Dr Billy’s 20 years of practice and the advantage here is that you do not have to go into a long waiting line, sometimes years long, to get advice from the doctor. Podcast (mp3)
With special guest: Robin Bowles … in conversation with Bill Kable In the Northern Territory of Australia there have always been strange, spooky happenings. The disappearance of British backpacker Peter Falconio can be added to the list with so many fascinating elements and weird explanations offered. This real life story has even resulted in a horror movie being produced with some clear references to what happened on that lonely road right in the centre of the Australian mainland in the middle of the night in July 2001. What we do know is that after driving off at night with his girlfriend Joanne Lees in completely unknown and wild country Peter Falconio went missing and the only explanation we have is from that girlfriend whose behaviour was to say the least unusual. After becoming interested in the case after a telephone call from a friend, Robin Bowles entered the scene and did her usual thorough research. This included more than 50 hours with the accused and interviewing many of the main players. We get a glimpse into a world of criminals, forensic experts, seedy drug underworlds, worldwide media networks and the realities of high profile, high stakes legal process. Podcast (mp3)
Dads on the Air is the most successful community radio program in Australia. It is archived by the National Library of Australia and for researchers represents the most extensive collection of information on the push for family law and child support reform in Australia. It also documents the history of the fatherhood movement in Australia and internationally and provides a fascinating insight into mainstream society’s shifting attitudes towards fathers and fatherhood. The program began with a small group of disgruntled separated men in August 2000, and has since gone on to attract a team of people with extensive journalistic, entertainment, academic and internet experience. Dads on the Air is registered as a not-for-profit group with the NSW Department of Fair Trading. The show played a pivotal role in the debate over family law reform, acting as a conduit for groups and individuals who could not get their voices heard in the mainstream media. As the years have passed, Dads on the Air has widened its focus to cover broader social issues concerning parenthood and gender issues and to promote a positive view of men, boys, fathers and fatherhood. The program has attracted leading politicians, authors, academics, and lobbyists from Australia and around the world. Press releases, public notices and other material for broadcast can be sent to us via our website www.dadsontheair.com.au. Dads on the Air can be heard on Thursday mornings 9am – 9.30am on the Community Radio Network around Australia, in an easily downloadable MP3 format and as a podcast. An entertaining mix of music, public information and wide ranging interviews aimed at fathers and those who care about them, the show covers issues concerning fatherhood, shared parenting, the Family Court, child support, Parental Alienation, International Parental Child Abduction, child welfare, boys’ education, male suicide, men’s health, masculinity, gender bias and other father, children and family related issues.
