Dads on the Air

With special guest: Dr Danni Holmes … in conversation with Bill Kable Our guest today takes us to a special world that no-one can see but it is very real and it affects our lives every day. Dr Danni Holmes does not baffle us with scientific formulas and equations. Danni is a wonderful communicator of scientific developments in ways that we can all understand. In today’s program we hear...

With special guest: Tom Docking … in conversation with Glen Poole Most Dads can remember vividly the time they were told that they were going to be a father for the first time. There may be a sense of starting on a journey, that life as it has been up until that point has changed forever or even that this is a type of eternity because part of you goes on long after your passing. Our guest to...

  With special guest: John O’Halloran … in conversation with Bill Kable John O’Halloran was an unlikely war hero. With the assistance of Ric Teague John tells his story for the first time in The Platoon Commander: The extraordinary story of the man who led Australia’s most decorated platoon of the Vietnam War . Coming from Tamworth in country NSW John was called up in...

With special guest: Pamela Roche … in conversation with Ken Thompson & Bill Kable The attitude of politicians towards International Parental Child Abduction seems to be “It ain’t broke and I ain’t gonna fix it.” Our guest today is Pamela Roche who tells us how the system is broken and we need to get the word out to politicians, judges, lawyers and professional the...

With special guest:  Bram Connolly … in conversation with Bill Kable   When Bram Connolly started writing his book The Commando Way: a Special Forces commander’s lessons for life, leadership and success he was thinking that he was an average type of man. The working title of the book was The Risk of Being Average .  However Bram soon realised that he is not your average...

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 F...

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 on The Drum to talk about the work Gerry and she are doing with young...

With special guest:  John Brogden AM … in conversation with Bill Kable   Even talking about suicide would have been frowned upon a few years ago. Mental illness is still not attractive but we need to do it.  How can we ignore a situation where 63,000 people attempt suicide every year in Australia? In 2022 there were 1200 road deaths in Australia. The rare shark deaths lead the...

With special guest:  Madonna King … in conversation with Bill Kable  The word “daughter” with its silent letters points to something going on beneath the surface. To find out exactly what is going on between daughters and their Dads calls for a type of explorer who is prepared to investigate widely and give a voice to their thoughts and feelings.  Our guest today i...

With special guest:  Glenn A Baker … in conversation with Bill Kable   Glenn A Baker was a father of six children and a grandfather of 12. For those of us whose memories extend a little he was the music guru, so he was a very special Dad to be on our program.  Glenn told us about an adventure he had lined up for those with a special interest in a particular seminal event and r...

With special guest:  Jeff Apter … in conversation with Bill Kable   It seems that everyone remembers the rock band Australian Crawl. Maybe not all the individual members of the band but certainly their front man James Reyne. They will remember the TV series featuring James called East of Eden.   But it all comes back to the music, and Australian Crawl was part of an Australian...

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 o...

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 Catast...

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...

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 special guest:  Prof Ian Hickie AO … in conversation with Bill Kable   We often hear about the rise in the rate of depression and anxiety in our community. The stigma of poor mental health has been reduced significantly so that sports stars such as Greg Inglis can now go on television and discuss their personal battles with depression without fear of any repercussions.  B...

With special guest:  Keenan Mundine … in conversation with Bill Kable   Dreamer, nothing but a dreamer. That might be where it started for our guest today Keenan Mundine after a beginning in life that really didn’t give him a chance.  But after Keenan had spent the first half of his life in the criminal justice system he came to a realisation. Keenan either had to change...

With special guest: Jeff Apter … in conversation with Bill Kable It is hard to discover who the real Lee Gordon was but Jeff Apter provides a whirlwind tour of this extraordinary life in his book Lee Gordon Presents . We know Lee Gordon arrived for the first time in Australia in September 1953. We know he left for the last time in 1963 before he died alone in a London hotel at the age (proba...

With special guest: Dr Gabriel Weston … in conversation with Bill Kable In her absorbing new book called ALIVE Doctor Gabriel Weston looks in admiration at the incredible work 11 organs of our body do to keep us alive. Gabriel tells us that if the space permitted she would have liked to examine at least another 14 organs but we do get to investigate the most interesting. Somehow Gabriel mana...

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...

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...

With special guest: Dr Will Davies … in conversation with Bill Kable The battlefields of World War 1 are now mostly beautiful green fields with some still hiding bullets and ordinance from over 100 years ago. To fully appreciate the sacrifices made in the First World War by young Australians from “the Golden Generation” you have to know what you are looking at when you see these...

With 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...

With 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...

With 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 his next 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...