Welcome to the Dads on the Air archives, with hundreds of programs dating back to 2003. You can browse by month or year, or search the entire archive for a specific topic or name. Find a show you heard a long time ago, download or stream individual programs, or just poke around by clicking “Click to read more…” next to each program for a detailed show description.
Thursday, June 25, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
When you are born and raised in Australia you know little about life as a refugee despite it being a frequent topic for conversation and opinion. Most of us have never spoken to a refugee.
Our guest today is Isaac Bacirongo who arrived in Sydney in 2003 with his wife and ten children as refugees after surviving the effects of Rwanda’s civil war in his own country, Congo.
Thursday, June 18, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
There is a health crisis affecting 49% of the Australian population, namely Australian men.
The establishment of Foundation 49: Men’s Health is a direct response aimed at improving the health of Australian men. The figures are mind-blowing with more than four men dying every hour from potentially preventable conditions.
Thursday, June 11, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
Schools of Fish won the 2015 Finch Memoir Prize for author Alan Sampson, a Queenslander, who by telling us about his own experiences lets us find out much about the importance of a father’s relationship with his children. A big part of the story relates to Alan’s role as Principal at the well-known Cavendish Road State High School in Brisbane. There are times at school when personal courage is required as well as unshakable integrity if favourable results are to be achieved.
Thursday, June 4, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
When you listen to Mick’s interview, just like when you see his face looking straight at you on the cover of his new book you know the sort of bloke he is. Mick is a straight shooter with a background in the military who takes us into the kitchen on a practical mission. COOKING for Kids BY DADS does not assume any prior knowledge of the essential art of cooking. In language we can all understand and with gorgeous photos we get the picture on how Dad can go from zero to hero with his kids and his family generally.
This book is most needed when Dad suddenly realises that for whatever reason he should be the one doing the cooking. This could be due to one-off events or when a more permanent arrangement is required and Dad cannot rely on a significant other to feed the hungry. Not that some Mums haven’t caught up with the benefits of being able to leave Dad in the kitchen or to brush up themselves on a few basics.
Thursday, May 28, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
Our guest, Professor Linda Nielsen speaks to us today from North Carolina in the United States about a topic that nearly everyone has a stake in but on which there is very little guidance. How important is the relationship between a daughter and her father? This topic has been explored by Dr Nielsen in her latest book Father-Daughter Relationships: Contemporary Research & Issues.
Many studies have been directed at the importance of a mother’s relationships with her children. But a father may need some reassurance about the value of his relationship with his daughter particularly if he feels more comfortable with his son. The first thing we get to check with Dr Nielsen is what is it that fathers do for their daughters? Are they really needed?
Thursday, May 21, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
The Global Missing Children’s Network (GMCN) is a network of 22 partner agencies co-chaired by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC). Participating countries range from Albania to the USA. The global campaign of this network is called Help Bring Them Home and it is being led by the AFP.
May 25, International Missing Children’s Day, is the day when people in Australia and around the world commemorate the missing children who have found their way home, the victims who did not come back and the continuing efforts to find those still missing.
Thursday, May 14, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
Ever thought about how when you leave the hospital with your new baby you do not receive an instruction manual? Our guest this week Ryan Heffernan has addressed this issue. In his entertaining and informative book Ryan provides a welcome toolbox for any Dad left with the responsibility of caring for a young child in the age range of 0-6. In fact any parent will welcome this no-nonsense source book for handling the challenges of parenting where you get the benefit of learning from a single Dad’s experience. What’s more with Ryan Heffernan giving us the lesson there is a lot of fun to be had which everyone can enjoy.
Thursday, May 7, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
Parents are all too familiar with the difficulties of relating to their sons in a language that they understand while they grow from boys to men. Our guest today is Dr Tim Hawkes who as Headmaster of The King’s School is responsible for 1500 boys. Dr Hawkes has held this position since 1998 adding to a wealth of experience gained in England and Australia on how boys can best reach their potential as men.
Thursday, April 30, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
In this Parental Alienation Awareness Month we have previously spoken to an Australian expert, Stan Korosi, to find out what Parental Alienation means in the Australian context. In today’s program we go to New York to find out the latest on the way it is treated by the Courts and by therapists internationally. While Parental Alienation Syndrome (or PAS) still appears to be a controversial topic in Australia there is no difficulty in recognising this evil for what it is in the US.
Thursday, April 23, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
No book on Australia covering the early years of the twentieth century could overlook the 61,500 of our men killed or listed as “missing” in World War 1. Another 156,000 had a fate that was sometimes worse, they were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner.
In his new book Australia 1901-2001: A narrative history, Andrew Tink, former Member of State Parliament, tells us that like the school children of Villers-Bretonneux France we must never forget the heroism of our soldiers, the diggers of World War 1.
Celebrating Men, Depression, Suicide Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
It may come as a surprise to many of our listeners that many of the problems we face in Australia relating to equality as it applies to all men, women, girls and boys are similar in a distant part of the world, namely Canada.
A hotbed of activity in Toronto Canada is CAFÉ so we speak to Justin Trottier who is the Founder and Board Member of that association about what is being done over there while we look for lessons on improvements everywhere.
Thursday, April 9, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
The Reverend Bill Crews is known to all levels of society simply as “Bill”. For the past 40 years he has worked with the people who have “fallen through the cracks” and in the process has been recognised as one of the National Trust’s 100 National Living Treasures as well as receiving many other major awards.
Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
Stan Korosi was dragged unwillingly into the world of parental alienation when after separation and divorce he found his own child had inexplicably become hostile towards him and even his extended family. When he looked for help from legal practitioners and health professionals in Australia he found that little was known. Many in the field would not even admit that parental alienation existed. Looking further afield he found that there is reputable and evidence based research available in the United States.
Thursday, March 26, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
Just about everything starts with our health, it is so important. The Regional Men’s Health Initiative in WA identifies three parts to our health, namely physical, mental and social/spiritual.
Owen Catto has worked for the past 7 years in men’s holistic health and wellbeing across an enormous geographic area in Western Australia. In his work in regional centres as well as remote outstations what he has found out about the men is that “we are all blokes” and therefore the strategies for empowering men are similar wherever he finds them.
Thursday, March 19, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
For National Close the Gap Day we speak to Jeff McMullen.
Jeff McMullen is a household name in Australia with a major presence as a recognised international current affairs journalist. Throughout his distinguished 50 year career our guest today has written filmed and campaigned around the world to improve the health, education and human rights of Indigenous people.
Thursday, March 12, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
In his book Life in Limbo Matt Barwick says that men in their desire to be alpha-male typically hide behind an impenetrable wall of machismo. So if anyone asks “How ya going?” the response is most likely going to be a stoic “Yeah everything’s fine.” No-one must see any sign of weakness or fragility, particularly male friends. The result is that most men avoid open and honest communication about physical or mental health.
Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
The word Splitting brings to mind a number of possibilities but in Bill Eddy’s book it is not the obvious meaning of breaking up with a partner. Here we are looking at “splitting” meaning a defence mechanism universally seen in people with Borderline and Narcissistic Personality Disorders. It means unconsciously seeing people as all good or all bad and is especially prevalent when there is stress such as in a break-up with someone the person afflicted sees as critical to emotional survival.
Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
Our guest today brings a European flavour to the program. Benjamin has confronted both personally and professionally many of the problems we see in Australia relating to shared parenting and fathers gaining access to their own children if the other parent is unwilling.
Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
‘Dad’ is a documentary that Karen Hodgkins has made for a higher purpose than looking for film industry awards. This new film is a powerful and emotional appeal to the law makers and the law enforcers to do something for the Dads who are not travelling as well as frequently portrayed in our society.
Thursday, February 12, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
There is a lot in the news these days on the topic of domestic violence but precious little information beyond the screaming headlines about the latest tragedy. Our guest today provides a rare look at the other side of the prosecutions, telling us about the person being prosecuted. He brings us the benefit of his experience after 10 years in the court room as a practising Barrister and a previous career as a Registered and Psychiatric Nurse.