Dads on the Air

With 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 sexual offence or young love or something else. One thing that kept driving Brendan was his desire to know the truth wherever that may lead.

The first part of his story was surprising. His mother had been 27 when Brendan was born so she was not the teenager in trouble who adopts out her child under pressure from her family. Then the shock of finding out that his mother had been a nun, a bride of Christ. Having made this discovery Brendan was mightily disappointed when the Catholic agency acting as intermediary advised that his mother said they must never meet.

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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 survived Nazi atrocities in Vienna and eventually became artistic treasures in their adopted country Australia.

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With 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 parenting accompanied by a prescription for lots of guilt if we do not follow precisely.

Some parents get strong advice from their relatives, neighbours, influencers and even well-wishers but sometimes this amounts to what used to be called old wives’ tales. Preeya examines some of these familiar stories such as how you can expect a baby to cry when teething. Is that true?

Preeya is a wonderful communicator as she demonstrates in her television appearances and in her surgery. People feel free to ask her questions on a wide range of topics knowing there will be no judgment. For us it is like we are sitting in the surgery as she provides her professional advice.

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With special guest:

Dr Hugh Mackay AO
… in conversation with Bill Kable

This is a rare chance to peek inside a Psychotherapist’s office.

Hugh Mackay has a wealth of experience to draw on after so many years working in the community as a social psychologist surveying what we think of ourselves and our issues. After listening intently to so many people’s stories he has distilled for us some fascinating characters facing some modern day challenges. There are therapists who have major personal issues, there are some moral issues to resolve and all this is before we get to the clients and the assistance they need.

The Therapist is very topical with Hugh telling us that a third of the qualified Psychologists in Australia have closed their books to new clients because of the overwhelming demand. Hugh believes that we all need to take some time out for serious reflection on our own life, our relationships, our dreams, the source of our happiness and disappointments, in fact, how are we doing in general.

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With special guest:

Mark Tedeschi AM KC
… in conversation with Bill Kable

Mark Tedeschi has faced a number of cold blooded killers in Courtrooms and on many occasions has argued successfully that they should spend the rest of their days in prison. This is an enormous responsibility on behalf of the victims of these crimes but also of the whole community.

In writing his latest book Missing, Presumed Dead Mark’s aim was to let the community know what is involved in a complex and lengthy criminal case such as the murder prosecution of Bruce Burrell. We get a glimpse of the determination needed to bring the felon to justice.

Because our justice system makes it a priority to avoid imprisoning innocent people sometimes the guilty go free and that could have happened with Bruce Burrell. Along with this protection for guilty people sometimes innocent people face accusations and innuendo.

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With special guest:

Matthew Spencer
… in conversation with Bill Kable

Matthew Spencer decided to make a big change in his life after 20 successful years as a journalist.

The challenge he took on was not going to be easy and there were no guarantees. Matthew chose to enter the highly competitive field of writing a crime novel and as with a lot of ventures he needed a bit of luck along the way.

It can be a lonely path requiring in this case four years of working on his original idea. There were a lot of setbacks on this four year journey but Matthew had the good fortune of being able to engage with a professional editor who worked alongside him for most of that journey. Although tough on Matthew her criticisms were always constructive and there never was a time when she said the effort would go unrewarded. Finally all that hard work has paid off and Matthew is proud to unveil his first novel, Black River, which has already received some rave reviews from some of our most respected writers.

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With special guest:

Madonna King
… in conversation with Bill Kable

The book by Madonna King L Platers is a fascinating sequel to her previous book Being 14.

Something happens to young girls between the ages of 14 and 18 and all parents need to get an insight as to what to expect and what to be concerned about.

We live in times where the word “unprecedented” has almost been worn out by over usage. But how else to describe these times when for the first time in history we are living through a worldwide pandemic? Covid 19 has limited the usual social interaction and forced many to start living a huge part of their lives online which creates its own problems. Not only is this unprecedented but it is happening when so many choices have to be made in comparison to simpler times. When a personal discussion is called for, parents are likely to be called to centre stage for many of these decisions.

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With special guest:

Jeff Apter
… in conversation with Bill Kable

Our own Keith Urban is an enormous success in the biggest music market of all, the United States. Who knew? For some reason Keith Urban has never been really big or even acknowledged in Australia and today we get a few clues as to why that is so.

There is a lot more to Keith than the amiable coach we see in The Voice on Australian TV and our guest today can let us in on some surprises. In his new book Keith Urban our special guest Jeff Appter takes us from Keith’s birth in New Zealand to childhood days on the outskirts of Brisbane to being “discovered” while playing at the Bayview Hotel in Sydney and reaching the stage where he is asked to sing at the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games. On top of that Keith was married to Nicole Kidman for 19 years to add a bit of Hollywood glamour to his life.

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With special guest:

Peter FitzSimons
… in conversation with Bill Kable

As well as being a 20th century marvel in its soaring design it remains a source of marvel that the Opera House was even conceived in the parochial, conservative backwater that was 1950s New South Wales.

One thing that was typical then and remains so is the Australian love for a gamble so it was a brainwave of the NSW government to think of financing the construction by way of a lottery. All of a sudden there were more than enough funds to do the work of construction.

But the bigger gamble was to construct a building like no other that would be on display at the heart of the city with techniques that had not been invented based on the imaginings and sparse drawings of a Danish architect who had never taken a building design through to completion.

In his book The Opera House Peter FitzSimons takes us on an incredible journey. It took Peter 12 years to track down all the stories which include sexual intrigue, kidnap and murder, bullying and breakdowns. Friendships were made and irrevocably broken in the course of the 15 years of construction before the glorious opening on a beautiful Sydney day in October 1973.

Podcast (mp3)

With special guest:

Dr Norman Swan
… in conversation with Bill Kable

Our health is such an important topic for all of us, maybe the most important.

But as our guest in today’s program Dr Norman Swan points out this sometimes leads to unnecessary worry about doing the right thing for ourselves. In fact the topic of what we should be worrying about is the one that comes up most often from his audiences. In his new book So You Think You Know What’s Good for You? Australia’s most trusted medical practitioner tells us what really is good for you and as a bonus what is bad for you.

Norman’s popularity over so many years is due to his ability to present the up to date research in a friendly non-technical manner, with even a dose of humour thrown in. All that comes out when we get to speak with him. What is more, Norman often illustrates points by drawing on his own experience which adds to the authenticity.

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