2008: The Year That Was

Launched in 2000, Dads On The Air has stumbled, triumphed and survived another year.

That is a miracle in itself. We would very much like to take this opportunity to thank all our listeners and supporters who have made the show possible.

Dads On The Air, often referred to as DOTA, began with a group of disgruntled separated men and over the years has expanded to cover a wide range of issues around fatherhood and gender. Over the years it has attracted people with academic, media, musical, social welfare and internet backgrounds. The core group, to which the show owes its continued survival, now constitutes: researcher and web master Greg Andresen, anchor and musician Ian Purdie, on-air contributor Phil York from Dads in Distress, news feed operator Lindsay Jackel and program director John Stapleton. Their work is entirely on a volunteer basis and they all deserve credit.

We have managed to put out a show without fail every week of this year. Unlike in the past, the shows are usually available online on the same day as they are broadcast, as well as being able to be heard in real time anywhere in the world via live streaming. While we no longer operate a forum, and have no official relationship with the forum that continues to operate on our old site, our new website provides a wide range of up to date material. The shows themselves also cover a vast range of subjects.

Through sheer perserverence we are now the world’s longest running fathers’ radio program.

Some of this year’s shows have included author of Real Kids Maggie Dent, Pathways Foundation Founder Dr Arne Rubenstein, Fathers4Equality spokesman James Adams, one of the few of the world’s economists to predict the global financial crisis Dr James Cumes, lecturer at the Men’s Health Information and Resource Centre at the University of Western Sydney Micheal Woods, founder of Dads in Distress Tony Miller, the new federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, co-founder of the Men’s Rights Agency Sue Price and Shared Parenting Council of Australia head Ed Dabrowski. And who could forget Warwick Marsh, founder of the Fatherhood Foundation, who found himself in the thick of controversy after being dismissed as a government health spokesman and accused of homophobia.

This was the first year DOTA broached the subject of Islam and separation, with an excellent interview with the often controversial Islamic spokesman Kaiser Trad.

We also had on Barbara Kay, a columnist from the National Post in Canada, who says the present custody laws are customised to generate anger, frustration and bitterness and facilitate the creation of children as hostages. The ever entertaining Bettina Arndt also regaled us with tales of her latest project The Sex Diaries. The new project involves men’s side of the story. We also interviewed those involved with the fascinating new movie Men’s Group as well as the ever inspirational author of What Men Don’t Talk About, Maggie Hamilton.

And who could forget one of the stars of 2008, author of Save The Males, Kathleen Parker. As well as the author of that astonishing book The Woman Racket, Steve Moxon.

Around that ever heart wrenching subject of PAS, we also interviewed Dr Ludwig Lowenstein, author of Parental Alienation Syndrome.

Another high profile guest was the renowned author of The Myth of Male Power Dr Warren Farrell. We focused upon his lastest project Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men?

Also this year we expanded our traditional coverage to look at global warming alarmism, upsetting some of our viewers by interviewing some of the country’s leading global warming sceptics, including Dr David Evans, Bob Carter and Dr Dennis Jensen. We also looked closely at the issue of terrorism, with a fascinating interview with the high profile author of The Dark Side: How the War On Terror turned into a war on American Ideals, Jane Mayer - a staff writer with the New Yorker.

Also in this vein, we interviewed Mamdouh Habib about his book My Story: The Tale Of The Terrorist That Wasn’t. In the book he claims he was tortured in overseas prisons including Guantanamo Bay with the knowledge of Australian government officials.

While we haven’t managed to squeeze everyone in, our much appreciated Rockin’ Pop aka Peter van de Voorde has done a wonderful job of selecting extracts from some of the year’s best interviews, sampling of our core themes around shared parenting and child custody in Australia, and the sad winding back of family law reforms which, however inadequate, went some way to encouraging shared parenting and cooperation after separation. The present system creates nothing but a well of pain on all sides, for men, women and children. Critics argue that the winding back of the modestly improved treatment of separated fathers, so vital in their children’s lives, is a retrograde step, a kowtowing to entrenched self-interests locked in 1970s mindsets. The tragedy and appalling failure of social policy in this country, intertwined with child protection, child support, welfare and even education, has continued to play out during the entire life of Dads on the Air and we have continued to cover these issues in greater detail than any Australian media outlet.

At the same time we have expanded our scope in recent years, this year exploring subjects including terrorism, climate change and the intervention into indigenous communities in central Australia.

Our expanded 90 minute a week format means we have plenty of room to move. If you as an individual, group or organisation would like to contribute to the show we are actively on the lookout for new material. This could take any form: a tribute to your own father, your own experiences, the all too anonymous anguish of separated fathers, a school project. We can be contacted easily through our website. Equally, if you think you could make a contribution to DOTA in some other way, by all means send us your CV.

Another area in which we would like to expand is DOTA’s as yet unrealised dream of setting up Dads on the Air Books. If you have editorial or publishing experience or even if you could help financially, please contact us. If you have any manuscripts or have written anything, fact or fiction, that you would like to see published by all means let us know. This project will, like everything else to do with DOTA, rely on the unpaid time and talents of volunteers. But if you are in a position to help in any way to make Dads on the Air Books a reality, we would greatly appreciate hearing from you. This is both a significant and logical step forward for us and would hopefully help to expand the debate around so many gender issues by again providing an outlet for material often overlooked by the mainstream.

Wishing everybody a happy 2009.

The DOTA Team.

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