Episode 50

Awakenings In Real Life – Dan Cohen (Part 2)

What if the person you thought you lost… was still there?

In Part 2 of our powerful conversation with Dan Cohen, author of Awakenings In Real Life, we dive deeper into the extraordinary moments that inspired his book and the lessons that came from witnessing his father’s awakening from dementia.

After years in the grip of dementia, Dan experienced a moment that changed everything — a brief but powerful return of awareness that reminded his family that the man they loved was still in...

Front Porch America – Rick White (Part 3)

Episode 49 – Who Is Your Hero

Sometimes the best conversations in life don’t happen in boardrooms, studios, or big stages.

They happen on a front porch.

A place where people sit down, slow down, and finally tell the stories that matter.

In Episode 49 of Who Is Your Hero, Buzz continues his powerful conversation with Rick White, host of the podcast Front Porch America. This is Part 3 of a remarkable series that explores storytelling, human connection, and wh...

What happens when someone you love slowly disappears… and then suddenly comes back?

In this powerful episode of Who Is Your Hero, Buzz sits down with Dan Cohen, author of the memoir Awakenings In Real Life and host of the podcast of the same name.

Dan shares the deeply personal story of his father, Herbie — a loving, larger-than-life man who spent years battling dementia after suffering a stroke. Like many families facing this cruel disease, Dan watched the man he admired and relied on slowly fade away.

But then some...

Episode 49 – Rick White (Part 2)

Front Porch America | Different Countries. Same Mission.

What happens when two podcasters from opposite sides of the world realise they’re chasing the exact same thing?

In Part 2 of this powerful conversation, Matthew “Buzz” Fidler sits down again with Rick White, host of the American podcast Front Porch America.

Buzz is in Australia.
 Rick is in Kentucky, USA.

They’ve only known each other 72 hours… yet the connection is immediate.

Because both men believe something the...

Episode 48 – Tim McKee (Part 2) | Standards, Service & Second Chances

In Part 2 of the Tim McKee story, the conversation moves beyond career and into the deeper question of why some people choose a life of service.

Tim McKee isn’t a man who chased recognition.He simply kept showing up.

For decades, Tim has quietly helped shape the Townsville community through law, mentorship, Rotary, Apex, and countless acts of service that changed lives behind the scenes.

In this episode we talk about:

• The real meaning behind service to community• The Rotary projects that changed...

Episode 49 – Rick White (Part 1)Front Porch America | Different Countries. Same Mission.

It’s 1:00am in Australia.Morning in Kentucky.Different hemispheres — same belief.

In Part 1 of this powerful international crossover, Buzz sits down with Rick White, founder of Front Porch America, a podcast built on one simple idea: people deserve to be heard.

Rick didn’t start with a blueprint.No production team.No grand strategy.

Just a microphone, a servant’s heart, and a desire to create space for real stories.

From his life as a firefighter and emergency...

Episode 48 – Tim McKee (Part 1)Standards, Service & Second Chances

Some men are forged quietly.

Not by spotlight.Not by applause.But by responsibility.

In this powerful Part 1 conversation, Buzz sits down with Townsville’s own Tim McKee — not to talk about titles, but to uncover the foundations behind a life built on service, standards, and duty.

From a young boy learning gratitude from his father…To watching his aunt build hospitals in India and give her life to others…To driving trucks while studying law…To losing his job during the slump and landing in Townsvill...

Episode 47: Roland Allbrook — Ink Across Empires (Part 2)Who Is Your Hero with Buzz (Matthew Fidler)

Welcome back legends — this is Part 2 of my sit-down with Roland Allbrook, and I’m telling you now… this one goes deeper.

Roland’s memoir “Ink Across Empires” isn’t a victory lap. It’s not nostalgia. It’s not propaganda. It’s a raw, honest reflection on empire, identity, power, culture, youth, ego… and what happens when life forces you to look back and tell the truth without polishing the edges.

In this episode we kick off with a question that hit...

🎙️ Episode 47 – Roland Allbrook (Part 1)Empire, Boarding School & The Blindfolded Boy

This episode is different.

No hype.No outrage clips.No culture-war bait.

Just a manuscript.

In Episode 47 (Part 1), I sit down with Roland Allbrook — a man I first met in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea, between Kimbe and Rabaul. We were both teaching there between 2017 and 2020. I was teaching construction. Roland was teaching literature.

At night, over a few “Scooby Doos” in the PNG humidity, the stories would start.

Kenya Highlands.Missionary boarding schools.Union Jacks raised at sunrise.Bambo...

Episode 46: Brady Gunn — Standing Alone

What does real courage look like?

Not the loud kind.Not the social media kind.Not the “I told you so” kind.

The quiet kind.

The kind where a man stands in a park… alone… for nearly three months… before anyone stands beside him.

In Episode 46 of Who Is Your Hero, Buzz sits down with Brady Gunn — founder of Stand In The Park — for a conversation that goes far deeper than politics.

This isn’t a COVID episode.It’s a character episode.

Brady opens up abo...

Rock Bottom to Real Talk: Dane Miller (Part 2) — Pottsville

Part 2 hits different, legends… this is where the story gets raw and a bit teary.

Dane takes us back to the years after moving to Melbourne — the loneliness, the chronic depression he didn’t even recognise at first (sleeping 18 hours a day and thinking he was physically dying), and the way quick labels and quick fixes can numb a bloke instead of truly helping him heal.

Then we get into the slippery slope: weekends, pubs, coke… and then the moment ice shows up — and how fast it...

Rock Bottom to Real Talk: Dane Miller (Part 1)When Drift Turns Into Decision

There’s a moment in every man’s life where he either keeps drifting… or draws a line in the sand.

Episode 45 of Who Is Your Hero isn’t about success.It’s about survival.

It’s about how easy it is to lose direction when you’re young, adapting, trying to fit in, trying to belong — and sometimes rebelling against systems you don’t fully understand yet.

And it’s about what happens when life starts looking like a dead end.

🐎 Episode 44 – Horses Don’t Lie (Part 2)Pause. Breath. Freedom.

Part 2 of this conversation goes somewhere different.

If Part 1 was about survival — anxiety, addiction, and the weight people carry quietly — Part 2 is about what comes after.What happens when you stop pushing, stop forcing, and finally learn to pause.

In this episode, Buzz and Kim Daley explore freedom — not the loud, flashy kind, but the calm that comes from self-regulation, awareness, and letting go of the need to control everything.

Kim speaks openly about:

Surrender versus forcing outcomes

Health before wealth — and...

🐎 Episode 44 – Horses Don’t Lie (Part 1)

Some lessons don’t come from words.They come from presence.

In this episode of Who Is Your Hero, Buzz sits down with Kim Daley for a raw, unscripted conversation about horses, humans, and the things we carry beneath the surface.

Horses don’t respond to ego, pressure, or performance.They respond to who you are when everything else is stripped away.

This episode goes deep into awareness, anxiety, addiction, self-worth, and why the horse is so often just the mirror. If you’ve ever felt stuck, reactive, or...

EPISODE 43 – PART 4 is LIVE 🔥Paul Fidler (aka Freddy Fiddler / “Jim Morrison”) takes us behind the curtain of commercial radio and the music industry…

🎧 Record label parcels every day🎶 The songs that should’ve been hits🐒 The infamous “monkey on air” story (YES it’s real)🚨 The smoke machine “fire” prank that… may have ended a job 😳🎤 Why talent isn’t enough — marketing + momentum matters🔥 And we finish by rolling out with Paul’s track “The Soon Army”

This one is raw, funny, and full of proper radio war stories — cousins yarning, no filters.

Stay safe. Hero up. 💪

#WhoIsYourHero #HeroUp #BuzzTa...

In Episode 43, Part 3, Paul Fidler takes us from teenage DJing and record-shop life to a 30-year career behind the mic, where he created the on-air alter ego Jim Morrison and helped shape playlists across regional Australia.

The episode explores music programming, the shift from local stations to networked shows, the responsibility of influencing daily soundtracks, and how love for music and community kept him going through an industry in flux.

 The AFL Masters National Carnival 2026 heads to Newcastle and Lake Macquarie from Sept 27 to Oct 3, bringing together players from across Australia aged 35+ for a week o...

A candid family conversation between cousins exploring their grandfather's wartime return, how toughness, humour and silence were passed down, and the everyday stories that bind a family.

They mix laughter and honesty while discussing aging fathers, music, pranks and the realities of health—especially the importance of blood tests, blood pressure checks and mental wellbeing.

This episode is a warm, honest reminder to check on loved ones and to book those long‑avoided GP appointments. Part three will continue into Paul Fiddler's radio years.

 The AFL Masters National Carnival 2026 heads to Newcastle and Lake...

Two cousins sit down to talk family, upbringing and the hidden costs of a life behind the radio mic. They trace how mothers, fathers and childhood shaped a man who spent decades shaping the sound of regional Australia.

This episode explores memory, responsibility and identity — from Sunday lunches and Johnny's story to the roots that forged a gatekeeper of music and culture. Part two will dive deeper into the fathers, war and work that followed.

 The AFL Masters National Carnival 2026 heads to Newcastle and Lake Macquarie from Sept 27 to Oct 3, bringing together players from across Aus...

Host Buzz sits down with Sam Childers, the Machine Gun Preacher, to hear his raw testimony: a violent past, a radical conversion, and nearly three decades rescuing and protecting children in Uganda through schools, trade training, wells and daily feeding programs.

This episode highlights Sam’s faith-driven obedience, the challenges he’s faced with governments and personal loss, and the new documentary MGP Never Stop — a call to support real, on-the-ground impact.

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Episode 41, is a prelude with Greg Mackay about Sam Childers — the man known as the "machine gun preacher." Greg shares lived experiences, showing how Sam's faith, sacrifice and action changed his life and inspired real, ongoing work to protect children.

This short episode focuses on impact over controversy, personal stories of mentorship and courage, and sets up the full interview with Sam Childers coming next. It highlights the work on the ground and points listeners toward the documentary MGP Never Stop and ways to support the mission.

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🎙️ NEW EPISODE DROPPEDEpisode 40 | Sunday Sessions with Buzz & Gypsy“The Truth Hits Harder Than Tinsel”

This one isn’t comfortable — and it was never meant to be.

We’re not cancelling Christmas.We’re not anti-kids.We’re not anti-joy.

We are questioning one of the biggest stories we’re told never to question.

In this episode, Buzz and Gypsy unpack:• The Santa myth — and why adults get more defensive than kids• Reward, obedience, comparison and shame systems• Why poor kids and single parents carry the real cost of Christmas• Consumerism, debt, January anxiety and silent pres...

Episode 39 – Part 2: Strength & Softness

The School That Said: “Nah… We’re Doing This Properly.”

G’day tribe — Buzz here.

This one’s a ripper… and I’m not saying that because I’m biased (I am), I’m saying it because Melissa Thomson is the real deal.

In Episode 39 (Part 2), we yarn with Melissa from Agnes Water — and we kick off with something genuinely hero-level:she helped bring a real school to life. Not a theory. Not a rant. Not a “someone should do something” post.

A proper independent Steiner school, government funded, on the beac...

📝 PODBEAN BLOG POST (Episode 38 — Part 4)

Title: EP38 (Part 4) — The Schuey Story: Own the Fear. Call Out the BS. Be the Mate.

Body:This is the grand final quarter. The final beer. The last chapter of a 4-part series that turned into something way bigger than a normal interview.

In Episode 38 — Part 4, Shuey and I go straight into the stuff most blokes avoid:✅ why men still struggle to talk about hardship✅ why doctors label people too fast✅ why fear is real… but it doesn’t get to own you✅ why we need mates who tell us the truth (not just “...

Podbean Blog Post — Episode 38 (Part 3)The Schuey Story: Standards, Respect & Raising Young Men

Welcome back, tribe — Buzz here — and this is Episode 38: Part 3 of The Schuey Story with Steve “Schuey” Schuman.

If Part 1 and Part 2 were the foundation — the medals, the military, the hard-earned discipline — Part 3 is the real battlefield… the one happening right now in Aussie homes, schools, clubs, and communities:

How we raise young men.How we keep families connected.How we bring back standards, respect, and proper role models.

This episode kicks off exactly where we left it — with one simple question:<...

🎙️ Episode 38: Part 2 – The Schuey Schuman Story“I Promise I’ll Come Home”

If you thought Part 1 of the Schuey story was big, Part 2 walks straight into your chest and sits there.

This episode isn’t about tactics, rank or medals.It’s about what really matters when the dust finally settles:

Family.

Stephen “Schuey” Schuman opens up about the moment every soldier dreams of and fears at the same time — coming home.The door opening.The kids screaming “Dad!”The wife’s knees going weak.The promise: “I’ll come home.”And the weight that sits on that promise ev...

🎧 PODBEAN / SPOTIFY / APPLE DESCRIPTION

Episode 38 – Part 1Stephen “Schuey” Schuman – Soldier On

Tonight there’s no satire, no politician roast, no five-minute warm-up.This one starts with respect.

Stephen “Schuey” Schuman is a WO1 (Ret.) with 32 years in the Australian Army – from tiny Tingha to Townsville’s 4th Field Regiment, East Timor, Helmand Province with the Brits, Kabul on Operation Slipper, and all the way to the top non-commissioned rank in the ADF.

In Part 1 we unpack:

Growing up in a country town where you pitch in or piss off

Why artillery isn’t g...

Episode 36, Part 2

Sunday Sessions with Buzz & Gypsie“Camel-Saving, Dialysis Disasters & The Digital Bong”

Strap in, legends — Episode 36, Part 2 is a full-blown circus of truth bombs, belly laughs, and the kind of raw honesty only Buzz and Gypsie can deliver.

Buzz is recording mid-dialysis with the Starlink pointing the wrong bloody way… Gypsie’s in a paddock saving camels with AI… and somehow we still manage to unpack men’s mental health, depression, addiction, pressure, resilience, and the insane pace of modern life.

In this episode we cover:

💥 Why blokes numb themselves instead of feelin...

In Part 3 of this raw three-part yarn, PGA pro Mark De Jong and I rip the band-aid off what really keeps blokes stuck – shame, labels, depression, and the fear of actually talking.

We get into why casual, non-clinical spaces like golf clubs and “Grab Life By The Balls” brekkies work better than beige pamphlets, why you should tell your mate the truth before you tell your GP a watered-down version, and why blood tests, ball checks, kidney checks and heart checks need to become as normal as a post-round beer.

From spinal fusions to PGA awards...

“Welcome back, legends…This is Part 2 of the Mark de Jong story — and if you thought the first round had depth, grit, and heart…mate… you haven’t heard anything yet.

Because this conversation goes right into the stuff most blokes never talk about out loud.The stuff we hide behind bravado, beers, banter, and bullshit.The stuff that shapes us more than any trophy, bank balance, or highlight reel ever could.

In this part, Mark opens up not about golf…but about the real game: life.

About finding out the difference between the crowd that...

🎧 PODBEAN EPISODE INTRO

Episode 37: Grab Life, Swing Harder – The Mark De Jong Story (Part 1)

In this powerful opening chapter, Mark De Jong sits down with Buzz and opens up like never before.

From growing up with nothing…to using golf as a sanctuary…to sitting on a bridge in the darkest moment of his life — rope in hand — and choosing to live because he had a tee time with his mates the next morning.

This episode dives into:

🏌️ How golf became Mark’s survival tool🧠 Mental health battles in silence💔 Depression, loss, and identity🤝 The po...

“Sunday Sessions with Buzz & Gypsie — Humans Are Cooked in 2025”

Strap in, legends — Episode 36 (Part 1) of Sunday Sessions with Buzz & Gypsie has officially dropped, and this one is a certified mind-bender.

From dialysis machines to desert-wizard philosophy, meat-tray heartbreak to why humans in 2025 are mentally fried… this episode hits every corner of the modern Aussie psyche. If you’ve ever thought:

“Why am I so bloody tired?”“Why do I feel like I’m failing when I’m trying my guts out?”“Why is my phone basically a digital poker machine?”

…then this one’s for you.

Buzz cracks ope...

🚨 SUNDAY SESSIONS WENT LIVE – AND IT GOT WEIRD (IN THE BEST WAY) 🚨

Last night, strapped to a dialysis machine like a Christmas ham tied up in medical tubing, we hit a new milestone…

For the first time ever, “Who Is Your Hero” went LIVE for Sunday Sessions – Episode 35 with:🎙️ Buzz (from the dialysis chair in North QLD)🧠 Carly – the calm brain, translator & sanity checker🌀 Gypsie – the spiritual sniper, chaos wizard & camel wrangler

What did we get up to?💥 Talkback-style yarns like the old school radio days💥 Half a million-view satire memes & why humour is waking Aussies up💥 Epstein files...

Episode 34 – Part 2: “How the Hell Did We Get Here?” (Buzz & Gypsie)

The boys are back — and somehow still not cancelled. 😂In Part 2, Buzz and Gypsie go from chaos to clarity: freedom, love, dogs, dialysis, and the moment you realise you’re still enough.It’s raw, it’s funny, it’s real Aussie talk about life, loss, and laughing through the madness.

Plus, a sneak peek at what’s coming next: Paul Seils on truth and purpose, and Clayton from Pottsville on community, mateship, and resilience.

Share it with a mate who needs a lift, and if you lo...

Episode 34 – Part 1: “How the Hell Did We Get Here?” (Buzz & Gypsie)Two old mates, zero fluff. We crack open the big one: how did everyday Aussies end up overworked, over-stressed and under-free? From numbers-before-names school days to tap-and-go living, from health wake-ups to finding your feet again, Buzz and Gypsie trade real stories, real laughs, and practical moves for this week. It’s truth over tantrums, small habits over heroics, and a reminder that love still wins — and you are enough.

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Legends—Part 2 is here.If Part 1 was pit to podium, Part 2 is what happens after the podium.

Amanda Allen came back from a total hip replacement… and still qualified for the CrossFit Games.Then life swung again—shoulder blow-out, domestic violence, homeless in a van, and a relapse that almost cost her everything.

And she’s never said this publicly—until now.

In this episode, Amanda opens the pages on the stuff most people hide:

the night with whiskey and sleeping tablets

the loneliness no crowd ever sees

how two...