The Sunshine Place
Welcome to the 1980s, where the war on drugs rages on and America's teenagers are caught in the crossfire. Enter Straight Incorporated, a controversial new rehab program that promises its tough love approach can set kids back on the straight and narrow. But for the survivors of Straight, their experience tells a horrifyingly different story — one of abuse, torture, and brainwashing. Season 2 of “The Sunshine Place” delves into the shocking tale of Straight Incorporated, an experimental teen rehab that descended into a sadistic cult exploiting parents' deepest fears and their children's vulnerabilities. This heart-wrenching exploration of parenting, family, and the human spirit intertwines with the dark underbelly of power, money, and politics. And at the heart of it all, we find a connection back to the subject of “The Sunshine Place” Season 1, Synanon. Executive Produced by Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, and Emily Barclay Ford of Team Downey, together with Josh McLaughlin of Wink Pictures.
The Sunshine Place is an Audacy original.
Episodes
Introducing: What We Spend
Imagine if you could ask someone anything you wanted about their finances. On What We Spend, people from across the country and across the financial spectrum are opening their wallets—and their lives—to tell you everything: what they make, what they want, and—for one week—what they spend.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
11/04/25•10m 55s
S2|E8: Survivors
By the early 2000s, the “troubled teens” of Straight Incorporated have grown up, and they’re no longer victims, they’re survivors. Many of them embark on a quest for answers, but the architects of their pain and suffering have moved on to bigger, more insidious things. So the survivors look to one another for meaning, but their newfound connection reveals a profoundly dark secret. Together, they discover that the only path forward leads back home.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
11/12/24•55m 47s
S2|E7: KIDS
It’s the 1990s, and the rehab landscape has changed, but into this new environment enters a familiar opportunist. Dr. Miller Newton, the personification of the evil at Straight Inc., resurfaces with a new program and a new scheme to con parents. When the next generation of teenagers fall under his influence, it seems like they might never recover.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
04/12/24•55m 1s
S2|E6: Poster Child
Princess Diana graces Straight Incorporated with her presence at the invitation of the First Lady, Nancy Reagan. Their visit puts the program in the international spotlight. Enrollment numbers explode, but more teenagers to rehabilitate means more parents to indoctrinate. At Straight, adults take their cues from kids, no matter how vicious the mandate. Whether you call it rehabilitation or brainwashing, the program’s roots lead back to a powerful and unsettling origin.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
27/11/24•47m 0s
S2|E5: The Mayflower Group
Straight Incorporated sets its sites on the next prime market. The suburbs of Washington, D.C., with its population of wealthy and powerful parents who are also desperate and vulnerable to Straight’s propaganda. But one of the kids there comes up with a daring plan that threatens to upend Straight’s expanding empire.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
20/11/24•54m 37s
S2|E4: Drug Warriors
As Straight Incorporated makes plans to expand across the country, the program’s founder recruits a powerful ally with connections to the White House. But in order to secure a presidential endorsement, Straight will have to answer one glaring question. Is the program brainwashing kids?
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
13/11/24•41m 59s
S2|E3: Start Again
The Seed is heading down a dark and dangerous path, but nobody seems to realize it, except for the kids. As The Seed grows, so does the ego of its founder, Art Barker. The bigger the program gets, the more rumors start to spread about what is really happening behind closed doors. When people start asking questions they are alarmed by the answers.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
06/11/24•54m 46s
S2|E2: The Seed
To understand Straight, we have to look back at its predecessor: The Seed. This Florida-based rehab center was founded by Art Barker, a former alcoholic and stand-up comedian turned rehabilitation guru. In the 1970s, he took his new act on the road, performing not in empty comedy clubs, but in packed warehouses filled with teenagers and their desperate parents.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
30/10/24•49m 47s
S2|E1: Intake
On Halloween of 1982, a Florida teenager named Valerie is kidnapped from her home, by her own mom. She ends up at an experimental drug rehab called Straight Incorporated. Valeries quickly realizes that at Straight, therapy is more like torture, and rehabiliation happens through indoctrination. When Valerie doesn’t know yet is that Straight is connected to something much bigger and more sinister than she could have possibly imagined.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
30/10/24•55m 34s
Introducing: The Sunshine Place, Season 2
Welcome to the 1980s, where the war on drugs rages on and America's teenagers are caught in the crossfire. Enter Straight Incorporated, a controversial new rehab program that promises its tough love approach can set kids back on the straight and narrow. But for the survivors of Straight, their experience tells a horrifyingly different story — one of abuse, torture, and brainwashing. Season 2 of “The Sunshine Place” delves into the shocking tale of Straight Incorporated, an experimental teen rehab that descended into a sadistic cult exploiting parents' deepest fears and their children's vulnerabilities. This heart-wrenching exploration of parenting, family, and the human spirit intertwines with the dark underbelly of power, money, and politics. And at the heart of it all, we find a connection back to the subject of “The Sunshine Place” Season 1, Synanon. Executive Produced by Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, and Emily Barclay Ford of Team Downey, together with Josh McLaughlin of Wink Pictures. The Sunshine Place is an Audacy original.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
29/10/24•3m 40s
S1|E8: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life
Chuck Dederich's story reaches its conclusion. Whether or not Synanon does is up for debate.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
21/09/22•1h 11m
S1|E7: The Holy War
Chuck is consumed by paranoia and Synanon erupts in violence.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
14/09/22•52m 2s
S1|E6: Changing Partners
After Chuck's wife Betty passes away, he quickly finds a new partner, and he instructs his followers to find new ones too, whether they want to or not.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
07/09/22•55m 55s
S1|E5: The Breeders
Chuck declares that there will be no more children born in Synanon, and he goes to great lengths to make sure of it.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
31/08/22•49m 3s
S1|E4: The Punk Squad
Chuck breaks one of his two rules for Synanon, no violence, beginning with his youngest followers.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
24/08/22•48m 14s
S1|E3: The Trip
Legend, ritual, religion, LSD. Chuck experiments with all of it on his followers in Synanon.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
17/08/22•49m 1s
S1|E2: The Miracle on the Beach
Chuck Dederich hits rock bottom as an alcoholic in the beachside slums of Los Angeles. It's 1958, and he's got nothing but an idea, but it's one that would save countless lives. He calls it Synanon. Others call it the Miracle on the Beach. Through sheer force of will, Chuck's idea becomes national news, and Synanon becomes a household word.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
10/08/22•45m 43s
S1|E1: The Kidsnatchers
Welcome to Synanon. If you're wondering what Synanon is, then you're asking the same question as Celena and Mike, whose lives change forever the moment they arrive. It's the 1970s, and Synanon is a community, a utopia, a cautionary tale, and a cult. But more than anything else, it's a person, the founder of Synanon, a man named Charles E. Dederich, who most people call, Chuck.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
10/08/22•47m 49s
Welcome to The Sunshine Place
Once called “the miracle on the beach,” Synanon began in the 1960s as an experimental rehab facility in Santa Monica, California with a radical claim: It could cure heroin addiction. Before long, it would make an even bolder claim: It could cure any of your problems. All you had to do was move in. What started in a house on the beach, soon spread to compounds across the country. The man who made the miracle happen, Charles E. Dederich, aka “Chuck,” would be the one to destroy it all, along with the lives of many of his followers and millions of dollars in assets. The Sunshine Place tells the mind-blowing, true-story of Synanon - one of America’s most cutting edge social experiments, turned into one of its most dangerous and violent cults - as it’s never been told before: by the people who lived it. Executive Produced by Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, and Emily Barclay Ford for Team Downey and C13Originals, together with Josh McLaughlin for Wink Pictures and written, produced, and directed by Peabody-nominated C13Originals, a Cadence13 Studio.
To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
26/07/22•4m 6s