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Growing up, I listened to a lot of Adventures in Oddesey (released by Focus on the Family and distributed by Chic-Fil-A.)

I haven't listened to any of their episodes since I was about 10, I assume that, if I was to go back to them, I'd be horrified.

Can someone with more recent experience or vivid memories confirm?

in reply to Andrew (Television Executive)

@Andrew (Television Executive) I have very vivid memories, and I don't feel like they were that bad. Honestly, the fact that my memories are positive constantly makes me feel weird.
in reply to silverwizard

@silverwizard I have very positive memories of one episode in particular, and I'll likely listen to it again and see what kind of sneaky stuff is in there?
in reply to Andrew (Television Executive)

Oh my goodness, I haven’t thought of that radio show in years! It was on the Christian radio station in the neighboring town, and that station was often on when my mom was driving us kids around. I think most of the stories were kids having adventures, and needing to make good choices (and pray) to save the day?

I have to wonder if it was less icky when I was a kid in the 80s, because my mom is pro-choice liberal who belongs to a progressive Protestant denomination (more progressive than they used to be), and she has always had low tolerance for conservative BS.

in reply to Amanda

@amanda my impression so far is that the show was usually mostly neutral but socially conservative, but occasionally went Hard in to conservative values.

But I haven't listened to it since I was a child.

in reply to Andrew (Television Executive)

Wikipedia suggests this show is still running?! That seems bananas to me. I haven’t listened since childhood either. I would be curious to hear what the person higher up the thread who has access to the archive thinks, upon listening as an adult.
in reply to Andrew (Television Executive)

Oh my god, I listened to so much AiO as a kid. (Way before Chic-Fil-A was a thing)

I remember there was a multi-episode anti-D&D arc complete with Jim Dobson voiceover bookending the episodes talking about how dangerous "these so-called role playing games" are.

It was like the Dark Dungeons Chick tract but an hour long.

The game in the episodes was Castles and Cauldrons: aiowiki.com/wiki/Castles_and_C…
Based on that I'm certain the rest of the show would be horrifying to a former Christian but especially for a former Evangelical.

An aside: @rainbowdarling@toot.works please tell us about your experience with Dobson's "pooberty" talk tape.

in reply to Andrew (Television Executive)

it's not too bad. I wouldn't consider furnishing it to a kid today...It revisited a while back and it has a tendency to discourage self-advocacy in a way I realize now probably harmed us, particularly girls.
in reply to pamela

@pamela that's essentially what I expected. Nothing overtly sinister, just a lot of "trust and obey"
in reply to Andrew (Television Executive)

Was a huge fan. Despite now recognizing most of it as either hamfisted evangelicalism or clumsy plagiarism (or both), I still have mostly positive memories of the series.

I don't know why. Maybe imagination was still such a big part of it, as a radio show, that we could partially shape it in our heads?

Maybe we just didn't have anything else quite like it.

in reply to Josh Collinsworth

@collinsworth the episode I remember most vividly was Tron!video games are evil. It was called Gloobers.

I think the reason the show worked, aside from the fact that the cast and crew were actually good, is because it took itself seriously and it had no real competition. There were no other narrative radio programs airing in the US at the time that I ever heard, much less for children.

(I didn't call them out by name, at least I don't think I did, in my community media handbook, but Focus on the Family is absolutely the kind of organization that recognized the power of media to deliver a message to a potentially hostile audience. They are a perfect example of the kinds of things I'm trying to harness and undo.)

in reply to Andrew (Television Executive)

There's a whole podcast (The Worst Of All Possible Worlds) that has a major subseries looking back at it and broader Christian media because half of their hosts are theater people that were raised as evangelicals. The other half are also theater people.
And from both guided and independent listening, yeah it's not good.
in reply to H-B (Demo Version 2)

@HarneyB That's unsurprising. I remember loving them as a kid, but also being ... well, disappointed I guess is the word, in the relgious messaging.