PHILADELPHIA, PA – October 29, 2024 – Leading premium podcast network Audacy Podcasts, in partnership with Team Downey and Wink Pictures, today announced the launch of the second season of the award-winning investigative documentary podcast series “The Sunshine Place.” 

Season Two of “The Sunshine Place” tells the story of Straight Incorporated, unconventional and tough-love teen rehab that preyed on the fear of parents and the vulnerability of their children and spawned the troubled teen industry we know today. Synanon, the subject of Season One, is widely considered to be the original influence for Straight Inc. and for other rehab programs that employed similar tactics and behavior modification techniques. 

“The Sunshine Place” Season Two is Executive Produced by Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, and Emily Barclay Ford for Team Downey, together with Josh McLaughlin for Wink Pictures, and Maddy Sprung-Keyser, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and Leah Reis-Dennis for Audacy Podcasts. 

“The Sunshine Place” Season Two will launch with the first two episodes on October 30, 2024, on the Audacy app and everywhere podcasts are available. New episodes will be released weekly on Wednesdays through December 11, 2024. Listen and follow the show here. 

“As we were wrapping up Season One of The Sunshine Place, we uncovered a startling connection: a link between Synanon, the origins of Straight Incorporated, and the troubled teen industry that still thrives today, said Susan Downey and Robert Downey Jr., Team Downey. “Through riveting first-person accounts, we’re once again able to understand how vulnerable families seeking solutions to complicated problems can lead to dangerous consequences.”

“As we continue to expand our slate of powerful, thought-provoking original content, we’re thrilled to be reteaming with Team Downey and Wink Pictures for a new season of ‘The Sunshine Place,” said Maddy Sprung-Keyser, VP, Head of Original Podcasts, Audacy. “The story of Straight Inc. we investigate is harrowing and consequential.” 

Launched in the 1980s against the backdrop of the war on drugs, Straight Inc. was endorsed by 

First Lady Nancy Reagan and spotlighted by a televised visit from Princess Diana. The program swept the nation, but survivors of Straight tell a very different story — one of abuse, torture, and brainwashing. The eight-episode series is narrated by author and teen life coach Cyndy Etler, herself a survivor of Straight Inc. Guests include other survivors, many of whom are still recovering and telling their unflinchingly candid stories for the first time.

Season One of “The Sunshine Place” tells the inside story of Synanon, the controversial California-based experimental rehab community turned cult led by messianic founder Charles E. Diedrich and its decade-long reign over ‘60s and ‘70s counterculture. The series hit #1 on the Apple Podcasts chart and  won the 2023 Deadline Club Award for Audio Investigative Reporting.  

Download the cover art for “The Sunshine Place” Season Two here.