Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

Sober Sunrise
  • 4.6 (78)
  • Mental Health
  • Daily

Sober Sunrise brings you AA Speaker Tapes from around the world. Rather than an AA discussion podcast, Sober Sunrise brings you speakers who share step-work, workshops, and general fellowship discussion points. We are not affiliated with AA in anyway. Contact Sober Sunrise: podcast@sober-sunrise.com

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  1. 14h ago

    AA's Best-Kept Secret: You Can Recover - AA Speaker - Chris R.

    Chris spent seven years going in and out of AA before a Big Book group showed him how to work the Steps. Two weeks later, sitting on his truck's tailgate, he realized the obsession to drink was gone. His life was still a mess, but he wasn't fighting a drink anymore. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Chris shares a blunt, often funny AA talk about seven years of coming and going before a Big Book-focused group showed him how to begin the work. After a career as a chef gave way to repeated losses, broken promises, and a desperate bottom in 1987, he sought help from a doctor to begin detox, then returned to a meeting and nearly backed out again. A young member stopped him, sat beside him, and helped him stay long enough to hear people describe lives changed by the Twelve Steps. The group followed through with visits, sponsorship, a Third Step, inventory, and useful responsibilities around the club. Chris remembers being handed a vacuum cleaner while he was still shaking, then feeling genuine pride when people noticed the room he had cleaned. Sitting on his truck's tailgate about two weeks into recovery, he realized the obsession to drink had lifted, even though his financial and physical problems were far from solved. He closes with a hundred-mile bicycle ride through worsening weather, using the riders who carried one another home to describe the connection he finds in active AA service. His emphasis is on giving newcomers hope, clear directions, and a meaningful part to play. Chris R. from Ingram, TX speaking at the Big D Roundup in Dallas, TX - May 2009 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  2. 2d ago

    I Sponsored the FBI Agent Who Arrested Me - AA Speaker - Mark K.

    Nearly five years sober, Mark faced federal charges - then the agent who arrested him asked for help getting sober. Seeing an FBI agent as an AA newcomer was one thing. Learning to help him without expecting something back was another. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Mark tells a fast, funny AA story about success, grandiosity, and arriving at a meeting convinced he could buy Alcoholics Anonymous. He recalls making a fortune in the record business while still trying to prove himself to his late father, then getting sober on February 22, 1983, under the watch of a blunt, loving sponsor. Early recovery includes disco suits, late-night Twelve Step calls, losing his possessions, and learning that a sober birthday still matters when the outside of his life looks like a failure. Nearly five years sober, old conduct catches up with him in a federal indictment. The agent who takes him to court later admits he can't stop drinking and asks for help. The agent later steps away from the case, but Mark continues sponsoring him. Mark also describes AA friends packing the courtroom, a suspended sentence, and eventually presenting that same man with a thirteen-year sobriety cake. Beneath the outrageous stories is a clear message about sponsorship, resentment, accountability, and the fellowship that taught him to value sobriety over status and to love and forgive himself and others. Mark K. from Santa Monica, CA speaking at the 25th San Diego Spring Roundup in San Diego, CA - March 29th 2002 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  3. 3d ago

    I'm Twelve Steps Away From a Drink - AA Speaker - Joe K.

    Joe once wanted to find an AA meeting just to prove he didn't need meetings anymore. Eight months after his fifth sober birthday, he was drinking again. The lesson he brought back wasn't another reason to say no. It was a different way to live through the Twelve Steps. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Joe, 32 years sober, brings a dry old-timer's humor to his AA story of war, writing, radio work, relapse, and learning to stop running everything. He recalls coming home from World War II, becoming so ill from drinking that he couldn't complete a book tour, and entering Alcoholics Anonymous after his wife suggested they might help him live a little longer. A decorated fighter pilot he admired made the Twelve Step call, but Joe initially treated recovery as a matter of refusing the first drink and agreeing with the book. After five years and eight months sober, followed by a three-month relapse, he returned with a different understanding of powerlessness. He walks through the slow surrender that led to his simple Third Step phrase, "God, take charge," then gives a funny, pointed account of working all twelve Steps forward or backward. The message becomes especially clear when Joe speaks about devastating bereavements: serenity doesn't erase grief, but the program has helped him face it without wanting a drink. This is a practical talk about surrender, amends, daily inventory, carrying the message, and the distance the Steps can put between him and his next drink. Joe K. from Carmel, CA speaking in San Leandro, CA - February 11th 1995 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  4. 5d ago

    AA Threw Me a Lifeline. I Kept the Rock. - AA Speaker - Sandy Beach

    Sandy nearly missed the liquor store because he couldn't get his shoes untied. He decided the solution was loafers. His AA story follows that same brilliant logic all the way to the old ideas he finally had to drop. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Sandy shares a funny, sharply observed AA talk about the fear, guilt, and secrecy that came before his drinking and followed him into sobriety. Raised in Connecticut, he describes finding an hour of ease at Yale and spending years paying a higher price to chase that feeling. His Marine Corps flying career becomes the backdrop to blackouts, withdrawal, rationalization, and the increasingly desperate effort to look like a man without a problem. After a seizure, hospitalization, and a brief return to drinking, a forceful Twelve Step caller gets him into meetings and keeps coming back for him. Sandy then discovers that reading all the Steps in 45 minutes is not the same as living them, and that his childhood fear of God has come into AA with him. Through sponsorship, the group, and a willingness to turn his life over, he begins to experience a Higher Power that understands rather than condemns him. The closing story puts it simply: AA can throw him a life preserver, but he still has to let go of the old ideas he insists on calling his own. Sandy Beach from Tampa, FL speaking in Palm Springs, CA - June 5th 1976 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  5. Oct 27

    Spiritual Awakening Is Subtraction, Not Addition - AA Speaker - Peter M.

    After years of Big Book study, Peter could recognize the page numbers behind other people's AA talks. A new round of step work raised a harder question: was he seeking God, or had he started worshiping what he knew? ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Peter shares his Alcoholics Anonymous story from a fear-filled childhood in Brooklyn to fifteen years sober and a renewed willingness to be taught. After losing his mother, he found that drinking quieted the fear and made him feel present, but it eventually led to stealing from his family, repeated treatment stays, and sleeping in a Lower Manhattan hallway. His father found him, held him instead of shouting, and helped him into a seventh treatment program. Big Book sponsorship gave Peter a way to recover, make amends, and become useful in a family he had hurt. But the talk doesn't stop at getting sober: he challenges the comfort, postponed amends, and spiritual pride that can creep into long-term recovery. With another sponsor, he begins looking beyond knowing the words toward the Power they point to. The closing story brings that work back to a Brooklyn sidewalk, where he faces a childhood memory of his mother's collapse and finds personal meaning in two familiar names etched in concrete. Throughout, Peter connects Steps Ten and Eleven, teachability, and working with other alcoholics to a freedom that goes beyond simply not drinking. Peter M. from Union, NJ speaking at the Fellowship of the Spirit in Silver Creek, CO - July 27th 2003 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  6. Oct 26

    My Big Book Was Just for Show - AA Speaker - Cookie S.

    Three and a half years sober, Cookie had a Big Book on the table and Grapevines fanned out so everyone would know she was in AA. She was going to meetings, sponsoring women, and falling apart. Then she finally opened the book and followed the directions. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Cookie grew up loved, encouraged, and financially comfortable, yet alcohol quickly became the thing that quieted her relentless feeling of not being good enough. Her story moves from teenage drinking and a glamorous-looking marriage to trauma, serious injuries, and a life so isolated she describes crawling across an expensive Persian rug for another drink. Getting sober on October 25, 1983, did not immediately free her from shame or the need for approval. At three and a half years sober, she was busy in AA but hadn't learned to use the Big Book as a program of action. She describes beginning a Fourth Step with herself at the top of the resentment list, finding experienced Big Book sponsorship, and taking other women through the work. Years later, facing her father's death, divorce, and cancer treatment, she discovers what all that connection means: AA friends and generations of sponsees organize round-the-clock care so she doesn't have to face it alone. Cookie S. from Edina, MN speaking at the Duluth Roundup in Duluth, MN - September 24th 2005 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  7. Oct 24

    My Feet Went to a Meeting, My Heart Went to a Bar - AA Speaker - David N.

    Seven trips to detox in one month, and David still couldn't believe the happy people in AA were really sober. A woman with a Big Book helped him question something even harder to let go of: the belief that he was too dirty to belong. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter David traces his drinking from childhood rejection to the streets of Minneapolis, repeated detox stays, and nights trying to keep warm behind a bank on Nicollet Mall. Entering treatment at a state hospital with almost nothing, he believed he had done too much and fallen too far to be accepted in AA. He describes the people who took him to meetings, the sponsor he called every day, and learning to work the Twelve Steps through the Big Book while finding a Higher Power separate from the religion he had rejected. After several years sober, restlessness brought him to another surrender, a greeter's job, and a renewed connection with Big Book AA. Now more than twelve years sober, he talks about forgiveness at his father's graveside, caring for a close friend dying of AIDS, and rediscovering the fellowship's love during a year of loss. The thread through it all is simple: the actions that helped him at the beginning still work, even when his feelings are pulling him somewhere else. David N. from Minneapolis, MN speaking at the 6th New Orleans Roundup - August 14th 1993 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

  8. Oct 23

    I'll Whisper Your Name in God's Ear - AA Speaker - Keith L.

    More than 30 years sober, Keith leaves his best friend's hospice bedside to speak at an AA conference. Their friendship began with a cup of coffee and an offer: "I'll pray. You partner." Now, the man who once wanted nobody has learned what it means to belong. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Keith got sober on May 13, 1973, after a desperate morning in a Washington, D.C., basement finally led him to ask for help. With Irish Catholic humor, he recalls a schoolboy scheme to put extra beads on rosaries, finding instant confidence in alcohol on his way into the Marines, and being unable to keep a promise not to drink while his premature daughter fought for her life. His AA message is practical: sobriety is not waiting until every problem is solved, but maintaining a spiritual condition, making amends, and helping other alcoholics. The heart of the talk is the return of relationships, including a $1,000 loan that let his father be his father, his mother's gratitude that AA brought her boys home, and the friend who became his brother. Speaking from his own Catholic faith, Keith describes the privilege of being present through illness and loss instead of drinking for the courage to face them. Keith L. from Wilmington, NC speaking at the 34th Midwinter Conference in Midland, TX - January 16th-18th 2004 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

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4.6
out of 5
78 Ratings

About

Sober Sunrise brings you AA Speaker Tapes from around the world. Rather than an AA discussion podcast, Sober Sunrise brings you speakers who share step-work, workshops, and general fellowship discussion points. We are not affiliated with AA in anyway. Contact Sober Sunrise: podcast@sober-sunrise.com

Information

  • Creator
    Sober Sunrise
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    498
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Sober Sunrise
  • Show Website
    Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast
  • Provider
    Benjamin Shepherd

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