The AA Grapevine Half-Hour Variety Hour

Each week long-time AA members Don, Olis, and Sam will interview a different member about their experience, strength and hope, in a casual “meeting after the meeting” manner. Special features will enhance each episode.

Email us at [email protected] with comments, suggestions, jokes, and such. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected].

Use #heardinameeting on social media. Our Tradition of anonymity will be respected with all submissions used on the show. The podcast is available on your favorite podcast platforms and via the player below. 

While we provide the podcast at no charge, it is not free to produce. To support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to the magazine or purchase one of our books at www.aagrapevine.org/store.

Read Notes for Each Episode Below

Season 6, Episode 26: Taking Inventory of the Podcast

Season 6, Episode 26: Taking Inventory of the Podcast

Sam and Olis host Don and Chris to answer listener questions about the podcast following AA's Twelve Traditions. The questions include: "Who gets to say what constitutes a good AA program?" "Is sharing an online AA meeting's login credentials Grapevine promoting a particular meeting?" and "Is it wrong for the AA Grapevine podcast to have AA celebrities as guests?" There's also a newcomer question called in by Robin: "What is a sponsor and what is the role of a sponsor in my recovery?"

While we provide the podcast at no charge, we do have expenses. Grapevine is the only AA entity that does not accept contributions, so to support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to Grapevine Magazine in print, online, or on the Grapevine app. You can also provide a subscription to someone in need through our "Carry the Message" program or purchase books or other items at aagrapevine.org/store

You can email us at [email protected]. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected]

Season 6, Episode 25: I Gotta Get My Feet Into AA

Season 6, Episode 25: I Gotta Get My Feet Into AA

Tracy describes to Don and Olis how she came to AA by way of the Al-Anon Family Groups and how she could see alcoholism in everyone but herself. Tracy says she only had to change one thing—everything. Now she strives to live a sober life of service. In a Blast from the Past, we hear a recording that Ernest M. gave to the Tudor Group in 1952. Alan contributes a joke to Wits End.

While we provide the podcast at no charge, we do have expenses. Grapevine is the only AA entity that does not accept contributions, so to support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to Grapevine Magazine in print, online, or on the new Grapevine app. You can also provide a subscription to someone in need through our "Carry the Message" program or purchase books or other items at aagrapevine.org/store

You can email us at [email protected]. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected]

Season 6, Episode 24: Never Had a Legal Drink

Season 6, Episode 24: Never Had a Legal Drink

Scotty, who got sober before he was old enough to drink, talks to Don and Sam about hitting his bottom while dry and learning the value of working AA's 12-Step program. He started to listen, and the Steps brought him closer to God in many areas of his life. There's also an Ask it Basket question about chips and medallions.

While we provide the podcast at no charge, we do have expenses. Grapevine is the only AA entity that does not accept contributions, so to support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to Grapevine Magazine in print, online, or on the new Grapevine app. You can also provide a subscription to someone in need through our "Carry the Message" program or purchase books or other items at aagrapevine.org/store

You can email us at [email protected]. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected]

Season 6, Episode 23: AA Grapevine Magazine 80th Anniversary Special

Season 6, Episode 23: AA Grapevine Magazine 80th Anniversary Special

AA Grapevine Magazine celebrates 80 years of member-to-member sharing of experience, strength and hope this month. Grapevine has helped alcoholics each month since that first issue in June of 1944 and in recent years has grown into a multi-media outlet reaching members and potential members on a weekly and even daily basis through our apps, podcast, Instagram account, e-publications and our YouTube channel. You'll hear about all of this and more in this special episode: Grapevine staff and board members share their thoughts about Grapevine; Miley shares about Grapevine history; Steve, who's article appears in the June 2024 issue, shares about his alcoholism and recovery; and Cara and Matt share about the 2024 International Conference of Young People in AA (ICYPAA), which is coming up in July in Austin, TX. As a special treat, Steve performs his song, "The Rooms."

While we provide the podcast at no charge, we do have expenses. Grapevine is the only AA entity that does not accept contributions, so to support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to Grapevine Magazine in print, online, or on the new Grapevine app. You can also provide a subscription to someone in need through our "Carry the Message" program or purchase books or other items at aagrapevine.org/store

You can email us at [email protected]. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected]

Season 6, Episode 22: Revitalizing Districts

Season 6, Episode 22: Revitalizing Districts

Dawn from Port Coquilam, BC and Patrick from Vancouver, WA share with Don and Olis about coming into AA and finding general service to be a great way to enhance their lives in sobriety. Both serve as District Committee members and they share how they participated in helping bring more people into service in their districts. This discussion resulted from a listener suggestion from Carolyn.

While we provide the podcast at no charge, we do have expenses. Grapevine is the only AA entity that does not accept contributions, so to support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to Grapevine Magazine in print, online, or on the new Grapevine app. You can also provide a subscription to someone in need through our "Carry the Message" program or purchase books or other items at aagrapevine.org/store

You can email us at [email protected]. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected]

Season 6, Episode 21: From Surviving to Thriving

Season 6, Episode 21: From Surviving to Thriving

Nathan joins Sam and Don and talks about how in his early days in AA he found the laughter and fun to be annoying. In time though he too found joy in sobriety. Nathan describes starting a new young persons' group and finding that service is the path to long term sobriety. There's an Ask it Basket question from Craig too.

While we provide the podcast at no charge, we do have expenses. Grapevine is the only AA entity that does not accept contributions, so to support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to Grapevine Magazine in print, online, or on the new Grapevine app. You can also provide a subscription to someone in need through our "Carry the Message" program or purchase books or other items at aagrapevine.org/store

You can email us at [email protected]. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected]

Season 6, Episode 20: Hot Topic: Sex

Season 6, Episode 20: Hot Topic: Sex

Sam and Olis have a frank conversation with Debbie and Scott about sex in sobriety. They all discuss such topics as new relationships in the first year, different takes on the "3Ms," and thirteenth stepping. Olis sums it up well, "we came to have a conversation about sex and we ended up having a conversation about faith and about honesty and about courage."

While we provide the podcast at no charge, we do have expenses. Grapevine is the only AA entity that does not accept contributions, so to support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to Grapevine Magazine in print, online, or on the new Grapevine app. You can also provide a subscription to someone in need through our "Carry the Message" program or purchase books or other items at aagrapevine.org/store

You can email us at [email protected]. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected]

Season 6, Episode 19: Get Involved, Work the Steps

Season 6, Episode 19: Get Involved, Work the Steps

Todd, whose story "New Guy in Town" appears in the May issue of Grapevine, talks to Olis and Don about becoming willing to go to any length to get sober. First, though, he experienced a last drunk that convinced him he was powerless over alcohol and that his life was unmanageable. Jon W., now the Editor-in-Chief of Grapevine, Inc., comes on to discuss the new Grapevine book Our Twelve Steps. See the cartoon mentioned on this episode on Instagram — alcoholicsanonymous_gv

While we provide the podcast at no charge, we do have expenses. Grapevine is the only AA entity that does not accept contributions, so to support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to Grapevine Magazine in print, online, or on the new Grapevine app. You can also provide a subscription to someone in need through our "Carry the Message" program or purchase books or other items at aagrapevine.org/store

You can email us at [email protected]. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected]

Season 6, Episode 18: You Might Want to Try AA

Season 6, Episode 18: You Might Want to Try AA

Mily talks with Don and Sam about trying to get sober on her own, but drinking every day. Some folks suggested she try AA, and her first meeting was a 4,000-person roundup. The three discuss the early history of women in AA, including two women who worked on the original Grapevine. You can find photos of the original Grapevine, and other items mentioned in this podcast on Grapevine's Instagram account: alcoholicsanonymous_gv

While we provide the podcast at no charge, we do have expenses. Grapevine is the only AA entity that does not accept contributions, so to support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to Grapevine Magazine in print, online, or on the new Grapevine app. You can also provide a subscription to someone in need through our "Carry the Message" program or purchase books or other items at aagrapevine.org/store

You can email us at [email protected]. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected]

I Began to Say Yes [Season 6, Episode 17]

Season 6, Episode 17: I Began to Say Yes

Jimmy D. talks to Don and Olis about the difference between going to AA and being in AA. Jimmy says the most profound AA job he has done was putting signs out for his group. The three then discuss the power of group commitments in AA. There's also an "Ask it Basket" question about June 10 as AA's anniversary date.

While we provide the podcast at no charge, we do have expenses. Grapevine is the only AA entity that does not accept contributions, so to support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to Grapevine Magazine in print, online, or on the new Grapevine app. You can also provide a subscription to someone in need through our "Carry the Message" program or purchase books or other items at aagrapevine.org/store

You can email us at [email protected]. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected]

Email us at [email protected] with comments, suggestions, jokes, and such. To record an Ask-It-Basket question or a recovery-related joke, call 212-870-3418 or email a voice recording to [email protected].

While we provide the podcast at no charge, it is not free to produce. To support the AA Grapevine Podcast, please subscribe to the magazine or purchase one of our books at www.aagrapevine.org/store.