This album is not well known as part of the Odyssey cannon as it was never widely distributed. However, many of the foundational facts of Odyssey were laid out in this 13 part series that dealt with Whit's family and the layout of Odyssey. In this album Odyssey was described as a "mythical town in Ohio" though later on in the series this fact was never reaffirmed. This album is something of a collector's piece as it was never repackaged and re-sold. It was released as a 4 cassette package with the introductions and follow-ups by Dr. James Dobson and co-host Mike Trout.

Many of the actors that were anchors and regulars on the series made their debut here as other characters. Among them were Katie Leigh, Paul Walker, Earl Boen, Walker Edmiston, and Nathan Carlson.

*Whit's Visitor
Writers: Steve Harris & Phil Lollar

Directors: Steve Harris & Phil Lollar

Production Engineers: Steve Harris & Bob Luttrell

Original Air Date: 5 January 1987

Characters: Whit, Davey Morrison, Tom Riley, Jimmy

Theme: The effects of divorce on children

Plot: One evening as Whit is spending the night reading some Robert Louis Stevenson, he hears a noise in his garage. Upon investigating the noise, he finds the little boy, Davey, from across the street making a camp in his garage. He was running away from home beucase a big fight his parents had behind closed doors which hinted at a possible divorce. Whit consoles young Davey and convinces him to go home after giving him encouragement by saying God is in control of everything and that no matter what happens, his parents will always love him.

Facts: The wrap-around of this broadcast contains Dr. Dobson and Steve Harris talking about the program and their ambitions for the entire Family Portraits series. Whit also talks to the audience during the opening of this episode. It presents information about the founding of Odyssey and Whit's End, but some of it conflicts with information some information given in Recollections. For instance, it says that he and Jenny started Whit's End as a kind of coffee shop in Odyssey and how Odyssey got its name.

During the course of the episode, Whit and Tom have their little discussion about Robert Lewis Stevenson, which is repeated in Promises, Promises.

The introduction of this episode says that the story is set in Odyssey, Ohio.

This was the only episode where the same person was writer, director, and production engineer: Steve Harris.

*Dental Dilemma
*The New Kid in Town
*Stupid Questions
*You're Not Gonna Believe This...
*My Brother's Keeper
*While Dad's Away
*The Letter
Plot: A father and daughter have a verbal tussle over being seen in his 'greasy tuck' when she wants to go to the mall with her friends. After the two split into separate parts of the house, the mother talks to Stacy and shows her a letter from her father that he wrote when she was 12 months old. In the letter she reads outload, she sees that her father loves her more than his words can say and she realizes that felt the same way under the adolescent impulses she felt over being seen with her dad in public. She writes a letter of her own and slips it under the door to the grage where her father is working and she tells him much the same thing. In the end the two reconcile and agree to go out to dinner, just the two of them

Cast: This episode introduces two very key actors into the Odyssey universe, though their importance would not be known until several albums later. The daughter Stacy was acted by Katie Leigh who would later voice Connie Kendall and her father, Stan, who would return to the series in two episodes as Bill Kendall.
*A Different Kind of Peer Pressure
Plot: The episode starts off in a shopping mall where Rich, his wife and daughter Blaire spot an old friend from several years ago who is Blaire's age, Mickey Barton. However, tempers flare when Blaire quickly gives Mick some rude social cues that he is not welcome around her. Her father blows up at her and restricts her for three weeks for falling prey to peer pressure as she doesn't want to be seen with Mick who is a "dweeb."

Later on Rich is at work where he is pitching a new workflow opportunity for his company that a friend of his put together. And Rich finds himself in a similar situation as Blaire as his two supervisors get his friend, Jerry, out of the room and ask Rich if he is seriously supporting a plan put together by a "hick" as his supervisor puts it. He backs down and joins in the jokes against his friend Jerry. Sadly, Jerry heard the whole thing over the intercom and let Rich know how he felt betrayed by his former friend.

Later as Rich sits at Whit's End consoling himself over a piece of pie, Whit gives Rich some free advice about how he made his daughter Jana sit right next to a boy she hated when he invited him over to dinner on purpose. Rich got the same idea for his family and the episode concludes with him making plans to do the same thing with Mickey Barton and family

Cast: This episode introduced the actor Earl Boen as Rich who would later go on to voice the most famous of all Odyssey villains, Regis Blackgaard as well as his brother, Edwin.
*In Memory of Herman
Plot: This story follows the religiously divided household of Amanda, Victor, and their little son Eric. Amanda is a born again Christian and Victor is a confused atheist and the story arc follows the other's attempts to educate their son in the way they see fit in regards to religious belief upon the death of his favorite frog, Herman.

Amanda tries in vain over and over to witness to Vic, to get him to see that he is in need of salvation. Vic refuses to listen and reaffirms that he is grounded in the real world. Later on while Vic is on a scaffold with his partner painting a building he secured the contract for, they discuss the less than honest way they got the contract and whether or not there is a God and if He would care. As they move the scaffolding, it falls and hits a powerline while Vic's partner Mike, is still holding it and ends up in the hospital.

This event makes Vic realize how precious and fragile life really is. He takes this realization and wants to renew his relationship with his wife and son and beings in earnest to learn more about God and his grace.

Cast: Vics' Partner, Hank, was voiced by Nathan Carlson, who would later go on to voice another key character in Odyssesy, Richard Maxwell.
*A Member of the Family Parts I & II
Writer: Susan McBride (Part 1) Steve Harris (Part 2)

Production Engineer: Bob Luttrell

Original Air Dates: 30 March 1987 (Part 1) 6 April 1987 (Part 2)

Characters: Whit, Tom Riley, Monty Whittaker-Dowd, Jana Whittaker-Dowd, Jimmy, Sheriff Fred

Plot: Monty comes to visit as Jana is at a banking seminar. Tom and Whit pick him up at the station and try to break the ice by getting hom to sign up with the Odyssey Coyotes Little League which Tom coaches. Monty has a hard time adjusting to life with his grandfather due to the fact that he didn't have much discipline at home.

Everything came to a head one night when Monty tricked Jimmy, one of Whit's employees, to let him into the register so he could go to the movies. The scene immediately switched to Whit checking up on Monty who is recovering from his first spanking ever from Whit. After a good coversation and a heart to heart with his grandson, the two created a bond that was the changing of Monty.

Several weeks later, Jana showed up at Whit's End during a celebration for Monty's little league team because Monty had secretly called her and asked her to come and "get him out of there." Monty did not want to leave and told her that Whit loved him more and we are witness to an argument between Jana and Whit that would set the stage for their tension for later episodes.

In the end, when Jana comes for Monty the next day, he attempts to run away and is picked up by the police. The event shows how much Monty is willing to speak out. Whit & Jana agree to try to make it work between them as Whit confesses he unintentionally neglected Jana because of Jerry's death after which he spent so much time with Jason. It also reveals that one of the reasons the Whitaker's moved to Odyssey to get as far as away from the war as possible.

Fact Points: This is the first episode in which we hear Whit get angry.

We also are introduced to Whit's daughter and grandson in this episode. His other two sons are discussed as well. Jerry, the oldest, died during Vietnam and Jason is still alive but not featured in this episode.

This episode is flashbacked to in AIO212: A Mortal Coil, Part 2. This episode was also re-aired as AIO17 and AIO18.

*Simple Addition
Writer: Susan McBride

Director: Steve Harris & Phil Lollar

Production Engineer: Bob Luttrell

Original Air Date: 13 April 1987

Characters: Joe Rogers, Shelly Rogers, Nicky Rogers, Shannon Rogers, Whit & Jingle Bells (The Rogers Dog)

Plot: Nicky learns how to cope with being the older brother after his parent have a new baby, Shannon. Nicky breaks some glass in the kitchen in order to garner attention from his parents after he was shooed out of the babies room for whining for his old baby toys that were now going to the new baby. In the end, a long talk with his father reassures him that no matter what, he is the only Nicky his parents have. They will never loose their love for him.

This episode was re-aired as AIO22

Odyssey USA: A Radio Journey - 1988


This was the 1st 12-episode collection from Focus on the Family that featured the full length broadcasts dedicated to Odyssey USA. The first few episodes suffered from technical limitations including obvious background noise loops and unpolished mixing and effects.

*Whit's Flop
Writer: Phil Lollar

Directors: Phil Lollar & Steve Harris

Production Engineer: Bob Luttrell

Music: John Campbell

Original Air Date: 21 November 1987

Theme: The importance of failure

Characters:Davey Holcomb, Whit, Tom Riley, Ralph, Amanda
Plot: The episode opens with the Odyssey Coyotes winning their game and Davey Holcomb is up to bat. Ralph and Amanda are not to enthused about Davey's chances for carrying them to victory but Coach Riley tell them to have confidence. Still, the Coyotes lose and they end up at Whit's End.

Whit takes note of Davey's somber mood and shows him his "flop" invention that never worked. Davey breaks a lever off and runs out of the shop. Whit followed him out and conivinced him to fix the machine and in the process discovered that it was supposed to be a copy machine. Instead, Davey turns it into a working pizza oven and earns the respect of his team mates.

Facts: Since this was the first episode the gang took a look around Whit's End, introducing the Train Set, the Inventor's Corner, the Workshop, and the displays.

GOOF ALERT: Whit says that Davey knocking over the backstop was a coincidence. It's clear from later episodes (such as 47: A Single Vote and others) that Whit does not believe in coincidences.