Coast to Coast AM

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Coast to Coast AM is a popular U.S. talk radio show that runs in the wee hours of the late night and early morning. It was originally devised and hosted by Art Bell. Since 2003 the regular weekday host has been George Noory, and weekend hosts are George Knapp, Rob Simone, Dave Schrader and Richard Syrett.

The show focuses on a wide variety of paranormal and occult topics, typically in a credulous manner, though occasionally the show will address some political news of the day, always by repeating the standard right wing talking point. The show generally consists of two two-hour interviews with a specific guest, the end of which is opened up to callers with questions. Many would argue, however, that the show is at its best on Fridays, when the second half (or sometimes the last three hours, or the entire episode) is left open to callers' personal stories.

It is distributed by Premiere Radio Networks. Local affiliates exist in nearly every major U.S. city though the show has been removed from some markets in recent years due to decline in audience. The program generally runs seven days a week, from 10pm to 2am Pacific time, although local affiliates may repeat, delay or abridge the program. Many stations that carry Coast to Coast also carry other Premiere Radio shows, including Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity, hosts also not known for firm grips on reality.

Contents

[edit] History

The original host, Art Bell, got his start in 1984 with a local conservative political talk show in Las Vegas. When he took Coast to Coast AM national in 1992 it was briefly a political talk show - Bell was one of the talk radio hosts talking up Ross Perot's candidacy and criticism of the Waco siege - before he found his calling covering paranormal topics. Art Bell later joined the Libertarian Party. Bell retired from the show briefly in 2000-2001, during which Coast to Coast AM was hosted by Mike Siegal of Seattle. He returned in 2001 and went into "semi-retirement" again in 2003, with George Noory taking over regular hosting. Bell is the co-author of The Coming Global Superstorm, upon which the movie The Day After Tomorrow was based.[1]

In September 2013, Art Bell returned to the airwaves, somewhat, on SiriusXM Satellite Radio. His new show, "Art Bell's Dark Matter" was broadcast nightly on "Indie", Channel 104, direct from his home studio in Pahrump, Nevada, but abruptly ended in November over web streaming issues.[2]. He supposedly is returning from retirement yet again in 2015, once his non-compete clause ends. One can only speculate as to how long it will last.

[edit] Guests

Coast to Coast AM features a regular lineup of guests from a wide range of fields, often pseudoscientific. Frequent topics discussed on the show are such things as UFOs, alien abductions, cryptozoology, ghosts, exorcisms, astrology, pseudoarcheology, topics such as the alleged mystical powers of "ancient crystal skulls", and various forms of science woo. A frequent guest on Coast to Coast is pseudoscientist Richard Hoagland, who has expounded his speculations of life on Mars, and the supposed associated governmental cover-up. Another is remote viewer and doomsayer Ed Dames, who makes predictions of impending worldwide destruction.

[edit] Richard C. Hoagland

Raving wingnut Richard Hoagland makes occasional appearances on the show as Noory's "science adviser". Usually he starts out with common true facts about what is going on in space then devolves into full a blown conspiracy nut as the show progresses. Think space Nazis shooting down ballistic rockets, and references to Photoshop-edited pictures to prove alien civilizations that only exist in Hoagland's deluded mind. Hoagland favors numerology over mathematics, focusing in particular on the numbers 19.5 and 33.3. See this for an assessment of Hoagland's leet mathematical skillz.

[edit] Linda Moulton Howe

Linda Moulton Howe is the show's official "investigative journalist." She gets the whole show to herself on alternate Thursdays and is allegedly paid a small stipend. Her spots have more formality than most of the show's content, with LMH painstakingly expounding her latest research and replaying her interviews with sources. Members of the internet forum "Coastgab" regularly criticize her pedestrian delivery and "old lady voice," but they also give her credit for serious investigative work (as opposed to many regular guests who just make stuff up.)

[edit] Steven Quayle

Spews an endless stream of overlapping nonsense involving the entire grab-bag ranging from UFOs to the end of the world with plenty of pseudoscience like chemtrails. He supports far-right political views and hatred: during a recent radio appearance he took a page out of the basic xenophobic playbook and called immigrants coming into the US "infectons," claiming they could be "intentionally exposed to some of the most deadly pathogens with the goal of spreading disease" as Coast to Coast put it. Nobody thought to tell him that perfectly legit businessmen returning from exotic foreign locations are every bit as much of a potential threat.

During the same show, Quayle uttered the dread words "quantum frequencies." According to him, the bombardment of the US embassy in Moscow with microwaves (1953-76) was not, as reported at the time, a form of radio jamming but a successful scheme to project viruses through thin air. Amazing what quantum frequencies can achieve.

[edit] Whitley Strieber

Friend of Art Bell who took over Art's other show Dreamland. Of course, Dreamland was promptly driven into obscurity as a podcast-only show after he took over. Whitley claims to have been abducted by aliens and is usually accompanied by fellow UFO conspiracy freaks.

[edit] Sylvia Browne

On January 3, 2006, Sylvia Browne (a supposed psychic) was a guest on that night's show. Sylvia made a prediction regarding the miners trapped in the Sago Mine disaster: when asked if they were dead, she replied, "No, I knew they would be found." At the time, the initial report from the mine had said that 12 of the 13 trapped had been found alive. Later reports corrected that only 1 of the men had survived; Sylvia backtracked claiming that she knew they were dead, and that she had never said they would be found alive, only found. Apparently she forgot Coast to Coast records every broadcast for their archives. George Noory has not invited her back since then because of this incident.

[edit] Michio Kaku

One of the few relatively sane folks that appear on the show. Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist who specializes in trans-humanist and future technology topics.

[edit] Alex Jones

Yes, conspiracy posterboy Alex Jones occasionally shows up to tell you to get ready to eat your poisoned food while sitting in your cell in the FEMA camps. Be sure to have your Credit card ready to take advantage of Alex Jones's many sponsored worthless survival products .

[edit] See also

Carnivora

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. The Day After Tomorrow™: Could it really happen?
  2. Huffington Post: Paranormal Radio Host Art Bell Mysteriously Disappears From SiriusXM
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