Coast to Coast AM: Now Rightwing Talk Radio?

[earthside]

Once upon a time there was a wonderful radio show on very late at night called Coast to Coast AM. It featured guests and discussion about UFOs, ghosts, the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, chupacabra, so on and so forth.

The program was founded and hosted by the great Art Bell. In 2003, Bell semi-retired and pretty much fully retired and left the show in 2007. The show was in the main not political ... it was fun, entertaining, interesting. (Who can forget 'Mel's Hole' and the 'Sounds From Hell'?)

However, since 2003 the primary host has been George Noory. Since Noory took over the program has become increasingly political -- and taken a decidedly conservative, reactionary and rightwing direction.

Last week I posted a thread noting the scheduling of a particularly odious rightwing guest ... that person ultimately did not appear, perhaps because of DU emails?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125128493

Now, tomorrow night, Noory's first half guest is scheduled to be the infamous 'birther bigot' Jerome Corsi. While Corsi is supposed to be talking about the discredited and unscientific "drill, baby, drill" theory of abiotic oil, the question is why is the author of 'Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry', 'The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality' and 'Where's the Birth Certificate?' being given a forum on an allegedly 'non-political' radio show?

On Wednesday, Noory is interviewing libertarian-conservative Charles Goyette. It is getting like this more and more every week; more conservative guests, more rightwing talking points from Noory, more barely veiled disdain for the President.

For those who care and would like to see Coast to Coast return to the format Art Bell envision for it, here are emails:

George Noory
[e-mail]

Lisa Lyon
Producer, Coast to Coast AM
[e-mail]

Tom Danheiser
Producer, Coast to Coast AM
[e-mail]

[indivisibleman]

1. Thanks for the heads up on this.

This is good to know.

[freshwest]

2. C2C has always had plenty of CT. Many of speakers on C2C are on Infowars. Pretty RW.

Glad to see your (DU) activism on this. I have listened to several C2C programs on youtube that are CT and easily meld into RW, tea party, etc. A lot of people would hear this and go over to the kool-aid stand.

[earthside]

5. Alex Jones was on C2C on March 20.

Last night's show (April 21 which I didn't listen to), hosted by Saturday night host John Wells, featured James Lane and Holland Vandennieuwenhof who contend that the Oklahoma City bombing was staged by government insiders so Pres. Clinton would have a reason to enact an 'anti-terrorism' bill. ( http://peswiki.com/index.php/Review:_A_Noble_Lie:_Oklahoma_City_1995_--_Bombing_was_a_False_Flag_Event )

Yup. A link to Infowars: http://www.infowars.com/a-noble-lie-oklahoma-city-1995-available-december-2011/

What you say is my concern ... people tune in not expecting this kind of reactionary, rightwing political spin and can easily get sucked into conspiracy theories that are not just entertaining, but really undermine confidence in the nation.

[Dawson Leery]

3. Google search "George Noory Sucks"

He is not very popular.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

4. Its always been sort of right wing.

In the 90's Art ranted about Bill Clinton and Janet Reno all the time. He hated Clinton. Then again in the last election Art endorsed Obama so maybe he came around. That being said the show is almost unlistenable now. I don't care if George is talking about ghosts or politics, he sucks. Ian is still pretty good though although he rarely hosts anymore.

[CK_John]

6. I believe George N "special guest" is code for paying for air time, and GN goes into infomercial

format.

[kestrel91316]

7. George Noory is a gullible, ignorant, anti-science fool.

I really miss Art Bell. He was an excellent interviewer/host, and no intellectual lightweight.

And yeah, Noory doesn't get the wide variety of oddball guests anymore. He keeps interviewing the same bunch of RW morons and frauds.

[white_wolf]

8. I remember this show.

Whenever my family would go on long trips where we would be driving very late, I would hear this. Even as kid I thought it was interesting, if very odd.

[Elwood P Dowd]

9. Interesting show until Noory turned it into a wackadoodle repuke circle jerk.

It's been several years since I listened to his shit.

[bbgrunt]

10. Art Bell was always a libertarian but also led the

charge about climate change. (Wrote the Coming Global Superstorm with Whitley Streiber) He was a great interviewer but would not touch some things like 9=11 truth issues. He eventually became bored with a lot of the topics and towards the end kept putting on lame shows about electronic voice phenomena (EVPs)

George N is basically a buffoon, but he was willing to cover 911 truth, JFK conspiracies and other interesting topics. His reliance on Corsi is an outrage. But at least he is usually kind to callers which makes it seem less political....however he easily agrees with just about every right wing talking point.

There is one occasional Sunday host: George Knapp who seems much more grounded and more progressive. He has had Wm Black (S&L prosecutor/investigator) on as a guest recently and Knapp is famous for exposing Area 51 as a real place.

The show is highly variable and the callers reflect the topics covered--from Mishio Kaku to people claiming to be satan.

[Duer 157099]

11. George Knapp and Ian Punnett are very liberal

I like both of them very much. Cannot tolerate listening to Noory for even 5 minutes, he's just an irritating buffoon.

[bbgrunt]

12. I am also intrigued by the new guy Wells

I try to like Punnett: he's very informed about a lot of things and loves to have programs about music and D B Cooper and philosophical eschatology. I find, however, that he seems to like the sound of his own voice a lot.

[Jello Biafra]

13. Let's figure out why......C2C is on what stations...hmmm which stations....oh I know....

it's on Clear Channel! Nuff said.

[Javaman]

14. I stopped listening about a year after noory became host...

they guy is a moron.

[earthside]

15. Bashing Science, Again

I tuned in just for a few minutes last night (Monday, April 23 MDT) to see if indeed the 'birther bigot' Corsi was still going to be a guest ... he was.

In the 'news' segment at the beginning of the show, Noory was true to form ... he had on this fellow Mitch Battros (another Noory favorite and regular) who -- big surprise -- bashed away at the science of climate change. Furthermore, in his usual disgustingly sycophantic way, Noory was just beside him in effusive praise and agreement with this anti-science moron. I heard Noory say that climate change is all about elites making money ... "It's all about money" he proclaimed. (Right out of the James Imhoff and Jim Demint manifestos.)

A far cry from Art Bell and 'The Coming Global Superstorm' that made the case for global warming.

[mikeSchmuckabee]

16. C2CAM was taken off here in central Arkansas a few years ago

And they had already pandered to corsi several times. It was on the same station as the rest of the rightwing scumbags.

I used to listen every night as I threw papers. I especially liked the supernatural stuff and celebrity interviews and rock and roll memories, but geoge noory has always been an idiot. There was once an expert on talking about Gilgamesh and his buddy Enkidu, and george interrupts the guy to mention that that name reminds him of JIMMY DURANTE'S SONG 'INKA DINKA DOO'? What a lamebrain! Couldn't even shut up to keep from presenting his stupidity.

Ian Punnett and George Knapp have always been more interesting and entertaining.

[indivisibleman]

17. exactly. the show has gone way downhill.

There was some anti-muslim, anti-liberal on there recently, last night a bunch of yahoos that wanted a civil war called in. The show is no longer worth listening to. Time for a new Art Bell to sweep in and bye bye CTC. Any wanabe Art Bells out there? Please have at it.

[segundus]

18. Art Bell is Broadcasting Again

Listen to him on the radio or through links on his website Midnight In the Desert.

Yes. Noory has really dumbed down the show. I think he takes a poll on his audience and caters to their tastes. He's all about the money and clueless about the damage he does, constantly hawking only one side of the political debate.

Art came from right wing radio, if memory serves. He'd had enough of it and started a politically neutral show on just fringe, paranormal, and leading edge topics. He gave this gem to Noory, who ran it down to be about a tenth of the audience that Art used to have.

Now, Art has come back and can be listened to on the internet every weekday night or on your local radio, if they carry him. Thank goodness!

[earthside]

19. I've been listening!

It is so great to have Art Bell back on the air.

Five nights a week for three hours.

He maybe 70 years old, but he is still one of the best radio voices out there and one of the better interviewers.

As far back as I can remember (and that is quite a ways) Bell has had a strong libertarian streak, but he was a support of Barack Obama in 2008.

Art Bell is about the 'Art of Radio' -- George Noory is about big money, advertising, Clear Channel politics, Hollywood and right-wing politics. Sadly, Coast-to-Coast is a pretty bad, but successful radio show. I rarely listened, even before Art came back.

Bell is on KLZ 560AM in the Denver area from 10PM until 4:00AM. (Between those hours, that radio station is as right-wing crazy as they come.)

[RKP5637]

20. Old post, I know ... I was just looking, all of the stations that carry him are right wing, Fox and

company. I miss Art Bell. Some of his old shows are still playing on Internet Radio. I listen each night. I also listen to the new show now hosted by Heather Wade. She does a great job, but I miss Art Bell. There was something magical about how he covered topics. He was a genius of the late night! Here's the new show.
http://midnightinthedesert.com/

I've only listened to Noory a couple of times, really can't stand him or his sponsors.