Coast to Coast AM

Coast-to-Coast AM (on FM locally) was what became of the old Art Bell show, George Noory being the regular host with John B. Wells and George Knapp filling in on the weekends.

I would like to see John B Wells and George Knapp get more air time.  I enjoy both of them for different unique things they bring to the air.  John has a good voice and a good sense of humor.  He tends to be knowledgeable in many of the fields his guests are and thus can ask intelligent questions, and he has a good voice.

George Knapp, not such a good voice, maybe not quite as much humor, but also very knowledgeable and a genuine investigative reporter which is a rare commodity these days.

George Noory, a good people person, but often not knowledgeable in the fields that his guests are involved in and I think there is a tendency to limit the scope of guests to keep them within his narrower field of knowledge.  He is patient with people and good at helping people who are having difficulty expressing themselves do so.  But he is willing to lower himself to two inches from the floor to sell some of the products that he does.  Carnivora?  Come on, we all know the old adage, “you are what you eat”.  We all know what flies eat, Venus Flytraps eat flies, do you want to eat that?  Not me.  And, “Men, are you waking up too many times at night with an urge to urinate?”  Try not waking up when you have an urge to urinate, not so good.

I guess some people must buy these things or they wouldn’t keep paying for the commercials, but if Coast to Coast really has an audience of 12 million people, I’m hard pressed to believe they can’t find some better sponsors.  I can’t help but wonder if this wasn’t one of the reasons Art Bell “retired”, I know they all say it was family problems but I also know he wouldn’t give these products his personal endorsement like Mr. Noory and I can’t help but wonder if that wasn’t a factor.

Art Bell is Returning To the Air

Art Bell is returning to the air September 16th on Sirius XM Radio channel 104.  His website is active now, at http://artbell.com/.

Sirius is a pay-for satellite network.  You can also receive programming via the Internet for the same amount of money.  That’s the downside.  The upside is that since it is subscription based, there are no commercials, and thus no sponsors directing what is acceptable or not on air, nor does the F.C.C. sensor satellite radio so it ought to be interesting.  The cost should you desire to listen is $14.95 per month and that also gives you access to many other Sirius XM stations.

I’ve always enjoyed Art Bell, not just for the material content but because he is who he is.  When he was on the air before, he had his own studio in his home, complete with cart machines which lead to a rather humorous (from the listeners perspective) event in which he attempted to repair a cart rack with superglue and, in the process, glued his lips together, during a broadcast.  I wish that would happen to politicians on a more permanent basis.  But I respect the fact that he is knowledgeable and capable enough to create the show himself, do his own mixing, queuing, much of his own engineering, and even research guests for his show.  In the old days even answered lines unscreened, which is something clear channel ruined.

I’m happy that soon there will be at least one non-automated non-drone, real human being on the air again.  Wish it weren’t just satellite.