Coast to Coast AM
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Genre | Talk show |
|---|---|
| Running time | 4 hours normally |
| Country | |
| Home station | Syndicated: 500+ affiliates |
| Hosts | George Noory Ian Punnett (Saturdays) Art Bell (stand-in) George Knapp (Sundays) |
| Creators | Art Bell |
| Air dates | since 1980s |
| Opening theme | "The Chase (Theme from Midnight Express)" by Giorgio Moroder |
| Ending theme | "Ghost Dance" by Cusco "Listening to Coast to Coast" by UFO Phil (Fridays) "Hands of Time" by Groove Armada (Shows hosted by Punnett) "Midnight in the Desert" by Crystal Gayle (Bell-hosted shows) |
| Website | www.coasttocoastam.com |
| Streamlink | |
| This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009) |
Coast to Coast AM is a North American (US and Canada) late-night syndicated radio talk show which deals with a variety of topics, but most frequently ones that relate either to the paranormal, or to alleged conspiracies. It was created by Art Bell, airs seven nights a week 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Pacific Time, and is distributed by Premiere Radio Networks.
Contents |
[edit] Format and subject matter
Coast to Coast AM covers unusual topics, and is full of personal stories related by callers. While program content varies, most nights are focused toward the paranormal, and subjects such as the occult, remote viewing, hauntings, shadow people, psychic predictions, metaphysics, conspiracy theories, UFOs, crop circles, cryptozoology, hollow earth theory and science fiction literature, among other paranormal and unusual topics. Since the terrorist attacks carried out in the United States on September 11, 2001, the events of that day (as well as conspiracy theories surrounding them) and current U.S. counter-terrorism strategy have also become frequent themes. George Noory also takes interest in the 2012 Doomsday prediction, and believes something will happen.
After the theme song is played (Giorgio Moroder's "The Chase" from Midnight Express,) the broadcast is typically kicked off with a reading of current events or news stories by the host, usually with at least one bizarre or peculiar story. This is usually followed by a guest interview for the rest of the first hour (with open phone lines if there is enough time), then a lengthier three-hour interview with a second guest. For the last hour of the show, people may call in to ask questions of the second guest. Every so often, host George Noory will flip the show's format and have the longer interview guest on first to fill the first three hours of the show. In this format, the primary interview begins after the reading of the news and then the first break. In the last hour in this "flipped" format, the last hour will sometimes feature guest with a shorter subject or, more often than not, be simply an hour of open lines. Occasionally, round table discussions are held on one of the show's common topics. Conventional topics are sometimes discussed, with interviews with notable authors and political talk sometimes featured.
On rare occasions, hosts have cut interviews short when it became clear that guests were being dishonest, unethical, unintelligible, abusive, or patronizing. When this happens, the rest of the show will be filled with open lines. Guests that have interviews cut short due to bad phone connections for example, or at the last minute becoming unavailable are generally rescheduled for a later date.
Some guests have been challenged. However, the overall tone of the show is generally friendly toward paranormal and fringe views, and apart from panel discussions and advertised debates, guests are generally free to air their views unopposed.
In 2008, George Noory volunteered an elaboration of the show's policy respecting the controversial opinions of regular guests. He explained that, provided there was no element of hostility toward third parties, it was program policy to allow expression of opinion unchallenged. He gave as an example Richard C. Hoagland's contention that features on Mars are artificial, constructed by a civilization that once inhabited the planet. Noory accepted that this opinion has no support whatsoever in the planetary science community, but said that C2C exists in part to provide a forum for such eccentric ideas. He added that, since guests are never paid appearance fees, it is inevitable that promotion of books, videos, and web sites is often a motivation for guests to sacrifice a night's sleep.
During hours of "open lines", calls are taken and put on air. Under George Noory, open lines have added topics for callers to share their experiences or stories about a particular issue or situation. The show has multiple call-in numbers for:
- "East of the Rockies"
- "West of the Rockies"
- "First-time callers"
- "International callers"
- A "wild card" line
As of 2007, George Noory has added a "Special Line", which is a dedicated line, with varying subjects, such as the "People who are Aliens," "Time Travelers," "Area 51 personnel," etc.
They are all announced at the beginning of each broadcast by Ross Mitchell. On special occasions, Coast to Coast AM rolls out more numbers, including lines that are reserved for special "themed" callers, for example those who claim to be from other dimensions, time periods, and those possessed by spirits.
The Halloween edition of Coast to Coast AM becomes Ghost to Ghost AM, as listeners call in with their ghost stories. The New Year's Eve show usually entails listeners calling in their predictions for the coming year, and the host (commonly Art Bell) rating the predictions made a year earlier. In recent years, the host of the New Year's Eve prediction show has been cautioning the open line callers that they may not predict the assassination of any person or the death of the US president.
[edit] Hosts
George Noory hosts the show weekdays, and the first Sunday of every month. Ian Punnett hosts Saturday nights, and the second Sunday of every month. George Knapp hosts the 3rd and 4th Sunday of each month, and when there is a 5th Sunday, Art Bell or a fill-in hosts the show.
[edit] Broadcast area
Coast to Coast AM is broadcast on over 500 United States affiliates, as well as numerous Canadian affiliates, several of which stream the show on their station's Web site. The show's Streamlink service offers live Internet feeds of the show by subscription. The program is also broadcast on XM Satellite Radio in the United States, on Talk Radio 165. Currently, the XM channel is not available to XM Radio Canada subscribers due to CanCon regulations limiting content produced outside of Canada.
In addition, XM Satellite Radio's operational assistance agreement with Clear Channel provides the satellite broadcaster with exclusive rights to all Clear Channel content, and doesn't permit the broadcast of Coast to Coast AM on partner Sirius Satellite Radio.
Coast to Coast AM is also available via C-Band on the W3 (GE3) Transponder 18, Sub-Carrier 6.8 MHz wide band. There are several feeds and re-feeds of the show.
- A re-feed of the previous weekday show's last three hours is played Monday through Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Pacific. Weekend shows are exempt from this feed.
- The live show is fed every night at 1 a.m. Eastern/10 p.m. Pacific.
- Following the live show, another re-feed is broadcast every morning at 5 a.m. Eastern/2 a.m. Pacific.
- Art Bell, Somewhere in Time is fed Saturday nights at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Pacific.
- A four hour George Noory "best-of" show is fed Sunday nights at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Pacific.
The show's complete schedule can be found on its website. Because the show is so frequently repeated, audible cue signals are inserted at the beginning and end of commercial breaks, to facilitate substitution of commercials by local stations.
[edit] Guests
- Sylvia Brown - A psychic and former frequent guest, currently banned for her role in the program's live coverage of the Sago Mine disaster.[1]
- Loren Coleman - A cryptozoologist and author on issues relating to new animal discoveries and the sightings of Bigfoot, the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster, and other cryptids.
- Peter Davenport - A ufologist and head of the National UFO Reporting Center.
- Lionel Fanthorpe - An author, drector of Media Studies at Cardiff Academy, president of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena, and president of the British UFO Research Association.
- Joseph P. Farrell - A theologian specializing in secret history and pseudoarcheology.
- Stanton Friedman - A former nuclear physicist and current author and ufologist specializing in the Roswell UFO Incident.
- Dr. Bruce Goldberg - A hypnotherapist whose research expertise ranges from interdimensional travel to past lives and the power sources of ancient Atlantis
- Rosemary Ellen Guiley - An author who discusses paranormal, visionary, and spirituality topics.
- Richard C. Hoagland - A controversial author on issues relating to NASA's activities, space anomalies, and alleged extraterrestrial architecture (the Face on Mars; obelisks on the Moon), and whom Noory describes as the program's "science adviser."
- Linda Moulton Howe - A reporter and ufologist who appears monthly on Coast to Coast AM, to whom Noory refers as an investigative reporter for the program, and whose phone-in segments he calls "Conversations with Linda."
- Alex Jones - An American radio host, New World Order conspiracy theorist, political activist, and filmmaker.
- Dr. Michio Kaku - A mainstream theoretical physicist who typically discusses topics involving string theory, quantum physics, astrophysics, and other hard sciences.
- Steve Kates ("Dr. Sky") - An astronomy journalist who discusses planetary events and weather patterns.
- Dr. Evelyn Paglini - A parapsychologist who is a self-promoted psychic and witch.
- Steven Quayle - A frequent contributor who researches giants, global security (especially with regard to giants), weather weapons, and terrorism.
- Dr. Louis Turi - An author, self-promoted hypnotherapist and "astro-psychologist," and motivational speaker.
- Joshua P. Warren - Author and filmmaker who specializes in ghosts and how they connect with UFOs, cryptids and psychic phenomena.
- David Wilcock - A professional lecturer, filmmaker, and researcher of ancient civilizations, consciousness, and new paradigms of matter and energy, and who was Noory's personal choice as his first guest of 2009 and has become a regular contributor.
- Andrew Wingate - A priest of the North American Old Catholic Church and an End Times prophet.
[edit] Other associated shows
Several shows associated with Coast to Coast AM have aired in the slot immediately preceding the late Saturday night edition of the program, from 6-10 PM Pacific time.
[edit] Dreamland
Dreamland was another Art Bell creation, nearly identical to Coast-to-Coast AM but less caller driven. Bell hosted Dreamland on early Sunday evenings, until he relinquished control of the show to Whitley Strieber. It continued to precede Coast-to-Coast AM on most affiliate stations on Sunday nights but moved to Saturday night (after Premiere Radio began to syndicate Matt Drudge) and then dropped the program entirely. It is now heard over the Internet[1] exclusively.
Dreamland continues to focus on many of the same topics as its sister program, although often with a more spiritual point-of-view, as well as an increased emphasis on extra-terrestrials.
[edit] Coast to Coast Live
Upon Art Bell's January 2006 return, Ian Punnett hosted Coast To Coast Live on Saturdays from 9 pm to 1 am Eastern Time. A spin-off of the original Coast to Coast AM, the show covered similar topics as its flagship program. With Bell's July 2007 retirement, C2CLive was discontinued, with Punnett returning to host the regular Saturday edition.
[edit] Art Bell, Somewhere in Time
Replacing C2CLive in the late Saturday time slot is a series of reruns of classic Art Bell episodes of C2CAM, under the name of "Somewhere in Time."
[edit] Newsletter
The radio show publishes a monthly newsletter for subscribers called After Dark. It discusses matters covered on the show. It has fourteen inner pages. Approximately 46% of the fourteen pages are illustrations and photos instead of text. The front cover is artwork. The back cover is a schedule listing of recent shows.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Dotinga, Randy (2006-02-02). "Coast to Coast AM Is No Wack Job". Wired News. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/02/70218. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
- Corliss, Richard (1999-08-09). "The X Phones". Time (magazine). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,991693,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
- Jaroff, Leon (1997-04-14). "THE MAN WHO SPREAD THE MYTH". Time (magazine). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986171,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
- Davis, Pamela (2001-01-11). "10 years to grow, 1 snip to go". St. Petersburg Times. http://www.sptimes.com/News/011101/Artsandentertainment/10_years_to_grow__1_s.shtml. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
- "Pentagon Photos Whodunnit". CBS News. 2002-11-08. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/08/attack/main528709.shtml. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.

