[batman-farts]

Reminds me of what Coast to Coast AM became under George Noory, too. Art Bell would occasionally offer some pushback or a sliver of skepticism towards his more out-there guests, but Noory typically let them barge ahead with their sales pitch unchallenged. (And the last few times I listened to it, it always was an explicit sales pitch of some sort.)

[hoistbypetard]

Art Bell was a national treasure. I didn't realize Coast to Coast AM survived him. (I don't think I've heard it since 2004 or so.)

I'm surprised the show is still on. I'd have thought its niche had been filled several thousand times over by podcasts.

[philwelch]

> I'd have thought its niche had been filled several thousand times over by podcasts.

Not at all.

I have a distinct memory in which I’m driving alone, late at night, on a long road trip. I don’t have any unlistened podcasts downloaded, I’m not in the mood for music, but it’s late and I would like to hear another human voice. So I turn on the radio. The night sky is a magical sight that implies endless possibility, so I’m not in the mood for sports radio or Dave Ramsey. I don’t know if I ended up listening to Coast to Coast AM or one of its imitators, but I found something along those lines and it hit the spot.

[hoistbypetard]

*That* is exactly how I discovered Coast to Coast AM in the 1990s. It was late at night, I'd listened to all I could stand from my collection of cassette tapes, and I just hit "scan" with my radio set to AM.

These days my unlistened podcast collection is large enough that I rarely get to that point. And my unlistened podcast collection is that large in part because the radio dial is a little bare lately when I hit "scan" in most of the places I'm apt to do so.