Monday, January 30, 2012

Coast to Coast AM - 2012.01.29 - The Travis Walton Encounter

The Travis Walton Encounter

Date:	01-29-12
Host:	George Knapp
Guests:	Travis Walton, Yvonne Smith

In this 4-hour special, George Knapp welcomed Travis Walton, who discussed his 1975 UFO abduction, chronicled in the book Fire in the Sky. He was joined by Steve Pierce and John Goulette, who both witnessed the abduction, as well as UFO abduction expert Yvonne Smith, who founded the Close Encounters Resource Organization. Smith pointed out that the Walton case is unprecedented in the annals of abduction research, since it is bolstered by numerous eyewitnesses who saw the event unfold and, subsequently, all passed polygraph tests regarding what happened. This overwhelming amount of strong evidence, she said, is why the case continues to be discussed and examined over 30 years later.
In detailing his UFO encounter, Walton explained how his perspective on the event has changed over the last three decades. "At the time, I accepted the terminology 'abduction,'" he said, since it had felt like a kidnapping. However, Walton observed, in recent years he has begun to consider a different reason for why the events unfolded. He theorized that his extremely close encounter with the ship may have injured him in such a way that the only chance for his survival was via treatment from the occupants of the craft, especially since medical help was over an hour away. "In hindsight, 35 years later, I think it probably was just an attempt to help," he mused.
Walton also recalled how he actually dealt with two types of beings during his stay aboard the craft. The first, he said, were diminutive humanoids that had large, hairless heads and huge eyes. However, he later encountered human-like beings that "looked so much like us, they could be from Earth." Since he did not see them interact with each other, Walton could not surmise who was in charge aboard the ship, but noted that the small dimensions of the craft made it look like the 'humans' were out of place there. He was mystified that in all of the accounts of his experience in the media, including the film, the human-like beings are never mentioned. He speculated that this is because the presence of these 'humans' on the ship is too disconcerting for people to discuss.
Regarding the aftermath of the abduction, Goulette remembered being hounded by a police deputy during Walton's disappearance and continually being prodded to "just tell me where the body is." Additionally, Pierce claimed that, once the abduction story became known, notorious UFO debunker Philip Klass offered him $10,000 to say that the event was a hoax. Following the media firestorm which surrounded the story, both Pierce and Goulette quickly distanced themselves from the case. To that end, Goulette expressed deep regret in not doing more over the last 30 years to help Walton defend the truth of what happened. Similarly, Pierce noted that he "ran from" the event and only began embracing his role in the historic case after his daughter saw the film and was skeptical that he was really involved in the story.

Knapp's News 1/29/12

Check out some of the items that have recently caught George Knapp's attention, including articles on Fran Drescher claiming to have been abducted by aliens, a potential connection between UFOs and the JFK assassination, and concerns surrounding Google's new privacy policy...

Thanks to Bob K. for providing the image for Knapp's News.

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Coast to Coast AM

Coast to Coast AM is a North American (U.S. and Canada) late-night syndicated radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics, but most frequently ones that relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was created by Art Bell and is distributed by Premiere Radio Networks. The program currently airs seven nights a week 1:00 a.m. – 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time / 10:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m. Pacific Time. As of 2006, the show attracts an estimated 4.5 million listeners every night, making it the most listened to late night show in North America.

Coast to Coast AM covers unusual topics and is full of personal stories related to callers. While program content varies, most nights are focused on paranormal and pseudoscientific subjects such as the occult, remote viewing, hauntings, shadow people, psychic reading, metaphysics, conspiracy theories, UFOs, crop circles, cryptozoology, the Hollow Earth hypothesis, and science fiction literature, among others. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the events of that day (as well as alternate theories surrounding them) and current U.S. counter-terrorism strategy have also become frequent themes. George Noory also takes interest in the 2012 phenomenon and believes something will happen.

After the theme song is played (Giorgio Moroder's "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 Coast to Coast AM 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
Skype (when Noory is hosting)

They are all announced at the beginning of each broadcast by Ross Mitchell. Since 2007, Coast to Coast AM rolls out more numbers on special occasions, 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.

The 2006 first person shooter Prey featured Art Bell as a guest star and featured him as himself in mock episodes of the show with guests calling in to discuss the various extraterrestrial or mythical phenomena making up the game's story line, sometimes to advance the plot and other times simply for humour.

George Noory hosts the show on weeknights and the first Sunday of every month. Ian Punnett hosts the show on Saturday nights. Either Ian Punnett or fill-in host John B. Wells hosts the show on 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. On some 3rd and 4th Sundays, Rob Simone fills in for George Knapp.

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 website. 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, for 11 hours per day. Due to XM Satellite Radio's operational assistance agreement with Clear Channel, Coast to Coast AM was forbidden from broadcasting on Sirius Satellite Radio until XM and Sirius merged in 2008.

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.

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Coast to Coast AM - 2012.01.29 - The Travis Walton Encounter

The Travis Walton Encounter

The Travis Walton Encounter

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Knapp's News 1/29/12

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