Saturday, February 25, 2012

Coast to Coast AM - 2012.02.24 - The Wrecking Crew/ Open Lines

The Wrecking Crew/ Open Lines

Date:	02-24-12
Host:	Ian Punnett
Guests:	Open Lines, Kent Hartman, Russ Baker

During the first half of the program, Ian Punnett welcomed author Kent Hartman welcomed author Kent Hartman for a discussion on 'The Wrecking Crew,' a group of the largely unknown and uncredited studio musicians who played on countless classic rock songs. This coterie of artists, he explained, consisted of about two dozen LA-based musicians that were highly skilled at playing rock music in the 1960's. This proficiency led to record labels having them play in the recording studio rather than actual members of many well known rock bands. Since the band members provided the vocals and went on tour performing the songs, Hartman said, the record companies "didn't feel like they were totally lying to you."
Hartman detailed a number of instances where classic songs featured the Wrecking Crew's work instead of the actual bands which were credited with having played the music, including the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" as well as the Grass Roots' "Midnight Confession". He also shared the story of how producers actually refused to allow the Byrds to record "Mr. Tambourine Man," since they were considered "novices and incapable of playing at studio quality." As such, the album version of the song consists of the Wrecking Crew's work alongside Roger McGuinn, the only band member allowed to participate. Hartman noted that the recording of the song only took a handful of takes. Conversely, when the Byrds insisted on playing their own instruments for their follow-up song, "Turn, Turn, Turn," it required over 70 takes and days worth of studio time to complete.
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During Open Lines, Sid in Abilene, Texas shared the story of two strange encounters from his youth. He recalled seeing a kangaroo in a pasture in front of his house and, later, a six foot tall rabbit in the same area. The kangaroo, he said, was hopping up and down and "kinda waving his front arms at me." Sid expressed mysticism over the nature of these odd events. Other callers included Peter in Minnesota, who recounted his own "pretty scary" experience hearing the "mysterious sounds" phenomenon and Leonse in Louisiana, who was puzzled by how the Piri Reis map could feature a detailed depiction of Antarctica's coastline. Meanwhile, Manuel in Stockton called in to note that, 70 years ago to the night, the Battle of LA was unfolding over the skies of Los Angeles.

O'Reilly & JFK

In the first half hour, author Russ Baker reacted to Bill O'Reilly's impending book on John F. Kennedy which claims to reveal "why his life was cut short." Baker traced O'Reilly's interest in the JFK assassination back to work he did as a newscaster in Dallas in the 1970's as well as later reports on the TV program Inside Edition. According to a former pundit from Fox News who spoke to Baker, O'Reilly frequently tried to do stories on the Kennedy assassination but "top ranked people" at the network "kept stepping on the story." While it would appear, based on his previous work, the book would lend credence to conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination, Baker surmised that "if Bill O'Reilly wants to keep his career at Fox, he is not going to be revealing anything."

Man-Made 'Snow Circles'

This 'snow circle' from France may appear supernatural, but it actually has a decidedly terrestrial origin. Artist Simon Beck creates his intricate designs by foot, using snowshoes after mapping the designs out with surveying tools and some of the more elaborate creations can take up to five hours to complete. More on the story, including many more images of Beck's creations, can be found at the Daily Mail.

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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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Saturday, February 25, 2012

Coast to Coast AM - 2012.02.24 - The Wrecking Crew/ Open Lines

The Wrecking Crew/ Open Lines

The Wrecking Crew/ Open Lines

O'Reilly & JFK

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Man-Made 'Snow Circles'

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