PROBLEMATIC CHARACTER OF 'COAST TO COAST AM' RADIO PROGRAM
Published: November 05, 2018.
Introduction
If unacquainted, learn that Coast to Coast AM is a famed and extremely popular overnight radio program broadcast six nights a week on traditional AM-band radio, hosted by media personality and entrepreneur George Noory, and, according to his own website, "...is heard by nearly three million weekly listeners." The unique and singular nature of the program, however, is its staple subject matter: the paranormal and the conspiratorial, both of which the program, most guests, and the host implicitly and usually explicitly endorse, and in fact wallow in unabashedly.
Coast, a frequent shorthand construction used by regular listeners, other hosts often sitting in for Mr. Noory, and George, himself, is often interesting, sometimes intensely so, provisionally informative and thought-provoking, and does promulgate some positive values, in for example, host George Noory's personal charitable impulses sometimes revealed on-air, arguably in its solid thematic of patriotism, and in my view as a social scientist working on its bleeding edge--brotherly love--the fact that Love is a recurrent theme on the show, if peripherally or inadvertently, given that 1.) so many persons alleging out-of-body experiences report an uncommon, singular, and overwhelming feeling of Love characterizing the afterlife or at least their afterlife experience, and 2.) many authors and others describing this or that metaphysical social construction or phenomenon having Love as its object, that which humankind must obtain.
Still, in listening, however, especially long-term, one must keep both feet planted firmly on the ground, as even a superficial deconstruction of Coast to Coast also reveals a disturbing and insidious character. And what Noory does matters, for his audience is massive: about 6? million listeners on any given night. We must assume that some goodly portion of this sea of people, including prisoners and children, are, like all human beings to one degree or another--impressionable. What impression, then, do they--and we--receive listening to the content of this unique--and uniquely influential--program?
George Noory's affable on-air persona notwithstanding, or perhaps in part because of it, given its potentially disarming power, certain aspects of Coast to Coast have disturbed me for a long time. Consider:
George is widely reported to have an annual salary of $500,000, and a net worth of $2 Million. He's become a rich man, in large measure by peddling, and confusing people's brains with, metaphysical and paranormal theories and claims many of which are, at least on their face, absolutely preposterous, and often provide not a shred of proof.
Proof, by the way, is a notion best dispensed with while listening to Mr. Noory's program, for the parade of witches, psychics, ghost-hunters, UFO-experts and other purported metaphysicians and purveyors of the recondite usually offer none--nor does the host generally request any.
A substantial portion of the claims of Mr. Noory's guests are likely complete fabrications or otherwise simply false. Other than for simple entertainment value, ignore claims and representations of apparently preposterous phenomena such as the "Hat Man," "Shadow People," and all others that strain credibility or simply seem fantastic.
Additionally, I decry the ubiquitous commercialism of the program. George "Monetize" Noory appears pathologically addicted to hawking every product under the sun, and even conceiving new ones such as his two dating services, in addition to the standard commercials that rotate during the program.
And speaking of commercials that rotate during the show, they routinely rotate many times ad nauseum; one often hears the exact same commercial run repeatedly during the program, and an airing of a given commercial may occur within minutes of its last airing.
Alexa: block these commercials!
And the advertisers themselves seem to vary little; it's the same group of companies night, after week, after month, after year. The monotony is exasperating.
Moreover, many of the commercials feature rather disgusting content, like Dyna-Vites for dogs that mention this or that unpleasant condition of canine ill-health; or the Sean Hannity-spoken commercials for New Jersey Diet, in which he mentions "saliva." This commercial runs many times during Mr. Noory's broadcast. Many times late at night when the show airs I'm eating a meal while listening. I assure you that the unsavory choice of commercial content does not enhance my meal.
Importantly, one wonders whether Mr. Noory inquires closely into the quality of the many products he hawks. Products whose quality and claims are suspect and thus suggest an answer in the negative are the Seacrane radio product line, or at least certain models, and the medication Carnivora, a cure-all wonder-drug if its interminable commercials are to be believed. My own research indicates that the claims of excellence of neither of these products lines is founded.
Noory's recurring health and medical expert "Doc Wallach" has come under scrutiny by some for the quality of his health guidance, and his lack of proper qualification has been asserted, rooted in the fact that "Doc" Wallach is actually a veterinarian, not a medical doctor! Moreover, having listened to Mr. Wallach numerous times on Coast to Coast, I can state with certainty that the sum total of his usual advice to callers with medical problems is to purchase one or more--usually more--of the "healthy start packs" sold through Critical Health News, a staple Noory/C2C advertiser.
He routinely and obsequiously agrees with every assertion of every guest, no matter how fantastic or preposterous.
Absurdly and misguidedly, he personally advocates the complete legalization of all drugs, and openly states so on the air.
Though topics in the metaphysical and paranormal are the bread-and-butter of his program, his interest in these topics actually seems somewhat superficial. For example, it's amazing to hear him blithely, often abruptly, dismiss callers by terminating their call, even when they've presented the most compelling, if not downright amazing, narratives of the paranormal or metaphysical. You'd think that he'd have such callers wait on the so line so Noory's producer could get their contact information and properly note their personal accounts, for research or simple compilation.
Not alone in the broadcast medium, George also commits some of the worst violations of basic professional broadcasting. For example, often at the finish of an interview, he will simply shift gears to the next segment or commercial break--with no formal or even informal close to the interview, such as "Hey, Bill, thanks for being on the show!" or "We've been speaking with Bill Ghostly, noted paranormal hunter in the San Diego Bay area." In such instances, at the finish of the interview, the last question having been answered by the guest, they are simply...gone. George offers no closing remark, and they themselves, have no opportunity to present one--including thanking the host for asking them on the show and providing them that kind of media exposure, which many of them do very much appreciate.
Moreover, George almost always phrases his questions in a leading way. His construction is the question, followed by the trailer "...isn't it?" or "...don't you think?" This behavior is as annoying, nay exasperating, as it is unprofessional. Talk about subtle manipulation of the response of the guest--where's the Poynter Institute when you need it?
Mr. Noory loses no opportunity to interject his continuing opinion that, today, in the world, generally "...something is going on." He routinely solicits an opinion on this point from guests, an evident feeling of import and continuing concern for George.
Shaping the Mind
A human being conditioned under the George Orw...uh, Noory, rubric or paradigm, then, presumably would:
Believe in ghosts, and demons or negative or evil spirits of every variety, including tall shadowy figures wearing a hat
Believe that alien beings definitely exist and are already among us.
Believe that at any time they can be abducted by extra-terrestrial beings and subjected to various tests and experimentation.
Be high on any kind of drug from marijuana to crack cocaine, legally and socially-sanctioned, as often as they desired or their finances permitted, likely as part of an addiction.
Believe that it is actually not the United States government that runs America, but a secret or semi-secret cabal consisting of governmental and/or non-governmental figures, called the "Deep State."
Believe that a social, environmental, or governmental calamity of some kind could or will likely occur, requiring and indeed facilitating purchase of survivalist products from My Patriot Supply, a concern regarding which were ownership found to include George Noory, himself, one would not be surprised. I also often wonder George has a financial interest in another of the companies regularly featured on his program in official program segments, that explicitly and flagrantly promotes their products during airtime: Critical Health News.
Believe that the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting was staged by the United States government. This is or was a core belief of media commentator Alex Jones--whom George Noory regularly presents as a featured guest on Coast to Coast.
An individual so conditioned would neither be the new Communist man nor the new Capitalist one, but a third variety whose mental and/or behavioral pathology could supersede anything either of those systems could inculcate. Persons who see nothing but bad in any social or media paradigm promoting the arguably irrational, illogical, unlikely, unempirical, obfuscating, and obscure, will probably detest Coast to Coast AM.
George treats paranormal and conspiratorial topics regularly and routinely. Now, however, through the establishment of his two newest profit centers, Paranormal Date, and Conspiracy Date, he's engaging in a bit of potentially disturbing social engineering--exactly what traditional conservatism decries, by the way--that not only permits and encourages among a huge audience such often fringe and counterproductive beliefs regularly, though casually or informally, he is now encouraging and indeed facilitating the methodical, continuing, growing formal creation of key social groupings to even better and more effectively concretize and embed such beliefs in society, these groups comprised of two separate individuals with romantic intent toward one another forming a single social unit.
Critics and others may consider Coast to Coast AM with George Noory merely benign or simply vacuous, insidious or plainly-presented and apprehended or construed, or problematic or downright dangerous, and elect to listen or not. If you listen, be aware of the psycho-emotional quicksand you may have just stepped into. And for God's sake--lower the volume during those frequent and frequently appalling commercial breaks.
Recommended Resources
Toward Wisdom & Love in our Global Society
OurBetterSelves.com