Art Bell vs George Noory...

As a Brit, I love Coast as we really have nothing quite like it.

George Noory is a fine host, yes he did interrupt guests now and again but they all do it to some degree, but he is improving and we get much more 'listening silences' from George now. He touches subjects the others are afraid of, that gives him much kudos from me. He has Alex Jones on a lot too.

Art Bell, well I thought he was the master, the best ever, until he came out saying that 911 truthers are, and I quote, "wingnuts". He means it. Art will not even consider that something in the USA government would kill its' own citizens. FEMA Camps etc -forget it, he will not consider it at all.

Knapp is great for the UFO stuff, I love his style.

Ian is okay, but he can sound like he is mocking his guests sometimes (like Steve Quayle). He doesn't do too well and I think he's too biased with his own strong beliefs.

I think George Noory is a down to earth, open minded nice man, witch is a perfect host for The Coast to Coast am show... Art is great too!

peace from Norwaii

Art was cool for his time, but it's time to move on guys. George is doing a great job there and I don't see why we have to hate on him so much. the man is honest and a very nice radio personality. out with the old, in with the new.

I think the real question is george knapp vs ian punnett.

I like George.

I loved the good old Art Bell. He really got into his subjects. He always sounded so fascinated by what callers were telling him. Regardless of whether he believed them or not, Art would drill for information. He made his callers be as honest as he could on radio (IMO).
I like George, but I have to agree that he always seem in a hurry to interject or cut off his callers, even his invited guests and experts. I especially dont like when he has two on that are supposed to debate and he does half the talking.
I still listen to him though because he does keep the information flowing, regardless of whether it is tempered in some way or for a reason.

Originally posted by antar

Knapp is the only logical real replacement for Art as his ego is intact unlike George's which needs inflating at every break and from every guest he has on.

I couldn't agree more!

Noory is always talking about his grandma or aunty (or whoever she was) who was good buddies with Ingo Swan as though this validates him in some way in the field of 'fortean' studies.

Plus, Noory always blows wind up the guests @$$ exclaiming this is the best evidence, story ever .. and so on and so on. One minute Roswell is the greatest story or proof ever, then it's some USO case from Canada. Make your mind up George! It's all Puff and no POW! with Georgie-Boy! He's only good for the softly-softly approach.

As Art is considering re-opening artbell.com because he is only contracted for a few more C2C shows, the real question is "Noory or Knapp?"

and the answer is plainly...

KNAPP!

IRM

The voice is the most important thing.

People loved Art's Voice.


People hate Ian Punnet cause his voice breaks glass...


The Order:

Art Bell
Geroge Knapp
Geroge Noory
Ian Punnet


I used to listen to C2C all te time, but ever since Art walked aaway for good, i havent listened much...

Originally posted by TKainZero

People hate Ian Punnet cause his voice breaks glass...

Hate is a very strong word and I can't help but feel you have overstated your opinion. I actually don't mind Ian Punnett. I think he is intelligent and good fun to listen too. I give him kudos for taking Quayle to task recently.

Then George Noory had to do his usual puff-piece with him a couple of weeks later to say sorry. George wont take people to task because he wants them to be comfortable, to come back on the show. This keeps the sponsors happy and money rushing in. But what of integrity?

I am in no way religious and I have to disagree with another member who stated that Ian brings his Rock n Roll Religion into everything. Though I am aware of Ian's beliefs, I hardly ever notice any type of religious leanings. In fact, for a 'holy man', he is very open minded and way cool!

My one bone of contention for Ian (if there is one) is that he tends to ramble on a bit at the start of the second hour instead of cutting straight to the Guests Bio.

LOL!

[edit on 8/7/08 by InfaRedMan]

I will preface this by saying that I have listened to Art Bell since he was doing political discussions on KDWN in Las Vegas. I used to think his show was great after he transitioned to discussions of the paranormal, and, like many others, I suffered through his constant dramas and absences. But this review isn't about THAT show; it's about the "new" Coast To Coast AM...

I have to agree with those here who say that George is among the worst interviewers they have ever heard. I'm sure he is a perfectly nice guy, but he can't conduct an interview to save his life... George is just NEVER prepared -- and hey, they pay him to be prepared to conduct effective interviews. (Or maybe Premiere will say, "No, we pay him to increase ratings...) He constantly steers guests away from areas that are potentially interesting. When the show goes to break, he is INCAPABLE of returning to the topic previously under discussion, even when that discussion was not complete. I think George is doing his taxes during the show. At least he sounds like it...

It is almost as if he comes in an hour before the show, learns who the guest and the topic is, and then asks a staff member to write down some generic questions. Then, when he's interviewing, he'll interrupt the guest (who is talking about something really interesting), and ask, "So what got you interested in this profession/interest/research/whatever?" Then we never get back to what they were talking about. Sometimes I can hear the frustration in the guest's voice.

His constant refrain has become, over the past several months, "I love it." Well, I wish his listeners and guests loved it. It's like George just can't get to callers soon enough so listener's won't expect anything more from him -- he can pretty much stop talking. Oh, but I got a kick out of it the other night when he was doing a show about oil/alternative fuels and someone asked him what kind of car he drives. I'll paraphrase his response: "Er... I don't like to give that out because someone might follow me. It's American though!" Shoot, what he doesn't want to admit is that it's a big honking Cadillac...

So this show makes it because it's the only game in town -- well, maybe that's an overstatement because there are some very good local/regional early A.M. shows. But C2C is the only *national* show at that hour of the early A.M. because it's still rolling on the head of steam that Art provided. However, if someone came out and syndicated a quality show that actually deals with the paranormal and various conspiracy-related topics, I've got to believe listeners would abandon C2C in droves.

reply to post by Zepherian


I like Noory. I haven't had the experience with Art Bell though. Just heard him in segments on YouTube or linked places. I think Noory does a good job at getting people to talk... he's got a nice voice as well. I don't much care for the girl they have on... Ian sometimes I like, sometimes not.

I tune in to see what they're discussing and that detrimes if I'll stay or not. Sometimes I'll listen fully sometimes not... it depends on the questions being asked and the call ins.

George Snoory has the uncanny ability to take an educated, interesting, articulate guest with facinating information and turn a talkshow into a banal, boring, suckfest; appealing only to the people that like banal, boring, suckfest radio.

George would ask Michio Kaku a question like "Michio, do you wear brown shoes?"

[edit on 31-7-2008 by whaaa]

reply to post by whaaa


Yeah, but Kaku is an interesting enough guest that he would go off an a tangent and tell us about how brown is the most common color in the universe because the light rays refracting off........

Personally I'm glad George is doing the show now cause I get allot more sleep.

I was just listening to Coast To Coast from last year with Michio Kaku. Kaku is my favorite mainstream physicist, the man is open minded and flat out brilliant. Art totally ruined the whole show with his interruptions and and poor question selections.

George Noory gets the nod over Art Bell in my opinion. He lets the interviewee answer the question in full then makes his comments. In recent weeks C2C has had poor guests on the show, George found a way to make it all interesting.

From what I've heard (over 5 years) from Mr. Noory is boring, and repetitive questions. And "how did you start doing what you're doing" I've learned is his goto question for every guest which if asked in the beginning signals the show will undoubtedly be a bore, but in between it's tends to keep my attention. I am thankful for him turning me onto other paranormal shows who are just as boring or just plain bad. There is one (Darkness on the edge of town) thats ok, but it's only on once a week. Truth being Ian is funny and untraditional with his questions, but only does 1 show every 2 months anyone cares about, Knapp is into ufo's -so actually reads his interviewee's book unlike Mr.Noory (as far as reading, and wouldn't blame him if he would read at least 1 book a week to be prepared for at least the show he thinks the listeners would enjoy, and as Mrs. Howe goes-her summaries are great-the interviews not so much. Last we come to Art Bell-A sum of everything great in these hosts was him. Honestly the best host that noone mentions is (????name has skipped my mind) a woman who only hosts once in a blue moon. Hence the reason for writing this-Do anyone know her name.

There's a load of people who don't enjoy listening to George Noory because Norry is a shallow nitwit who has a talent to ruin otherwise interesting programs on a regular basis. If there was another choice Coast to Coast would loose lots of its current listeners. Many people still hang with Coast because there's no other option that covers the same subject material. It's easy enough to understand - "get rid of George Noory" then Coast to Coast would be able to return to an acceptable level of normalcy.
Before I dial in Coast to Coast anymore I check to see who the guests are first then (if) a guest seems interesting enough I'll listen. I go through this trouble so I'm able to avoid listening to anymore of George Noory as humanly possible - Noory simply has to go!

I have been an avid Coast to Coast listener since the mid-1990's. I discovered Art Bell by complete accident one night while tuning through the AM dial to see what on ... Art was discussing UFO's and I was hooked! I must say that Art's programming was second to none and compelling beyond anything I have experienced in the broadcast world. His intelligence, curiosity, sharp bs detector, and made-for-radio voice was a recipe for success yet to be matched, although George Knapp comes very, close. George Noory has a more manufactured "yes-man" persona. He wants everyone to like him so he takes a stand on nothing, panders to everyone, and walks on egg shells so as to not upset or offend callers or guests. The end result is a show with little or no substance. The program has been significantly watered down since the departure of Art Bell. I am also disappointed with Ian Punnett. He can be rigid, and on more than one occasion has gone on the attack when someone makes a statement that conflicts with his view of the world. The show becomes more about "what will Ian do next" than what the guest or caller has to offer. At least we still have superb contributors like Linda Molton Howe and Stan Friedman. I also enjoy Richard C. Hoagland, even though at times he can be a bit too over-the-top.

I listened to a show where George interviewed someone from Jane's. As long as the questions only insinuated an opinion on UFOs, the guest was allowed to answer. When the guest attempted to directly address the issue from the point of view of Jane's, and it sounded like it wasn't going to be an affirmative for the community, Noory sounded as if he cut off the guest. That's how it seemed to me.

I wasn't all that pleased.

After a few more weeks Punnett has grown on me a little. He still irritates the hell out of me with his agenda, sometimes I think the man's a jesuit... but at least he reads the books for his interviews, which is at least a sign of commitment. Knapp is great. Noory is good but has seemed to fallen into an autopilot mode, where all his interviews are identical.

I guess my conclusion is C2C depends on the quality of the guest, and most of the hosts are good enough to not get in the way of that. Jim Marrs was great recently for example.

Linda Moulton Howe is like listening to bad sci-fi on the radio.

And somewhere in the middle of all this is the truth

Coast to Coast just used to have a different feel to it. I started listening in about '96 and from that point up until Mike Siegel took over in 2001(?) I actually looked forward to the show every single night. It had a dark....eerie....exciting....interesting and a whole bunch of other great words kind of feel to it then. It just never seemed quite the same from Mike Siegel forward. I remember giving a big "HELL YEAH!" when it was announced that Art was coming back but that only lasted a couple years or so and he was gone again.

For all Art's flaws it's just not the same without him. And he did seem to care more about his relationship to the Coast audience, constantly filling us in on happenings in his personal life and even asking for advice and opinions from the audience. He made us feel like members of a true "Coast Family".

And let's not forget that those were the early days of the modern internet, the mid '90s. Everyone was just then getting connected en masse. Area 51 was still big news and many of the stories we know up and down these days were still new to most folks. Roswell, RAF Bentwaters, Shag Harbor, Kecksburg, Cydonia, moon anomalies, Y2K etc. etc. I mean sheesh there were just a ton of interesting topics out there! Now many of these stories have been squeezed so tightly that there isn't much that's new and exciting to discuss about them. And, aside from notable exceptions like the Stephenville TX sightings and a few other topics, there just doesn't seem to be much that's truly new these days.

So, in my view, the show will never feel quite the same without Art, but I don't blame it entirely on Noory. There are some things about Noory that bug me, most of which have already been mentioned by others in this thread, but Art is, after all, a tough act to follow. And indeed there is a certain lack of new material these days that I think makes his job tougher than it was for Bell. I think we should consider these things when passing judgment.

There is also, I think, another important reason the show feels much different to us these days. (at least those of use who have listened since Art was the main host) and that is 9/11. That event changed everything. No matter where you stand on it the fact is, it changed the world, including radio. Many more people out there became interested in non-paranormal government type conspiracies than ever before. Naturally it would make it's way onto Coast to Coast. As interesting as this topic can be (and is for me personally) it has quite a different feel about it than the traditional ghost/UFO topics of the show. You come away feeling either ANGRY because you believe it.. or ANGRY because you don't believe it and you're ticked that Coast gives air time to these "unpatriotic wing-nuts" in the first place. Either way, you leave ANGRY. This part is not the fault of any of the hosts it's just a very hot and controversial subject. The Coast hosts, and audience are now all divided and not quite the "family" we once were. Was it wrong to bring the topic to Coast? No. How can it be ignored by a show like Coast? But I do think this is part of the reason the show feels different and unusual to some of us these days. Something to consider.

Now as for my personal preference for a full time host (if Art if never ever coming back)... GEORGE KNAPP. He broke the Bob Lazar story back in '89 he's one of the "old crew" in that regard, a familiarity. He's smart, asks the tough questions and seems genuinely interested in the topics he discusses. "...slamming into your radio like a super charged nano-particle of dark energy..." LOL...And that's exactly how he comes across to me. George K. is the Man!

Ian Punnet...barely warrants consideration (in my opinion). He refuses certain topics and guests who conflict with his views, thinks he's funny but only sound's corny and COMPLETELY misses the plot of the show, trying to take it in his own, more mainstream direction...Ian blows goats.