September 17, 2022 • 28 mins
George Noory is the dean of overnight talk radio, he stops by to chat with Big Ben on the Fifth Hour. Coast to Coast AM is the No.1 syndicated overnight show in America. Noory has taken the baton from Art Bell and continued to expand the show for 20 years. They discuss a cacophony of topics from paranormal, after death to conspiracies. Ben and George chat about the secret to the show’s success, why overnight listeners are a different breed, and a variety of other topics. Follow George on Twitter @CoastToCoastAM Instagram: @coast2coastam ..Listen to George Noory on Coast to Coast syndicated on 600+ radio stations and streaming on the iHeart App / Follow Danny G Radio on Twitter @DannyGradio, Follow Ben on Twitter @BenMaller and listen to the original "Ben Maller Show," Monday-Friday on 500+ Fox Sports Radio affiliates, 2a-6a ET, 11p-3a PT!
#BenMaller
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ka boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes
a week was enough, I think again. He's the last
remnants of the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness.
He treats crackheads in the ghetto Cutter the same as
the rich pill poppers in the penthouse the clearing House
of Hot takes break free for something special. The Fifth
(00:23):
Hour with Ben Maller starts right now in the air
everywhere and welcome back into the podcast dojo for a
brand spanking new addition of The Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller and Danny g Radio in an extra special, extra
(00:46):
special edition of the Fifth Hour, And I'm so excited.
You know, doing the overnight show for so many years
talking sports, the goal has always been to be at
the very top, right, you know, you always want to
have the most success you can have in anything that
you do. And in our business, the most successful overnight
(01:09):
show is Coast to Coast AM. It has been on
since the late nineteen eighties and it has dominated. It
is the most popular overnight show in the country. Now,
you you're probably thinking, why am I talking about this?
That's a competitor, But we're all under the same umbrella
as you. Know Fox Sports Radio is a partnership with
(01:31):
the Premier networks. I work out of the Premier Network studios.
We do the Ben Maller Show out of that studio,
and George Nori does his show as he talks paranormal
conspiracy theories and all of that, he does his show
from our studio base. He's on a different floor than
(01:54):
we are, but we're in the same building and so
I often will run into George, more his car than
anything else. But I have been a fan of Coast
to Coast going back to Art bell Uh, the man
that started that show at its inception back in the day,
and I just love the variety of topics and the
(02:17):
way they approach radio. I love radio when it's done well.
And every time I've met with the bosses over the
years at Fox, the people that are in charge of
my show, I've always said, listen, my goal with the
Overnight I wanna I wanna make this like Coast to Coast, right,
(02:40):
I want to make this as important a show as
Coast to Coast is for the overnight listener. And we're
not quite there yet. We're getting there, We're not there.
There's a lot of work to still be done to
close the gap and whatnot. But the man that has
all the answers, and someone who I'm a fan of,
I don't hear him that much. But I don't really
hear him on the way home. Actually, I'll flip on
(03:02):
Coast to Coast, got a long drive back to the
north Woods, and we are welcomed in now by George
nor the host of Coast to Coast AM and Art Bell.
Of course, as I mentioned a legend of late night radio, George,
he retires, and I'm gonna give you credit. You have
seamlessly guided Coast to Coast for twentysomething years without missing
(03:24):
a beat. And I know in our world, the sports world,
when a star quarterback exit stage right, normally things fall apart.
For example, the New England Patriots with Tom Brady. He
goes to the Buccaneers and the Patriots go from Super
Bowl team contender for the Super Bowl year after year
(03:46):
to a very mediocre product without Tom Brady because they
haven't been able to replace him. But you have done
above and beyond, gone above and beyond the call of duty, George,
And how have you been able to do it? Placing
an icon and continuing to grow and evolve and improve
the show. It's kind of interesting, Ben, I have been
(04:10):
interested in this subject matter since I was a kid.
We can get into that in a moment. But I
groomed myself to do this years ago. And so when
I got into broadcasting, I was nineteen years old. I
got my first job as a television production company a
worker in Detroit for an ABC TV station, and I
(04:32):
just worked my way up. I got was twenty one
years old. I got my radio job, my first one,
and then went into television as an executive and kept
marketing and pushing myself. But I was always interested in
the unusual, the unexplained, and so when the time came
to replace Art Bell or fill in for him, there
I was. I was in the right spot. And then
(04:54):
many of the guests that I had on local shows
in St. Louis, for example, we're the same people who
are on coast to coast, So it was a seamless
move for me. And what I just did is I
just kept tweaking the program and I've been doing it
now we're going on twenty years this year. Well congratulations
on that. And what is it? Maybe it's just the
(05:15):
late night hours, but the the topics, which obviously you're
you're a big fan of You've been doing a long time.
But why does that show do so well? You guys
have dominated late night syndicated radio everywhere I go when
I travel anywhere, George, I turned on the radio late
at night. Coast to coast is everywhere. What is the
magic recipe about these topics? I think people are bombarded
(05:39):
during the day ben with political information, breaking news tragedies,
and they just want to get a little break at
night and just relax. Whether they're driving in trucks, driving
home from work, security police officers, or just home in bed,
they just want to relax and chill out for the day.
(06:01):
And that's what our program brings them. It brings them
not only comfort, but it brings them the ability to
let their minds wander. I mean, is their life after death?
Are their UFOs? Are these strange things happening? Are there conspiracies?
And uh, it's kind of fun for people to sit
back and enjoy it. Yeah, now we both have this
(06:21):
in common. I do a late night sports show, George,
and I get some really zany people that call up
and and you know, it's in the sports world and
all that, but you hosting coast to coast, you get
like next level uh callers some really wild stuff and
I've heard some of it. I've heard stories about some
of the people that have called over the stretching the
boundaries of the imagination and the thing. I will give
(06:45):
you credit because I'm not like you, Georgie. You are
able to stay very calm. You listen. You how do
you have so much patience dealing with some of the
really extreme things that happen when people call up on
open lines Bead. My favorite phrase when I get a
strange call is really, but I let them talk. You know.
(07:05):
One of the secrets I have learned of interviewing is
to listen and let your guests or the caller call.
And the only thing I don't tolerate his profanity. Obviously
you know that they get booted off for that, and
they know that. So they talk about some outlandish things
and it's my job to kind of pull it out
(07:26):
to get more and more information from them. And that's
what I do. I you know, I'm I'm seriously interested
in what they're talking about. I'm listening to what they're
talking about, and uh, I mean, I've heard some talk
show hosts that somebody will say in uh, six people
in my family got sick last night, and then his
next question is how many people got sick last night?
(07:49):
You have to listen and uh. And I think that's
one of the things that has kept the program successful
with the callers is they know that they can become
part of the show without being put down, offended, and
then to say what they want and that it will
get on. Yeah, for sure. And you mentioned you were
(08:09):
kind of groom growing up. You're into paranormal activity and
whatnot as a as a kid, was there anything specific, George?
I mean you think about your your in your days.
Did you did you see something in some UFO or something.
Was there a moment in time where you realize, Hey,
this is something that I love and that that's what
led you down this path his career. When I was
(08:31):
a youngster, my mother brought me home a book by
Walter Sullivan, New York Times science writer. And when I
had an opportunity to read that book called We Are
Not Alone, I was obsessed with the possibility of extraterrestrial
life out there in the universe, and at that young
age that just kept pushing me and pushing me and
(08:51):
pushing me, and then Look magazine came out with an
article about Barney and Betty Hill. They were the couple
abducted in the sixties, and I just couldn't get enough,
and I just kept pushing myself even more. And uh,
it has just grown and grown and grown. But I mean,
these things happened to me at a very young age,
and I never stopped. She always gave me alternative medicine
(09:15):
ideas when I was ten years old eleven years old,
and I've used that to do a lot of those
kind of shows on the program. I had an out
of body experience at eleven years old. I was one
of one of the rare days I stayed home from
school and I woke up and I'm on the ceiling
looking down at my body, and I'm going, WHOA, what's that?
(09:36):
At that moment, I snapped back into my body and
then ended up going to the library to try to
find a book on what had happened to me, and
I stumbled into the occult section and they had a
book on astral projection, and on the cover of the
book they had a picture of a body floating above
a body, and I want gosh, that's what happened to me.
(09:58):
So I grabbed that book, picked it up, read it,
and just learn more about that. So at a very
young age, I was really grooming myself to all of this.
As far as the topics that you guys talk about,
I know recently and I know you've talked about this
from time to time, these shape shifters. And for people
(10:19):
who may be listening who don't know that that is
someone who has transformed into an animal. Uh, where does
that rank on coast to coast topics? George, the shape shifters.
A matter of fact, just recently I did a major
show on shape shifting. And I think all of us,
at some point in our lives ben have met people
(10:39):
who have changed right in front of us, not necessarily
into an animal, but into a different person. I mean,
and uh, these things are strange, but they're out there
and you know people, And we use the example during Halloween.
People shape shift on Halloween. They get into a costume
and they become that costume, whatever it might be, whether
(11:01):
it's a witch, a dracula, people change, and that is
happening in real life to a lot of people, whether
it's emotional alcohol, who knows what, but they do shape shift.
George Nori, I I gotta ask you. I have a
buddy of mine who loves talking about Roswell, New Mexico,
(11:24):
and he's convinced that there was a spacecraft that landed
there and the government covered it up and and all that.
I know you also, you guys have talked a lot
about Area fifty one over the years. That's a big
topic of conversation, the paranormal world and based on doing
coast to coast And you're, as you said, growing up
interested in paranormal and all that. Do you think that
(11:47):
we've we've been visited here by extraterrestrial George, I mean,
how many times do you think it's a regular occurrence?
You think all that's just made up? Well, I think
number one, this universe is way who asked for us
to be all by ourselves? And we don't taking God
out of the equation just for a moment. We don't
really understand why we're here, how we're here. And so
(12:11):
when you look at the vastness of the University James
Webb space telescope, for example, is sending back glimpses of
the universe and star clusters being formed and stuff. There's
no question in my mind that there are thousands, if
not millions, of civilizations out there that have had a
head start. I mean, we're, you know, our our planets
(12:31):
four and a half billion years old. The universe is
fourteen billion years old. Jumps start another billion or two
on another planetary system. Who knows what kind of technology
they have. But I think we were visited in the
Biblical times, the ancient times. I think we're being visited now.
And I think in the context of the Bible, when
(12:52):
they talk about fallen angels coming down to Earth, who knows,
they could have been talking about extraterrestrials coming on the Earth.
And there was a great author by the name of
Zecharia Sitchen. He passed away at nine years old. His
theory was that extraterrestrials came to our planet a long
time ago from another planetary system and seated us, literally
(13:17):
created us from what we are now in their image.
Isn't that interesting? The Bible talks about God making us
in his image. Who knows what's going on, But but personally,
I believe we've been visited and we'll probably still be visited.
I gotta tell you Georgia. I'm going off topic here
a bit. But when I look at my iPhone and
(13:39):
the computer technology that we have today, and I think
some of that stuff, maybe it's just me. I think
some of that stuff comes from outside our realm. The technology,
it could be, it could be reversed engineer technology. There
was a late Lieutenant Colonel Philip Corso who wrote a
book the day after Roswell, and he claims that it
(14:02):
was his job to take the technology from that crashed
UFO at Roswell and give it to companies to reverse engineer.
And uh, you know, of course it's no longer with
us anymore, but gosh, that's entirely possible. And maybe that's
how we got all this technology so fast. Can you
imagine what we've done in the last hundred years. We
(14:25):
have exploded technologically. I mean, we had people on the
moon in nineteen sixty nine. That's incredible. Yeah, it is.
It is wild. But in in terms of the global community, George,
and you talk about this stuff all the time, but
are people in the world prepared If let's say the
(14:46):
government's got together in the Western world and said, okay,
they've kind of danced around this in recent months that
there have been UFOs, we have had communication. How do
you think we were gonna get the whole story? And
how would the world react. It's one thing to say
everything to be fine, but we saw what happened during
COVID with people running out, panicking, buying toilet paper and
(15:08):
all that. What would the reaction be if if the
people in charge said here's what happened and laid everything out.
I remember what Jack Nicholson said in a few good Men,
you can't handle the truth. Well, I think we can
handle the truth. I think most people, if the government
officially came out and said what was going on, would
probably say I knew it. They'd be ticked off that
(15:31):
we've been lied to over all these years, but they
would say we knew it, we we we accepted. And
I think we're at a point now ben where people
would not panic, which they probably would have years ago,
and that was a concern I think of governments. But
I think right now most people probably if you went
on the street today it asked them about extraterrestrial life
(15:54):
and do they believe it? I would think seven out
of ten people would say, yeah, it's happening. Interesting and uh,
turning the turning the page on that, George. Over the
last ten years or so, maybe a little less than that,
there's been a lot of people and in our in
our world, the media world, attacking free speech and trying
(16:16):
to limit outside opinions, and the word conspiracy has been
attacked as you're on the fringes and all that. But
doing coast to coast, you've always welcomes, you talked about
your welcome free thought, let people talk, tell their stories
and all that. And how difficult has it been to
navigate all that with outside entities, uh, you know, screaming
(16:39):
and shouting, how you you're not allowed to talk about that?
How have you been able to juggle that? We've been
able to just make it work. I've never been told
by management. I've never been told by outside entities or
organizations or groups not to talk about a certain topic. UM.
I just try to make sure that when we talk
about something that we're accurate, that we're right. Unless it's
(17:04):
just a fun topic like a UFO visitation or something
like that, those are difficult to verify. But when we
get into some serious stuff too, and we've done that, um,
you know, that's where my old newsman and that that
newsman ability kicks in, and I want to balance things
and make sure that we get equal sides. I think
one of the problems a lot of cable channels have
(17:26):
done these days is there's just so one sided. Instead
of giving people the story straight and let us decide
what we want. Um, you know, they have force fed us,
and I think that's hurting journalism a lot. Yeah, George,
you worked at TV and radio your entire life. Here
(17:46):
as an adult, what do you think it will take
to get back? Will we ever get back? Are we
is this just a new normal forever? Or or is
it possible to get back to playing it more down
the middle and not right wing, let wing the extremes
as you talked about. Well, we need to get back.
I mean, there's no question about that. And I think
(18:06):
people are going to slowly eventually demand it. Uh. And
you'll be able to tell that by ratings, of course,
and ratings mean the money for the networks, and if
they start losing their ratings, they're going to change and
I think that's going to force it in the In
the long run, we're just so as as a nation,
we're so divided, and then you know, years ago you
(18:30):
could be in favor of a politician or individual or
sports figure and talk about it with somebody who was
opposed to you, and and talk about it with great dialogue. Nowadays,
if you're talking about some sports issue in a bar,
you're gonna end up getting into a fight with somebody.
It's crazy. Yeah, it is in the in the athletes,
(18:52):
every issue, even the most mundane. I know from doing
my show, George, people make it political, like certain athletes
Lebron James, for example, has become a political figure over
the years and whatnot. It's it's wild. I'll be talking
about something that's I'm talking about sports and I'll get
people on one political side getting upset with me because
(19:14):
I mentioned that. It's a wild, wild time. But as
far as your experience, and we we all went through
the COVID thing doing radio shows from home or different
locations and whatnot. But during that shutdown in and how
long that lasted, what was what was your experience like
dealing with all that and you know, doing the show
(19:35):
night after night and having people who were really scared
freaking out and all that. How did you how did
you hear that? How did that that go? For you. Well,
we broke the story back in December of two thousand
nineteen that COVID was in that Wuhan lab, where everybody
else denied it. At that time, it was just I've
always believed there are no coincidences. And when I saw
(19:57):
a little tiny story that said there was a lab
in Wuhan, China that worked on viruses, it just hit
me and I said, this thing didn't happen in the market.
It just didn't come from some tainted bat. And I
went on the air and said, folks, I really believe
it was concocted and got released accidentally. Never said it
(20:18):
was intentional, but it was made in that Wuhan lab.
And now most people, most people believe that's the case,
even though they still haven't gone to the bottom of
all this. But when COVID hit, it was devastating for
a lot of people. They stayed home, they had to
do a lot of different things. But we didn't miss
a beat on coast to coast. I mean, we we
(20:40):
kept with the story. We kept reporting on um. My
big issue at the time was thirty to sixty people
die every year from the flu. But I have not
heard one story of flu deaths in two or three years,
have you no No. And that's the other thing, and
the thing that really told me a lot. You know,
my um my dad was sick at the time and
(21:03):
I obviously couldn't he didn't have COVID, but I couldn't
take him to the hospital. They told me not to
dig him the hospital and it ended up ended up
costing him dearly. But but all the people that have
cancer and other illnesses, they were not able to get
checked up in that for for seven, eight, nine months,
whatever whatever it was, and that just nobody brought that up.
It seemed like they just didn't worry about that was
(21:23):
all about about the COVID stuff. It's pretty pretty wild
how that all worked out. And and we're also seeing,
i think now a couple of years later, George, the
fallout from that from people still trying to recover from
having their lives shut down. I've noticed absolutely. And now
we're going in the monkey poks. Then it doesn't stop, yeah,
(21:44):
which is well, there's always something for you guys to
talk about on coast to coast, George Nori. Now you
you worked in RAID. I'm fascinated by people in the
business and how they rise to the top like you have, George.
But yeah, you mentioned you you're in the paranormal as
a kid. You've had a very interesting life experience. You
did TV Big Star in St. Louis before Coast to Coast.
(22:07):
What what is Chiefe? What have you noticed working your
entire life in radio and TV and whatnot. What is
the biggest change in the business that you've noticed over
the years. Consolidation, I think has been one thing. You know,
in the old days, you had a company that owned
a couple of TV stations and a couple of radio
stations and that was it. And now you know, they're
(22:27):
conglomerates all over the place, controlling a lot of stations
and a lot of media. But the biggest change has
been the technology with streaming, podcasting as you're doing now.
These things were unheard of several years ago. Nobody would
even anticipate that. I mean, the poor guys that used
to work at Blockbuster Video that had all these stores
(22:50):
that are all gone. Now. Some guy probably went up
to his boss and said, you know, what we should
be doing is beaming these things into people's home homes.
And the guy probably said, you're nuts. And now look
what's happening. The world is streaming. Technology has changed the
business dramatically. People are listening on their phones. Um, those
(23:14):
people who have radios, thank god they still have them
in cars. But the technology has changed things dramatically and
we as people in the media need to be abreast
to that. We need to react to it and change that.
My granddaughter, who was twenty seven years old, I asked her,
I says, how do you listen to shows? My show?
(23:35):
She says, on my phone, Papa, I mean different age
groups are doing things differently. Now you talk to somebody
who's in their fifties or sixties, they've got a radio
in their home, and uh, it's it's They would never
think of listening on the phone, but it's it's happening,
and we as media people need to adjust to all
these changes that are happening out there. Well, it's great
(23:57):
for guys like us George that are on late at
night because now before what you just did the show
that was it, the show vanished and you moved on
to the next show. But now people during the day
can listen. I'm sure you guys do great on downloads
on your podcast during the day and people listening who
are sleeping at night and can't listen live, that will
listen during the day and I I have the same
(24:19):
experience on my show doing sports at night that we
we can really double the audience if you will, in
many ways because people can listen to all So there's
no question. We have what is called Coast Insiders, which
is a very nominal membership, and people listen to us
in their office the next day. You know, the world
(24:39):
has changed technologically and we as media people just need
to keep abreast to that. All right, Well, there's obviously
a large audiences we've talked about for Coast to Coast.
Is there anybody over the years, George, that reached out
to you that is a someone we might know, big
celebrity or influential type person who you've you've heard is
(24:59):
a listener That kind of surprised you because you never know.
The great thing about radios, you never know who's who's
tuned in. You know, the regular guy and also the celebrity.
We've had regular listeners. Billy Gibbons from CZ TOPP as
a regular listener. He's been on the program with us
UH legendary Pat Boone, John Fogerty, the Great singer from
(25:21):
Greedence Clearwater actor Russell Crowe. I mean it just the
list goes on and on and on, Ben, And they're
just people who are They love the program, they love
the subject matter, and you know, they're people they you know,
get dressed the way we get dressed. They cry, they eat,
and they just love what they we're doing, and thank
(25:42):
god we keep doing it. Absolutely. How many how many
more years you want to do this year? You've do
us a long time? You know you have a you
have a plan. Have you laid out? How many more
years you gonna keep going as long as you can?
What's the plan on this? I've told my producer it's
his job, Tom dan Huiser. They're in a commercial break.
When I I one day to go on the air
and say, well we finally lost them, I decided I'm
(26:05):
not going to retire. The network has signed me to
another long term contract. I'm just gonna keep going as
long as my I got a face for radio, right,
but as long as my voice keeps staying as young
and powerful as it sounds, I'm gonna keep doing it.
Oh good, And you've got the tremendous pipes here, so
we'll get you out on this, George. Now we're working
(26:26):
late night overnight radio. I'm biased here, but I think
I think you'll you'll agree with you, maybe not. My
belief is the the late night radio audience. I did
do a daytime show. I've worked the full radio clock
over the years where I worked every day part during
the day, mornings, afternoons, mid days, nights, late nights. But
(26:48):
for me, the people late at night that listen to
the radio overnight, I just think they need what we
do a little bit more for companionship. It just seems
different to me then when I worked during the day.
What I did work during the day. You agree with that?
Is you disagree with that? And why do you think
that is? You're absolutely right. And one of the things
(27:11):
we do here ben at Coast to coast, and it's
a pledge I made to my audience. We will be
live seven nights a week. We will not run tapes
on holidays. I mean, God love the hosts who want
to go home and spend time with their families and
they run tapes on special holidays. I understand that and
appreciate that. But as you have just said that, there
(27:33):
are a lot of people out there who love radio.
It's their family, it's their life. They're lonely during holidays.
So I made a pledge when I came in here
twenty years ago that we will have live programs on
holidays and every holiday that falls on my regular scheduled
work day, personally, I work, whether it's Christmas, Thanksgiving, New
(27:54):
Year's Labor Day, we will have live programs. And if
they happen to fall on a weekend, my weekend hosts,
who I'm not going to take any money out of
their pocket, they'll come in and they'll be live as well.
But I made a pledge to my audience twenty years ago,
no tapes on holidays, and they truly appreciate that. Now
(28:16):
it is great. Well, George, I appreciate you doing this.
I know you don't do a lot of these things,
and I run into you every once in a while
the Premier Networks studios from time to time. We obviously
work head to head, but continued success and it's a
great having you on and I appreciate it. YouTube then
you're one of a kind, my friend. Keep doing what
you're doing.
Ka boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes
a week was enough, I think again. He's the last
remnants of the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness.
He treats crackheads in the ghetto Cutter the same as
the rich pill poppers in the penthouse the clearing House
of Hot takes break free for something special. The Fifth
(00:23):
Hour with Ben Maller starts right now in the air
everywhere and welcome back into the podcast dojo for a
brand spanking new addition of The Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller and Danny g Radio in an extra special, extra
(00:46):
special edition of the Fifth Hour, And I'm so excited.
You know, doing the overnight show for so many years
talking sports, the goal has always been to be at
the very top, right, you know, you always want to
have the most success you can have in anything that
you do. And in our business, the most successful overnight
(01:09):
show is Coast to Coast AM. It has been on
since the late nineteen eighties and it has dominated. It
is the most popular overnight show in the country. Now,
you you're probably thinking, why am I talking about this?
That's a competitor, But we're all under the same umbrella
as you. Know Fox Sports Radio is a partnership with
(01:31):
the Premier networks. I work out of the Premier Network studios.
We do the Ben Maller Show out of that studio,
and George Nori does his show as he talks paranormal
conspiracy theories and all of that, he does his show
from our studio base. He's on a different floor than
(01:54):
we are, but we're in the same building and so
I often will run into George, more his car than
anything else. But I have been a fan of Coast
to Coast going back to Art bell Uh, the man
that started that show at its inception back in the day,
and I just love the variety of topics and the
(02:17):
way they approach radio. I love radio when it's done well.
And every time I've met with the bosses over the
years at Fox, the people that are in charge of
my show, I've always said, listen, my goal with the
Overnight I wanna I wanna make this like Coast to Coast, right,
(02:40):
I want to make this as important a show as
Coast to Coast is for the overnight listener. And we're
not quite there yet. We're getting there, We're not there.
There's a lot of work to still be done to
close the gap and whatnot. But the man that has
all the answers, and someone who I'm a fan of,
I don't hear him that much. But I don't really
hear him on the way home. Actually, I'll flip on
(03:02):
Coast to Coast, got a long drive back to the
north Woods, and we are welcomed in now by George
nor the host of Coast to Coast AM and Art Bell.
Of course, as I mentioned a legend of late night radio, George,
he retires, and I'm gonna give you credit. You have
seamlessly guided Coast to Coast for twentysomething years without missing
(03:24):
a beat. And I know in our world, the sports world,
when a star quarterback exit stage right, normally things fall apart.
For example, the New England Patriots with Tom Brady. He
goes to the Buccaneers and the Patriots go from Super
Bowl team contender for the Super Bowl year after year
(03:46):
to a very mediocre product without Tom Brady because they
haven't been able to replace him. But you have done
above and beyond, gone above and beyond the call of duty, George,
And how have you been able to do it? Placing
an icon and continuing to grow and evolve and improve
the show. It's kind of interesting, Ben, I have been
(04:10):
interested in this subject matter since I was a kid.
We can get into that in a moment. But I
groomed myself to do this years ago. And so when
I got into broadcasting, I was nineteen years old. I
got my first job as a television production company a
worker in Detroit for an ABC TV station, and I
(04:32):
just worked my way up. I got was twenty one
years old. I got my radio job, my first one,
and then went into television as an executive and kept
marketing and pushing myself. But I was always interested in
the unusual, the unexplained, and so when the time came
to replace Art Bell or fill in for him, there
I was. I was in the right spot. And then
(04:54):
many of the guests that I had on local shows
in St. Louis, for example, we're the same people who
are on coast to coast, So it was a seamless
move for me. And what I just did is I
just kept tweaking the program and I've been doing it
now we're going on twenty years this year. Well congratulations
on that. And what is it? Maybe it's just the
(05:15):
late night hours, but the the topics, which obviously you're
you're a big fan of You've been doing a long time.
But why does that show do so well? You guys
have dominated late night syndicated radio everywhere I go when
I travel anywhere, George, I turned on the radio late
at night. Coast to coast is everywhere. What is the
magic recipe about these topics? I think people are bombarded
(05:39):
during the day ben with political information, breaking news tragedies,
and they just want to get a little break at
night and just relax. Whether they're driving in trucks, driving
home from work, security police officers, or just home in bed,
they just want to relax and chill out for the day.
(06:01):
And that's what our program brings them. It brings them
not only comfort, but it brings them the ability to
let their minds wander. I mean, is their life after death?
Are their UFOs? Are these strange things happening? Are there conspiracies?
And uh, it's kind of fun for people to sit
back and enjoy it. Yeah, now we both have this
(06:21):
in common. I do a late night sports show, George,
and I get some really zany people that call up
and and you know, it's in the sports world and
all that, but you hosting coast to coast, you get
like next level uh callers some really wild stuff and
I've heard some of it. I've heard stories about some
of the people that have called over the stretching the
boundaries of the imagination and the thing. I will give
(06:45):
you credit because I'm not like you, Georgie. You are
able to stay very calm. You listen. You how do
you have so much patience dealing with some of the
really extreme things that happen when people call up on
open lines Bead. My favorite phrase when I get a
strange call is really, but I let them talk. You know.
(07:05):
One of the secrets I have learned of interviewing is
to listen and let your guests or the caller call.
And the only thing I don't tolerate his profanity. Obviously
you know that they get booted off for that, and
they know that. So they talk about some outlandish things
and it's my job to kind of pull it out
(07:26):
to get more and more information from them. And that's
what I do. I you know, I'm I'm seriously interested
in what they're talking about. I'm listening to what they're
talking about, and uh, I mean, I've heard some talk
show hosts that somebody will say in uh, six people
in my family got sick last night, and then his
next question is how many people got sick last night?
(07:49):
You have to listen and uh. And I think that's
one of the things that has kept the program successful
with the callers is they know that they can become
part of the show without being put down, offended, and
then to say what they want and that it will
get on. Yeah, for sure. And you mentioned you were
(08:09):
kind of groom growing up. You're into paranormal activity and
whatnot as a as a kid, was there anything specific, George?
I mean you think about your your in your days.
Did you did you see something in some UFO or something.
Was there a moment in time where you realize, Hey,
this is something that I love and that that's what
led you down this path his career. When I was
(08:31):
a youngster, my mother brought me home a book by
Walter Sullivan, New York Times science writer. And when I
had an opportunity to read that book called We Are
Not Alone, I was obsessed with the possibility of extraterrestrial
life out there in the universe, and at that young
age that just kept pushing me and pushing me and
(08:51):
pushing me, and then Look magazine came out with an
article about Barney and Betty Hill. They were the couple
abducted in the sixties, and I just couldn't get enough,
and I just kept pushing myself even more. And uh,
it has just grown and grown and grown. But I mean,
these things happened to me at a very young age,
and I never stopped. She always gave me alternative medicine
(09:15):
ideas when I was ten years old eleven years old,
and I've used that to do a lot of those
kind of shows on the program. I had an out
of body experience at eleven years old. I was one
of one of the rare days I stayed home from
school and I woke up and I'm on the ceiling
looking down at my body, and I'm going, WHOA, what's that?
(09:36):
At that moment, I snapped back into my body and
then ended up going to the library to try to
find a book on what had happened to me, and
I stumbled into the occult section and they had a
book on astral projection, and on the cover of the
book they had a picture of a body floating above
a body, and I want gosh, that's what happened to me.
(09:58):
So I grabbed that book, picked it up, read it,
and just learn more about that. So at a very
young age, I was really grooming myself to all of this.
As far as the topics that you guys talk about,
I know recently and I know you've talked about this
from time to time, these shape shifters. And for people
(10:19):
who may be listening who don't know that that is
someone who has transformed into an animal. Uh, where does
that rank on coast to coast topics? George, the shape shifters.
A matter of fact, just recently I did a major
show on shape shifting. And I think all of us,
at some point in our lives ben have met people
(10:39):
who have changed right in front of us, not necessarily
into an animal, but into a different person. I mean,
and uh, these things are strange, but they're out there
and you know people, And we use the example during Halloween.
People shape shift on Halloween. They get into a costume
and they become that costume, whatever it might be, whether
(11:01):
it's a witch, a dracula, people change, and that is
happening in real life to a lot of people, whether
it's emotional alcohol, who knows what, but they do shape shift.
George Nori, I I gotta ask you. I have a
buddy of mine who loves talking about Roswell, New Mexico,
(11:24):
and he's convinced that there was a spacecraft that landed
there and the government covered it up and and all that.
I know you also, you guys have talked a lot
about Area fifty one over the years. That's a big
topic of conversation, the paranormal world and based on doing
coast to coast And you're, as you said, growing up
interested in paranormal and all that. Do you think that
(11:47):
we've we've been visited here by extraterrestrial George, I mean,
how many times do you think it's a regular occurrence?
You think all that's just made up? Well, I think
number one, this universe is way who asked for us
to be all by ourselves? And we don't taking God
out of the equation just for a moment. We don't
really understand why we're here, how we're here. And so
(12:11):
when you look at the vastness of the University James
Webb space telescope, for example, is sending back glimpses of
the universe and star clusters being formed and stuff. There's
no question in my mind that there are thousands, if
not millions, of civilizations out there that have had a
head start. I mean, we're, you know, our our planets
(12:31):
four and a half billion years old. The universe is
fourteen billion years old. Jumps start another billion or two
on another planetary system. Who knows what kind of technology
they have. But I think we were visited in the
Biblical times, the ancient times. I think we're being visited now.
And I think in the context of the Bible, when
(12:52):
they talk about fallen angels coming down to Earth, who knows,
they could have been talking about extraterrestrials coming on the Earth.
And there was a great author by the name of
Zecharia Sitchen. He passed away at nine years old. His
theory was that extraterrestrials came to our planet a long
time ago from another planetary system and seated us, literally
(13:17):
created us from what we are now in their image.
Isn't that interesting? The Bible talks about God making us
in his image. Who knows what's going on, But but personally,
I believe we've been visited and we'll probably still be visited.
I gotta tell you Georgia. I'm going off topic here
a bit. But when I look at my iPhone and
(13:39):
the computer technology that we have today, and I think
some of that stuff, maybe it's just me. I think
some of that stuff comes from outside our realm. The technology,
it could be, it could be reversed engineer technology. There
was a late Lieutenant Colonel Philip Corso who wrote a
book the day after Roswell, and he claims that it
(14:02):
was his job to take the technology from that crashed
UFO at Roswell and give it to companies to reverse engineer.
And uh, you know, of course it's no longer with
us anymore, but gosh, that's entirely possible. And maybe that's
how we got all this technology so fast. Can you
imagine what we've done in the last hundred years. We
(14:25):
have exploded technologically. I mean, we had people on the
moon in nineteen sixty nine. That's incredible. Yeah, it is.
It is wild. But in in terms of the global community, George,
and you talk about this stuff all the time, but
are people in the world prepared If let's say the
(14:46):
government's got together in the Western world and said, okay,
they've kind of danced around this in recent months that
there have been UFOs, we have had communication. How do
you think we were gonna get the whole story? And
how would the world react. It's one thing to say
everything to be fine, but we saw what happened during
COVID with people running out, panicking, buying toilet paper and
(15:08):
all that. What would the reaction be if if the
people in charge said here's what happened and laid everything out.
I remember what Jack Nicholson said in a few good Men,
you can't handle the truth. Well, I think we can
handle the truth. I think most people, if the government
officially came out and said what was going on, would
probably say I knew it. They'd be ticked off that
(15:31):
we've been lied to over all these years, but they
would say we knew it, we we we accepted. And
I think we're at a point now ben where people
would not panic, which they probably would have years ago,
and that was a concern I think of governments. But
I think right now most people probably if you went
on the street today it asked them about extraterrestrial life
(15:54):
and do they believe it? I would think seven out
of ten people would say, yeah, it's happening. Interesting and uh,
turning the turning the page on that, George. Over the
last ten years or so, maybe a little less than that,
there's been a lot of people and in our in
our world, the media world, attacking free speech and trying
(16:16):
to limit outside opinions, and the word conspiracy has been
attacked as you're on the fringes and all that. But
doing coast to coast, you've always welcomes, you talked about
your welcome free thought, let people talk, tell their stories
and all that. And how difficult has it been to
navigate all that with outside entities, uh, you know, screaming
(16:39):
and shouting, how you you're not allowed to talk about that?
How have you been able to juggle that? We've been
able to just make it work. I've never been told
by management. I've never been told by outside entities or
organizations or groups not to talk about a certain topic. UM.
I just try to make sure that when we talk
about something that we're accurate, that we're right. Unless it's
(17:04):
just a fun topic like a UFO visitation or something
like that, those are difficult to verify. But when we
get into some serious stuff too, and we've done that, um,
you know, that's where my old newsman and that that
newsman ability kicks in, and I want to balance things
and make sure that we get equal sides. I think
one of the problems a lot of cable channels have
(17:26):
done these days is there's just so one sided. Instead
of giving people the story straight and let us decide
what we want. Um, you know, they have force fed us,
and I think that's hurting journalism a lot. Yeah, George,
you worked at TV and radio your entire life. Here
(17:46):
as an adult, what do you think it will take
to get back? Will we ever get back? Are we
is this just a new normal forever? Or or is
it possible to get back to playing it more down
the middle and not right wing, let wing the extremes
as you talked about. Well, we need to get back.
I mean, there's no question about that. And I think
(18:06):
people are going to slowly eventually demand it. Uh. And
you'll be able to tell that by ratings, of course,
and ratings mean the money for the networks, and if
they start losing their ratings, they're going to change and
I think that's going to force it in the In
the long run, we're just so as as a nation,
we're so divided, and then you know, years ago you
(18:30):
could be in favor of a politician or individual or
sports figure and talk about it with somebody who was
opposed to you, and and talk about it with great dialogue. Nowadays,
if you're talking about some sports issue in a bar,
you're gonna end up getting into a fight with somebody.
It's crazy. Yeah, it is in the in the athletes,
(18:52):
every issue, even the most mundane. I know from doing
my show, George, people make it political, like certain athletes
Lebron James, for example, has become a political figure over
the years and whatnot. It's it's wild. I'll be talking
about something that's I'm talking about sports and I'll get
people on one political side getting upset with me because
(19:14):
I mentioned that. It's a wild, wild time. But as
far as your experience, and we we all went through
the COVID thing doing radio shows from home or different
locations and whatnot. But during that shutdown in and how
long that lasted, what was what was your experience like
dealing with all that and you know, doing the show
(19:35):
night after night and having people who were really scared
freaking out and all that. How did you how did
you hear that? How did that that go? For you. Well,
we broke the story back in December of two thousand
nineteen that COVID was in that Wuhan lab, where everybody
else denied it. At that time, it was just I've
always believed there are no coincidences. And when I saw
(19:57):
a little tiny story that said there was a lab
in Wuhan, China that worked on viruses, it just hit
me and I said, this thing didn't happen in the market.
It just didn't come from some tainted bat. And I
went on the air and said, folks, I really believe
it was concocted and got released accidentally. Never said it
(20:18):
was intentional, but it was made in that Wuhan lab.
And now most people, most people believe that's the case,
even though they still haven't gone to the bottom of
all this. But when COVID hit, it was devastating for
a lot of people. They stayed home, they had to
do a lot of different things. But we didn't miss
a beat on coast to coast. I mean, we we
(20:40):
kept with the story. We kept reporting on um. My
big issue at the time was thirty to sixty people
die every year from the flu. But I have not
heard one story of flu deaths in two or three years,
have you no No. And that's the other thing, and
the thing that really told me a lot. You know,
my um my dad was sick at the time and
(21:03):
I obviously couldn't he didn't have COVID, but I couldn't
take him to the hospital. They told me not to
dig him the hospital and it ended up ended up
costing him dearly. But but all the people that have
cancer and other illnesses, they were not able to get
checked up in that for for seven, eight, nine months,
whatever whatever it was, and that just nobody brought that up.
It seemed like they just didn't worry about that was
(21:23):
all about about the COVID stuff. It's pretty pretty wild
how that all worked out. And and we're also seeing,
i think now a couple of years later, George, the
fallout from that from people still trying to recover from
having their lives shut down. I've noticed absolutely. And now
we're going in the monkey poks. Then it doesn't stop, yeah,
(21:44):
which is well, there's always something for you guys to
talk about on coast to coast, George Nori. Now you
you worked in RAID. I'm fascinated by people in the
business and how they rise to the top like you have, George.
But yeah, you mentioned you you're in the paranormal as
a kid. You've had a very interesting life experience. You
did TV Big Star in St. Louis before Coast to Coast.
(22:07):
What what is Chiefe? What have you noticed working your
entire life in radio and TV and whatnot. What is
the biggest change in the business that you've noticed over
the years. Consolidation, I think has been one thing. You know,
in the old days, you had a company that owned
a couple of TV stations and a couple of radio
stations and that was it. And now you know, they're
(22:27):
conglomerates all over the place, controlling a lot of stations
and a lot of media. But the biggest change has
been the technology with streaming, podcasting as you're doing now.
These things were unheard of several years ago. Nobody would
even anticipate that. I mean, the poor guys that used
to work at Blockbuster Video that had all these stores
(22:50):
that are all gone. Now. Some guy probably went up
to his boss and said, you know, what we should
be doing is beaming these things into people's home homes.
And the guy probably said, you're nuts. And now look
what's happening. The world is streaming. Technology has changed the
business dramatically. People are listening on their phones. Um, those
(23:14):
people who have radios, thank god they still have them
in cars. But the technology has changed things dramatically and
we as people in the media need to be abreast
to that. We need to react to it and change that.
My granddaughter, who was twenty seven years old, I asked her,
I says, how do you listen to shows? My show?
(23:35):
She says, on my phone, Papa, I mean different age
groups are doing things differently. Now you talk to somebody
who's in their fifties or sixties, they've got a radio
in their home, and uh, it's it's They would never
think of listening on the phone, but it's it's happening,
and we as media people need to adjust to all
these changes that are happening out there. Well, it's great
(23:57):
for guys like us George that are on late at
night because now before what you just did the show
that was it, the show vanished and you moved on
to the next show. But now people during the day
can listen. I'm sure you guys do great on downloads
on your podcast during the day and people listening who
are sleeping at night and can't listen live, that will
listen during the day and I I have the same
(24:19):
experience on my show doing sports at night that we
we can really double the audience if you will, in
many ways because people can listen to all So there's
no question. We have what is called Coast Insiders, which
is a very nominal membership, and people listen to us
in their office the next day. You know, the world
(24:39):
has changed technologically and we as media people just need
to keep abreast to that. All right, Well, there's obviously
a large audiences we've talked about for Coast to Coast.
Is there anybody over the years, George, that reached out
to you that is a someone we might know, big
celebrity or influential type person who you've you've heard is
(24:59):
a listener That kind of surprised you because you never know.
The great thing about radios, you never know who's who's
tuned in. You know, the regular guy and also the celebrity.
We've had regular listeners. Billy Gibbons from CZ TOPP as
a regular listener. He's been on the program with us
UH legendary Pat Boone, John Fogerty, the Great singer from
(25:21):
Greedence Clearwater actor Russell Crowe. I mean it just the
list goes on and on and on, Ben, And they're
just people who are They love the program, they love
the subject matter, and you know, they're people they you know,
get dressed the way we get dressed. They cry, they eat,
and they just love what they we're doing, and thank
(25:42):
god we keep doing it. Absolutely. How many how many
more years you want to do this year? You've do
us a long time? You know you have a you
have a plan. Have you laid out? How many more
years you gonna keep going as long as you can?
What's the plan on this? I've told my producer it's
his job, Tom dan Huiser. They're in a commercial break.
When I I one day to go on the air
and say, well we finally lost them, I decided I'm
(26:05):
not going to retire. The network has signed me to
another long term contract. I'm just gonna keep going as
long as my I got a face for radio, right,
but as long as my voice keeps staying as young
and powerful as it sounds, I'm gonna keep doing it.
Oh good, And you've got the tremendous pipes here, so
we'll get you out on this, George. Now we're working
(26:26):
late night overnight radio. I'm biased here, but I think
I think you'll you'll agree with you, maybe not. My
belief is the the late night radio audience. I did
do a daytime show. I've worked the full radio clock
over the years where I worked every day part during
the day, mornings, afternoons, mid days, nights, late nights. But
(26:48):
for me, the people late at night that listen to
the radio overnight, I just think they need what we
do a little bit more for companionship. It just seems
different to me then when I worked during the day.
What I did work during the day. You agree with that?
Is you disagree with that? And why do you think
that is? You're absolutely right. And one of the things
(27:11):
we do here ben at Coast to coast, and it's
a pledge I made to my audience. We will be
live seven nights a week. We will not run tapes
on holidays. I mean, God love the hosts who want
to go home and spend time with their families and
they run tapes on special holidays. I understand that and
appreciate that. But as you have just said that, there
(27:33):
are a lot of people out there who love radio.
It's their family, it's their life. They're lonely during holidays.
So I made a pledge when I came in here
twenty years ago that we will have live programs on
holidays and every holiday that falls on my regular scheduled
work day, personally, I work, whether it's Christmas, Thanksgiving, New
(27:54):
Year's Labor Day, we will have live programs. And if
they happen to fall on a weekend, my weekend hosts,
who I'm not going to take any money out of
their pocket, they'll come in and they'll be live as well.
But I made a pledge to my audience twenty years ago,
no tapes on holidays, and they truly appreciate that. Now
(28:16):
it is great. Well, George, I appreciate you doing this.
I know you don't do a lot of these things,
and I run into you every once in a while
the Premier Networks studios from time to time. We obviously
work head to head, but continued success and it's a
great having you on and I appreciate it. YouTube then
you're one of a kind, my friend. Keep doing what
you're doing.
Host
Ben Maller
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Boysober
Have you ever wondered what life might be like if you stopped worrying about being wanted, and focused on understanding what you actually want? That was the question Hope Woodard asked herself after a string of situationships inspired her to take a break from sex and dating. She went "boysober," a personal concept that sparked a global movement among women looking to prioritize themselves over men. Now, Hope is looking to expand the ways we explore our relationship to relationships. Taking a bold, unfiltered look into modern love, romance, and self-discovery, Boysober will dive into messy stories about dating, sex, love, friendship, and breaking generational patterns—all with humor, vulnerability, and a fresh perspective.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com