John B. Wells

[VtaGeezer]

"I'm sure you will all love John B Wells and he'll do a great job" - Ian Punnett

No Ian, we won't. I'm already done with John Bleat Wells.

http://caravantomidnight.com/

Fucking huckster. He'll fit right in with Snoor.

Indeed.  Preview of where he'll take try Saturday night shows.  His next product ...gun safes?

[PB the Deplorable]

... Wells appeared to at least grasp what was being discussed.  I found myself thinking that Noory would have been completely lost and would have drowned a long time before the end of the interview...

George Noory started out his tenure with Coast as a guest host paying attention and at least pretending to be interested in the topics.  The further Art got from the show, the more comfortable George became.  And the worse he got.

So give Wells a chance, his race to the bottom may have only just started.

[Agent : Orange]

Just started listening to JBW's interview with Krauss. From the first 10 minutes of the program, here's how Wells introduced Krauss:

"...Doctor Lawrence Krauss, who has this idea that science and God cannot coexist - one has little or nothing to do with the other. So we wish a hearty "en garde" to the Doctor..."

En Garde... Interesting choice of words. I get the impression that Wells saw the interview as a fight before it even started. So I'm not really surprised as to how this apparently went.

[bman6866]

John B wells is a religious "bigot" who should no longer be able to host the coast to coast am that I love. When he interviewed Dr. Krauss his religious intolerance was clearly displayed. It went something like this> Wells was talking about religion and Krauss basically said he didn't believe that the universe had to be created by God and wells said >paraphrase " We will find out in the end who's right" and "one of us is going to look like a real you know what when we die". I remember it may not be exactly those words but it was to that effect. I think wells should apologize to Professor Krauss.

[Marc.Knight]

John B wells is a religious "bigot" who should no longer be able to host the coast to coast am that I love. When he interviewed Dr. Krauss his religious intolerance was clearly displayed. It went something like this> Wells was talking about religion and Krauss basically said he didn't believe that the universe had to be created by God and wells said >paraphrase " We will find out in the end who's right" and "one of us is going to look like a real you know what when we die". I remember it may not be exactly those words but it was to that effect. I think wells should apologize to Professor Krauss.

Spirited debate is good, but until we can adequately define the universe itself, we should not leave anything out of our equation, including God.

[HorrorReporter]

I think Wells is going to do the show his way.. For better or worse and despite opinions.. He may end up being very controversial.. Maybe they felt they needed to spice up Saturday nights ....

[bman6866]

I don't have anything against believers in God. In fact I was a Catholic and still have a slight belief that there is a higher power behind everything. But I don't think what Wells did was right. He was constantly attacking Dr. Krauss about his lack of belief in God during the interview. I wanted to hear what Krauss had to say about cosmology and physics. if I were Professor Krauss I would have ended the interview at several points. If you believe in God, thats your business. If you don't, fine. But don't insult someone who has different beliefs than you. Wells was very passive agressive about pushing his religious views on everybody, because it wasn't just between him and Krauss, there were also missions of coasties listening. 

[Marc.Knight]

I don't have anything against believers in God. In fact I was a Catholic and still have a slight belief that there is a higher power behind everything. But I don't think what Wells did was right. He was constantly attacking Dr. Krauss about his lack of belief in God during the interview. I wanted to hear what Krauss had to say about cosmology and physics. if I were Professor Krauss I would have ended the interview at several points. If you believe in God, thats your business. If you don't, fine. But don't insult someone who has different beliefs than you. Wells was very passive agressive about pushing his religious views on everybody, because it wasn't just between him and Krauss, there were also missions of coasties listening.

In Art's words, "Wells just doesn't get it".  Unless a guest was failing miserably, Art never stole the show.  There should be synergy between the guest, callers and a resulting nexus in the topic.  The host should enable the synergy, and little else.

[BobGrau]

I don't have anything against believers in God. In fact I was a Catholic and still have a slight belief that there is a higher power behind everything. But I don't think what Wells did was right. He was constantly attacking Dr. Krauss about his lack of belief in God during the interview. I wanted to hear what Krauss had to say about cosmology and physics. if I were Professor Krauss I would have ended the interview at several points. If you believe in God, thats your business. If you don't, fine. But don't insult someone who has different beliefs than you. Wells was very passive agressive about pushing his religious views on everybody, because it wasn't just between him and Krauss, there were also missions of coasties listening.

He's been reading coastgab, and people's complaints that Noory never challenges anyone.

understeer, oversteer...

[Agent : Orange]

Wells was very passive agressive about pushing his religious views on everybody...

There was nothing passive/aggressive about it. Wells had a combative attitude right out of the gate (en garde!) and it seemed at times he was interested in outright converting the guest, or winning "the debate". He was heavy handed once he found out that Krauss does not believe in God. Furthermore, Wells seemed incapable of accepting that fact.

Krauss is an established scientist and a prolific writer. Such an interview should be a slam-dunk, but Wells kept returning to his sore point. How many times did he come back to scripture to compare with something Krauss brought up? At other times in the interview it amounted to Wells asking about something that he might later use for ammunition. "What about chaos theory?"...
The sad thing is he's not asking because he is genuinely interested, he's asking because he wants to use this answer to somehow paint Krauss into a corner down the line. Before this Krauss didn't do the show for 7 years, and I don't blame him.

Krauss basically said he didn't believe that the universe had to be created by God and wells said >paraphrase " We will find out in the end who's right" and "one of us is going to look like a real you know what when we die".

My jaw hit the floor when I heard this...

Spirited debate is good, but until we can adequately define the universe itself, we should not leave anything out of our equation, including God.

Why? We shouldn't leave *ANYTHING* out of the equation?

See, here's the thing. If you believe or not, great. You do your thing and I'll do my thing. I don't understand it, but this actually seems to close down some people when it comes to their religious views. It becomes a goal to convert or convince others of their way of thinking and dialogue becomes impossible. This is the trap Wells fell into. Every time he asked Krauss a question, or prefaced with "I'm going to come back to scripture..." you could hear him bristle. A potentially interesting conversation got turned into an argument, which is considerably less entertaining to listen to. Looking at the big picture, the interview itself was just like the news story about homicide no longer being among the leading causes of death in America. Wells locked right onto that and put his own conservative spin on it and used it as fuel for his agenda. Which is exactly what happened during the course of the show. Considering Wells' apparently enlightened, laid back personality you'd think that he could let it go and do an interview without putting the spotlight on himself and letting his guest have the moment. Wells is the opposite of what he presents himself as, and the way Premiere wants Coast to be seen. One week in and the bloom is off the rose.

However, I think Krauss could have handled himself better as well. When he's put in this position over and over again, all he has to do is re-iterate that he was there to discuss science and that he doesn't really have anything to say about Wells' personal convictions. But, to be honest, I'm not sure this is the case. His newest book is about the divide between God and science, so the topic was bound to come up, though you'd think that the host of such a large radio program would be able to let the guest have his say without letting personal ideology completely dominate the show. Krauss himself could have defused the situation and steered the discussion into more fruitful waters if he was inclined to do so, even though that is not the job of a guest. Krauss got abrasive just to get into Wells' face at times (can't say I blame him) but it reduces the effectiveness of his arguments and diminishes his point of view when it gets under his skin and becomes a personal argument, and I would have expected more level headed and enlightened arguments from Krauss.

[bman6866]

I agree.

[VtaGeezer]

Its absolutely clear to me that Wells has no interest in supporting the C2C legacy of inquiry and is going to turn Saturday C2C into Glenn Beck Lite.  I have to assume he has the full backing of Premiere management.  I also think he's being groomed to replace Noory to give the slot some edge (like a dull razor).  I think the remaining remnants of the "old" C2C on Sundays will soon be eradicated.

[Eddie Coyle]

Its absolutely clear to me that Wells has no interest in supporting the C2C legacy of inquiry and is going to turn Saturday C2C into Glenn Beck Lite.

That's exactly what it's becoming. If you can imagine an even more sciolistic cretin than Beck, Wells is it. Just a deep voiced parrot. He is of the William Jennings Bryan school of "it is better to trust in the Rock of Ages than know the ages of rock". A simpleton than fits Premiere's plan of world wide dumb-ination.

[b_dubb]

         That's exactly what it's becoming. If you can imagine an even more sciolistic cretin than Beck, Wells is it. Just a deep voiced parrot. He is of the William Jennings Bryan school of "it is better to trust in the Rock of Ages than know the ages of rock". A simpleton than fits Premiere's plan of world wide dumb-ination.

the outstanding vocab award goes to Eddie.  well done

[11angeleyes11]

He's been reading coastgab, and people's complaints that Noory never challenges anyone.

understeer, oversteer...

Right, John B., just keep reading and you will find the right balance.   He will find his equilbrium and it will be platform to interview from worth tuning in for on Saturday nites. 

Talk to us. . .

[11angeleyes11]

George is alleged to throw softballs.  John B. came out pitching hard and almost knocked the batter with the ball, conversation.  He might be confrontational, but George gets knocked up for being nonconfrontational. 

[bman6866]

I don't tune into Coast to Coast to hear a god damn religious show. "let me get back to scripture" "let me hit you with scripture" Scripture, Scripture ,Scripture Scripture, Scripture, Bible shit, Scripture -J B Wells. Enough of that

[Agent : Orange]

George is alleged to throw softballs.  John B. came out pitching hard and almost knocked the batter with the ball, conversation.  He might be confrontational, but George gets knocked up for being nonconfrontational.

Wells didn't come out "pitching hard and almost knocked the batter with the ball". He came out with an agenda and pushed his own personal bias at every chance. Krauss wasn't almost knocked over, Wells kneecapped himself with his insistence on discussing scripture. He made a mockery of himself and the show.

[stevesh]

I don't tune into Coast to Coast to hear a god damn religious show. "let me get back to scripture" "let me hit you with scripture" Scripture, Scripture ,Scripture Scripture, Scripture, Bible shit, Scripture -J B Wells. Enough of that

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Religion and a little right-wing politics is all this guy has.

[Silent]

Last night I actually listened to Wells for the first time because the discussion here about the Krauss interview had me interested.  During Ian's last show he did a brief interview of Wells where Wells said his interest in CTC topics lies in the hard sciences.

I wasn't impressed with the show at all but one point turned me away.  Krauss was talking about how every particle in our bodies was involved in the big bang and afterwards these particles formed stars which went supernova.  So, essentially we're all stardust.  A very cool idea to think about, and Wells' reply was simply "Excellent".  Prior to that his responses to quantum physics ideas with scripture quotes was grating on me.

[Avi]

I didn't listen to the show, actually, but I have a question for those of you who did. How sincere does Wells sound when he's pushing the religious agenda? The times I have heard him, he sounded rather true-believer-ish. I just couldn't bring myself to listen to another show wherein science topics are drowned out by, "Don't you believe in G-d? Why the fuck not, hell-bound heathen?" I find myself gritting my teeth so much through these kinds of shows, I'm going to need dentures. Still, I can't help but believe that Premiere is the ultimate director of the direction Wells is taking, willingly or not. Premiere wants to cut in on Beck's audience. I'm sure the fact that Beck has been able to walk away from network support by the donations of his audience has not been lost on Premiere. To them, it's just another area of marketing to be exploited, no matter what effects it has on C2C.

[TaoOfLuxLisbon]

George is alleged to throw softballs.  John B. came out pitching hard and almost knocked the batter with the ball, conversation.  He might be confrontational, but George gets knocked up for being nonconfrontational.

George gets knocked around for being totally unprepared for his guests and not listening to a word they say. It's why they can spew bullshit, because he doesn't hear it.

Back to Wells, I seem to recall someone posting he said he doesn't want to take calls from atheists? He doesn't trust them, or "jive" with them or whatever he thinks is a hep-cat buzzword nowadays. Look, despite whatever Christians think about their being "discriminated" against.......Christianity is still the mainstream in this country. And here is a host on a show that historically has been about being slightly outside the mainstream telling atheists they are not welcome, and turning an interview into a shit show because he obviously was pissed having to talk to one of those damn atheists......the show is now no better than the usual talk show garbage pushed during the day....

[Lovely Bones]

the show is now no better than the usual talk show garbage pushed during the day....

I know this is the Wells thread, but this line struck me after a comment Georgie Boy made last night:

I want this show to inform you, tell you about things that are going on in the world, help make your health better.  Oh sure, you'll occasionally hear the weird thing . . .

IOW, in Georgie's mind, it's not Coast anymore, but his chance to play Super Journalist and Infomercial Master. 

[HorrorReporter]

Wells' interview on Coast last night was telling.. Noory at one point hinted that a lot more spotlight is going to turn on Wells as time moves on--something i personally had predicted a year back on here when Wells first started being given to us on a somewhat regular basis.

The other factor that makes me pause on slamming Wells as much as others have on here is the fact he listens to what his detractors say, maybe gets mad at them, but either way reads them.. and sometimes even takes suggestions on shows from his mailers, too. Tonight's show about the e cat is no different.. that was not coast to coast's idea. It came from a listener.

We cannot judge him on the show was the atheist. Frankly, I didn't like it either..
Both took their sides from the get go and neither would open the mind to the other side.. Hence religion probably should not have been brought into it--but on the flipside HOW IN THE WORLD could you argue or speak about the history of humanity without wondering if a higher power made all of this!

I have been perhaps on of the few on here who will defend Wells. I like him. Not always the things he says .. he is a bit sloppy on the questioning and bouncing back and forth sometimes.. but he admits he does that ...

I think we should all take a pause for a moment and realize this: Art Bell WAS COAST TO COAST AM. He made it.. he was the best at it. And I listen to the FineArtStream and u7radio lots while I turn in for the night on my iphone.. But for everyone who laments Art's days gone by, we need to realize what Coast to Coast is right now.

Go to the site.. see the monster image of George Noory, photoshopped and pretty. See "George's calender" and shameless ads. That is what Noory turned the show in to..

I think something is going on behind the scenes. I think Wells will bring controversy to the show, arguments, anger, and maybe times issues that most deem 'conspiracy.' And lots of Art Bell fans will get angry. But I also say this: lots of Noory fans will end up getting angry at Wells, too.

So if we admit Art is done.. should we not hope for a change from the Noory direction?

I think yes. I'm going to hold final judgement on Wells for now. I want to see where he takes the show. His music and his voice are perfect for the night. Now we'll just see how his style evolves to fit the mood..

[PB the Deplorable]

I know this is the Wells thread, but this line struck me after a comment Georgie Boy made last night:

I want this show to inform you, tell you about things that are going on in the world, help make your health better.  Oh sure, you'll occasionally hear the weird thing . . .

IOW, in Georgie's mind, it's not Coast anymore, but his chance to play Super Journalist and Infomercial Master.

George 'Wer Jus Havin Some Fon' Noory is also downplaying the 'weird' in an attempt to stay politically viable, in case duty calls... 

Remember, George is not interested in any of this stuff (or the world around him for that matter), never has been.  He's pretty interested in advancing George Noory though (although he sure goes about it in an odd way).

[HAL 9000]

A Noble Lie: Oklahoma City (1995)

Tonight Wells had on a couple Bozos discussing the Oklahoma City bombing and Timothy James McVeigh. They were hawking their movie A Noble Lie: Oklahoma City (1995).

Instead of buying it for $19.95, you can download here for FREE:


http://www.rapidshare.com/files/2597332089/A.Noble.Lie-Oklahoma.City.1995.560x320.avi

The resolution is watchable and good quality for its size (resolution 560x320)

I'm currently downloading the untouched DVD version (720x480 resolution), so it'll be done downloading in a few minutes, then I'll transcode DVD into another avi file so all can watch.

There MAY be some info of interest, but I'm not holding my breath when it come to conspiracy.

[Scully]

         That's exactly what it's becoming. If you can imagine an even more sciolistic cretin than Beck, Wells is it. Just a deep voiced parrot. He is of the William Jennings Bryan school of "it is better to trust in the Rock of Ages than know the ages of rock". A simpleton than fits Premiere's plan of world wide dumb-ination.

Well said, Eddie.


You sent me to the dictionary for "sciolistic," and its definition reminded me of Wells' mention of "one of those pieces of paper that you twist and stick together."  Krauss noted that it's known as a mobius strip, and Wells said something like "well, it's good to know what that is."  Shades of Simple George.

[Eddie Coyle]

You sent me to the dictionary for "sciolistic," and its definition reminded me of Wells' mention of "one of those pieces of paper that you twist and stick together."  Krauss noted that it's known as a mobius strip, and Wells said something like "well, it's good to know what that is."  Shades of Simple George.

        If someone was to ask Wells,say- a week from now, "what's a mobius strip?", he'd have no clue-in one ear out the other. From what I've heard, he exhibits little capacity or desire to learn about much of anything. Like you say-he's just like Noory-there's no intellectual curiosity and seemingly content in broadasting their limited scope.

           All the more frustrating because initially I wanted to believe Wells could at least be some type of Art surrogate...but beyond having a good voice, there just isn't much there. Comes across as somewhat lethargic as well...I understand having a "laid back" demeanor for an overnight show, but this guy often seems disengaged.
   

[valdez]

Tonight Wells had on a couple Bozos...

     Thank you, Hal.  I was gonna go and on about these guys (James Lane and  Holland Vandennieuwenhof), but sometimes less is more.  They brought up a few good points but that's how these guys operate.  A few points here, a mass of convoluted minutiae there, and soon you don't know which way is up.  Free energy guy, Sterling D.Allan, had zero personality, and I appreciate Wells taking a stand when Allan called America a great satan (or something like that).  I liked what Wells said about c2c not having a left wing, or a right wing. because "where this ship is going, you don't need any wings."  He left out Art during the sign off, and the last time Noory did that I freaked, but he seems to be cutting his own corner of the cheese cake.  Wait.  That didn't make any sense.  He's rubbing off on me.

[Morgus]

Last night Wells signed off calling Noory the "captain" of the c2cam "ship" and calling Ian Punnett the "ship's chaplain" 
What position does Wells and Knapp hold on this ship? 
And how about Tommy, is he the cabin boy?