John B. Wells

[Nucky Nolan]

It works both ways, but you raise a good point about human nature. Both the Left and the Right are guilty of the same "crime". I'll sing a verse of "Kumbaya" to bring us all together in an apolitical group hug. It rubbed me the wrong way when Wells claimed that Democrats were the sole boys behaving badly. You likely could name a Republican adulterer/pervert to match each Spitzer and Weiner out there, and you could start with Craig and Foley. Sanford came to mind at the speed of light, and he was re-elected. Neither party has a monopoly on any bad traits. Career politicians might be more corrupt than the ordinary Joe, though.

Not to be paranoid, but I thought that Wells read my post when he referenced his earlier take, on the Democrats' sexual escapades, at 3:15 EST. He then said that Republicans weren't "lilly white", either, so that almost seemed like more than a coincidence. It could be that Noory and Wells are thin-skinned twins. He's a bit defensive, but he still makes some good points at times when it comes to government overreach.

[Nucky Nolan]

Props to Wells for playing music from "A Clockwork Orange". He's not nicking cuts from Bell's bumper crop. Noory still plays Bell's greatest hits on a routine basis for some reason. I doubt that Wells digs ABBA and other disco-era acts like them.

[Ravenna]

Wells just took a call and afterwards said, "kind of cool to take a call from Pahrump, Nevada, if you know what I mean."  Very small tip of the hat to Art, I'm wondering?

[Nucky Nolan]

Meh. The scare stories about satanism are a bit much. They bring to mind the witch hunts of the late '80s and early '90s. It's a shame that Punnett left his old gig. His shows on cults and religion were compelling. They didn't sound like Jack Chick comic books. Wells should know that not all of his listeners are Fundamentalists. I'm not knocking "those people" like self-satisfied snobs, with a false sense of superiority, tend to do, but I get why some folks are put off by Wells at times.

[Nucky Nolan]

Wells just took a call and afterwards said, "kind of cool to take a call from Pahrump, Nevada, if you know what I mean."  Very small tip of the hat to Art, I'm wondering?

It came across that way. Judging by the number of callers, Pahrump is a huge metropolis.

[karios8]

John B, I retract my "sorry jackass" comment

[Ravenna]

He goes on way too much about Fukishima.  Just said he got an email accusing him of fear mongering; gotta agree with that.  And he had the nerve to tell a disabled person who emailed him and said he couldn't afford his radiation device that the guy should get a neighborhood group together so they could all chip in to buy one and then share it.  Smh.

[Nucky Nolan]

David Icke is close to the truth? It's time to stop defending Wells now. It's Knapp time unless and until Wells leaves the conspiracy theory reservation. How can you buy claims inspired by an old show with a cast of reptilian aliens ("V")?

[Wolverine.nyc1]

Wells is a complete dip.

Begging women to call in and then mention how cool he looks in the picture? Joke. Like George and how George loves to flirt with female callers.

John keeps flogging his radiation items, keeps obsessing over alien contact and is completely unprepared to discuss events/concepts in a meaningful way.

Disappointing. Fear mongering at its height.

To all of you concerned about the economy: take heart there is not 1 planned collapse there are too many divergent capital mangers for that to happen. Likely we will become like Europe: slow to no growth, little upward mobility, high taxes.

[Nucky Nolan]

To all of you concerned about the economy: take heart there is not 1 planned collapse there are too many divergent capital mangers for that to happen. Likely we will become like Europe: slow to no growth, little upward mobility, high taxes.

Take heart? Gerald, is that you?

[Nebraska888]

Saturday night's program was just horrible.......I finally turned it off.

[valdez]

A caller to John B. Wells just now asked him if he listened to Noory last night and his news about Art Bell.
Wells responded he was sleeping last night and didn't comment on Art, he then moved on to the next caller...

Wow its that Smart Meter lady again.

     Well's duck of the Art situation was very disappointing.  Sometimes he seems not to give a rat's butt about what anyone thinks, calling certain politicians "traitors," and "scum," and I can dig that, and I can march all night until daybreak and storm the Bastille if el commandante' gives the order.  But then he weasels out of a simple nod to Art.  I thought the term "cold civil war" was interesting, and maybe even true.  I appreciate his acknowledgement of critics (he talked about those that dislike his use of the term "mothership" - another nod to coastgab?).  Annie form Alabama (or Mississippi) with her "superheros" going around stealing smart meters and stashing them in Faraday cages was great.  I'd follow her to the Bastille, or to the liquor store, where ever.

[Juan]

First, it was interesting to hear Wells say that he was sleeping when Noory made his Art announcement.  He went on to say that he had to maintain a regular daily schedule.  Perhaps part of his rambling is because he's on such a different schedule when he's on Coast.

As for the Art mention, my impression was that he got the initial memo to not mention Art, but was not contacted about the change of policy.  When he cut Edna off, he sounded like he didn't quite know what to do.  His later mention of the Parhrump call seemed in that vein.

[nooryisawesome]

Can't do wells anymore, listen to Clyde's podcast instead.

[Flaxen Hegemony]

David Icke is close to the truth? It's time to stop defending Wells now. It's Knapp time unless and until Wells leaves the conspiracy theory reservation. How can you buy claims inspired by an old show with a cast of reptilian aliens ("V")?

Hey!  I remember that show!   

[Flaxen Hegemony]

Interesting how quickly this thread reverts to politics over and over again.  Could it be for the same reason Wells can't string two sentences together without blaming the big bad government for whatever ails the world?

If you share his politics, though, I guess ya just can't be expected to notice.  Or else you haven't put in much listening time, but you did hear Wells once for a few minutes and he sounded ok then.

Beulah, peel me a grape.  :

Hi Scully! Always nice to see a Coastgab veteran posting.  Please read the following in a conversational tone, like chatting over a drink.  My comments are critical, but I'm certainly not attacking you personally.

I wasn't sure if your second sentence I bolded was directed at me, as I mentioned in an earlier post that I had only briefly listened to Johnny Baritone by accident.  Just to clarify again, I didn't defend his choice of topics or his political views, but said he seemed like a competent broadcaster when compared to Noory, and raised the question of what degree C2C hosts have a choice in the topics they cover. [1] 

I also have a hunch that the first sentence I bolded - the notion that sharing Johnny's political stripe would prevent conservatives here from objectively evaluating his broadcasting skills - may grate on a few Coastgabbers.  No doubt, it applies to some, though.

(Apologies for any formatting glitches. I'm going to try to use the ipad while traveling, and am already looking for creative ways to destroy it.)

[1]  I think most everyone around here would agree that if we learned of Premiere spoon feeding topics to their C2C hosts each night, a good chunk of the negative criticism on Coastgab would be rendered invalid.  Noory would still be an idiot, but he couldn't be blamed for his topics.

[West of the Rockies]

Lurch B. Wells was dreadful, as usual:  We're doomed:  radiation, radiation, radiation!  It's, like, bad folks. (Random mirthless chuckling.)  It's, like, radiation 300 times greater than Hiroshima bad.  Civil war.  Very, very bad.  Hide your guns.  We need a revolution.

You ranggggggg?

   

[NoMoreNoory]

I heard only a very brief piece of Wells last night, cumulating in his bewildering invitation to the laydees to joint him on the bridge of the mother ship with their pie recipes.
The first thing I heard was him introducing a friend of his who runs a 'hobby radio show' called, I think, Revelation Radio. It's a radio show like Bee On Bleef is a TV show. The guy was a 9/11 First Responder, volunteer fire-fighter who had planned to spend the day fishing. My initial suspicions at the appearance of Revelation in the title of the show were somewhat assuaged and I was interested to listen, though the guy was not the most articulate and of course he and Wells talked over each other constantly: an ever-present problem with Wells interviews. My misgivings returned in a flood, however, as we were informed that 9/11 was caused, not as a deliberate act of vengeance against America by God, but (nice distinction, this) because God had removed His protection from America for losing sight of the principles on which this nation was founded.
That kind of lazy, medieval bullshit makes my blood boil and needs to be challenged and qualified every time it raises its ugly, witch-burning head. Would Wells do it? Of course not. But not only did he give it a free pass, he appeared to give it his approbation, asking if anyone would mind if he turned Coast To Coast AM into Coast To Coast Amen. Pass the barf bucket.
Wells is an annoying little jerk clothed in The Emperor's New Robe Of Self-Importance.

[West of the Rockies]

I couldn't bring myself to give the Revelation Radio guy even a moment of my time.  I was all-too-sure it would end up being more fundie nonsense (and it sounds like it was).  I bailed out after the caller who quite earnestly appeared to believe we actually all are living in the matrix.  Lurch, as is his M.O., simply offered his complete agreement.  Look, if someone wants to argue that our society has become somewhat matrix-like in that we are all distracted by pop-cultural media and ginned-up political scandals, I might agree. 

I would actually rather listen to Noory than Wells... 

I can't believe I just typed that.

[NoMoreNoory]

I can. I agree. At least there's always the promise of klashick komedy gold (and silver polar bears) with Dave.

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

Hi Scully! Always nice to see a Coastgab veteran posting.  Please read the following in a conversational tone, like chatting over a drink.  My comments are critical, but I'm certainly not attacking you personally.

...I wasn't sure if your second sentence I bolded was directed at me, as I mentioned in an earlier post that I had only briefly listened to Johnny Baritone by accident....

I can't speak for Scully, but I have made similar statements myself not directed at anyone in particular.  I think Wells can sound good in small doses and one reason people may defend him is that they haven't listened that much.  But, taking his show last night and combining it with his regular schtick, it's at least my opinion that he is frequently full of gas.  The multiple long winded diatribes about his perceived corruption in the government had some salient points but I think were way beyond the scope of both his personal knowledge and his position as a facilitator of ideas from guests and callers.

[Crusty Old Crone]

Back in the day, not challenging guests was one of the primary criticisms that Art's detractors lobbed at him.  Most of us cheered him on for that, so why not give others the same leeway?  At the end of the day it's all entertainment and nothing wrong with leaving it to the listeners to form their own opinions.  Even if something is pushing your buttons because you don't agree, you're still being entertained/aggravated and prompted you to think.  I think John B. is getting better all the time and have come to look forward to Saturday nights because of him.
Cheers-
COC

[onan]

Back in the day, not challenging guests was one of the primary criticisms that Art's detractors lobbed at him.  Most of us cheered him on for that, so why not give others the same leeway?  At the end of the day it's all entertainment and nothing wrong with leaving it to the listeners to form their own opinions.  Even if something is pushing your buttons because you don't agree, you're still being entertained/aggravated and prompted you to think.  I think John B. is getting better all the time and have come to look forward to Saturday nights because of him.
Cheers-
COC

Back in your day is different from back in my day. Art has never been contrary. He has often taken the strategy of exploring a guests story and then asking intelligent questions without threatening. Art never made his show to be an inquisition. He did make it for the most part an intelligent, linear, and entertaining conversation.

[Nebraska888]

Lurch B. Wells was dreadful, as usual:  We're doomed:  radiation, radiation, radiation!  It's, like, bad folks. (Random mirthless chuckling.)  It's, like, radiation 300 times greater than Hiroshima bad.  Civil war.  Very, very bad.  Hide your guns.  We need a revolution.

You ranggggggg?

   

Yep!  And, I will repeat:  Wells' program Saturday night was just horrible.  I finally turned it off.

[Crusty Old Crone]

Back in your day is different from back in my day. Art has never been contrary. He has often taken the strategy of exploring a guests story and then asking intelligent questions without threatening. Art never made his show to be an inquisition. He did make it for the most part an intelligent, linear, and entertaining conversation.

I completely agree. Art IS the master and I'm a fan.  Nothing could be better that Art resuming the helm of C2C - especially if he would start at the hour Dark Matters will start, I could get more sleep.

[NoMoreNoory]

And bland agreement does not a conversation make. Without contraries is no progression, wrote William Blake.
My feeling is that Art was often responding with comments like 'Are you saying that....?' 'Do you mean to say that.....?' 'I want to make sure I'm understanding this.....' And so on. Challenging a guest/caller to elaborate/elucidate while not overtly disagreeing. I don't mind people holding views with which I disagree at all, as long as those views can be fully articulated and stand up to scrutiny. To just idly rubber-stamp such a stupid view of 9/11 is to abdicate responsibility on the part of Wells, IMO.

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

...as long as those views can be fully articulated and stand up to scrutiny. To just idly rubber-stamp such a stupid view of 9/11 is to abdicate responsibility on the part of Wells, IMO.

Exactly.

[onan]

And bland agreement does not a conversation make. Without contraries is no progression, wrote William Blake.
My feeling is that Art was often responding with comments like 'Are you saying that....?' 'Do you mean to say that.....?' 'I want to make sure I'm understanding this.....' And so on. Challenging a guest/caller to elaborate/elucidate while not overtly disagreeing. I don't mind people holding views with which I disagree at all, as long as those views can be fully articulated and stand up to scrutiny. To just idly rubber-stamp such a stupid view of 9/11 is to abdicate responsibility on the part of Wells, IMO.

Look up contrary. One doesn't have to be opposed to a view to discuss it. Critical thinking isn't necessarily adversarial. The unfinished questions you posed are clarifying questions, not antagonistic. And Blake is dead so what does he know?

[West of the Rockies]

I'm starting to wonder if maybe Bell Gab is required reading for Noory, Wells & Co.  Wells at one point last night said words to the effect of, "Some of you accuse me of being doom-and-gloom..."  This is a regular Bell Gab sentiment.  Certainly Noory's mention of "Coast Gab" was revealing.  I guess it just strikes my agnostic mind as strange how Lurch preaches doom and gloom and then points us towards the Bible as a way to figure things out; maybe this has been a tried-and-true way to control the argument.

I don't know if what I am about to write has been addressed here on Bell Gab (I'd be a bit surprised if it hasn't)...  I have heard that conspiracy theorists tend to be a bit socially isolated and feel powerless in their lives.  Being "in on the conspiracy" is a way for them to feel empowered.  I think Lurch appeals to such people.  (If we have any youngens here who don't get the Lurch reference, he was the baritone-voiced butler on the old Addam's Family program.)

[NoMoreNoory]

And Blake is dead so what does he know?

?
So the sum total of human knowledge, understanding and insight is invalid if those people are dead? Really?