The Official I Hate Open Lines Thread

[cweb]

I'd be interested to see how the second night of Open Lines goes, but it sounded like there were plenty of people in the caller pool. Art was having fun and I sure had fun listening.

Keep em going!

[Dyna-X]

I love Open Lines.  For the Open Lines haters think of them this way. Did you ever clean under the couch cushions? Some callers are like crumpled up lint and receipts with not much to say, others are curious or remind us of things forgotten like lost articles, there are many pieces of loose change with interesting tidbits others are like finding a $20 bill!

[Claudius]

I've always found Open Lines to be a Siren's song for the mentally unstable. Which albeit is highly entertaining to me as I like to listen to people like that as they offer such an "interesting" point of view. But really, if I had to choose between some washed up hoaxster which is most people who Art Bell interviews and Open Lines, I'll take OL.

Now no one take that remark as a slight against Art, I disagree with most things he believes in but I respect him as an entertainer and a radio host. 

[Murder101]

Honesty time. I've never liked Ghost to Ghost. Most ghost stories are "I saw a shadow and my tummy hurt" or "I saw Grandma\Grandpa\Dad\mom\Great Aunt Georgia and they had light and I felt warm in my pants" with the occasional  Civil War solider marching through.

[Robert]

A phone-in program needs open lines once in a while to clean up old biz & freshen things up, but having it more than 10% of the time I think is a waste.  Art Bell is better than most when it comes to open lines, but that doesn't mean he should do them more.

[Robert]

Sure Ghost to Ghost used to be one of the most famous C2C shows and that was all open lines.

"Ghost to Ghost" was great, but that's not open lines AIUI.  (Maybe we have to ask Larry King or whoever started using the term "open line" or "open lines" in this way; it used to mean just a line of communication that was unoccupied.)  "Open lines" means no topic.  "Ghost to Ghost" was a topic.

Even better than "Ghost to Ghost", I liked the annual predictions show, and that's a topic too.  If you redefine "open lines" to mean simply "no guest" but limit it to a topic, then I like "open lines", but if you mean "no topic" then I find it of very limited use.

[Dr Who]

Well I was on open lines last week and I am neither mentaly unstable or aglory seeker having said that I always prefer to hear Art talk to guests.

[henge0stone]

"Ghost to Ghost" was great, but that's not open lines AIUI.  (Maybe we have to ask Larry King or whoever started using the term "open line" or "open lines" in this way; it used to mean just a line of communication that was unoccupied.)  "Open lines" means no topic.  "Ghost to Ghost" was a topic.

Even better than "Ghost to Ghost", I liked the annual predictions show, and that's a topic too.  If you redefine "open lines" to mean simply "no guest" but limit it to a topic, then I like "open lines", but if you mean "no topic" then I find it of very limited use.

Hmm if this is the definition of open lines I might agree however its a pretty thin line though. Later on (just listened to two open line segments from 2002) art would list a few topics at the start of the show, so is that open lines since he gave possible topics to discuss? I think the earlier shows had boring open lines since it was a political show but later on they were some of the best shows. I do like it when Art opens a special line or topics to discuss at the start of the show because generally these shows are more interesting.

Last open lines was awesome too! I think open lines is more interesting when its current and your listening live or close to live.

[Tapkaara]

Ah, I am in this camp. I was afraid to come out with it because it's tantamount to heresy in the Art Bell community, to be sure.

Do not get me wrong: If anyone can do open lines, its Art. He truly is the master of taking something relatively stupid and/or uninteresting and coaxing something worthwhile out of it. Noory can't compare. Nobody can, really.

Yes, on occasion, there are memorable callers and, again, it's Art who has the ability to bring out the best in them. But in my opinion, more often than not, the people who call in are quite clueless, inarticulate and painfully unaware that they cannot take a 20-minute chunk of the show.

1. Clueless. You know, when they seem surprised that they have called a radio show and are now on the air. Although Art keeps saying "hello, go ahead," they have no idea that Art is talking to them. They have their radio or device on in the background. Art asks them to turn it off an it takes them two minutes to figure it out. Painful.

2. Inarticulate. These are the people that MAY have an interesting story or experience, but just don't know how to express it. They can't get to the point, they ramble, they have all sorts of ums, ahs and pauses. No concept of how a simple narrative works. Not fun to listen to. Just frustrating.

3. The "Do You Have All Day?" people. You know they type: "Hey Art, I have five questions for your guest, a comment and then I have a story to tell you about what happened to me outside of Bismarck, North Dakota in 1982." This usually miffs Art as well and he ends up having to cut them off. People who think they can call in and take over the show like that really ruffle my feathers.

So there, just some personal observations.