Coast To Coast AM

If you do any amount of night driving across America, you may be familiar with a little program called “Coast to Coast AM.” It is a bizarre, and yet thoroughly entertaining program. On the other hand, some may strongly object to it. It just depends on whether or not you are offended by people who hold to self-conceived belief systems that don’t hold up to mild scrutiny. As a matter of fact, most ideas presented by the show hold as part of their proof the fact that no evidence exists to support them.

 

For those not in the know, it is a nightly call in program that discusses such topics as: alien abduction, ghosts, conspiracy theories, spontaneous human combustion, psychic powers etc. The amount of people who call into the program ready to share their bizarre experiences makes one wonder how so many people can believe some of the stuff they are talking about.

 

Whereas most talk radio is grounded firmly in the “modern” realms of logic, rhetoric, and logical argument, “Coast to Coast” is very postmodern in its presentation. It presents guest after guest who are “experts” in their field of study—largely because they have made up their belief or conspiracy out of whole cloth. The host (as a matter of show policy) does not question or demand coherence from the guests. This creates a very interesting flow for the show where a guest from one nights broadcast can completely contradict the guest from the previous night.

 

Callers usually call in to join the night’s guest in their fantasy, relating their own similar experience. In true postmodern fashion, there are hardly ever any callers hoping to topple the night’s presentation. Most objections are presented as “yeah-but-what-ifs” that usually prompt the “expert” to adapt their theory or conspiracy to meet the new hypothetical data.

 
As stated, it is thoroughly entertaining!