I used to do a lot more late night driving than I do now, and I’d listen to Art Bell. For whatever reason talk radio kept me more awake and alert than music did. Engaged my mind, I guess.
I don’t listen much to Noory. He’s not one I’d turn off, though. There are a few on the list that I turn off because I just don’t like listening to them. (I think Imus, Sharpton & Savage are phonies.)
And there are a few I have to be in the mood to listen to. (Ramsey, Gallagher, and Miller)
And there a few I’d never listen to. (Colmes, Hedgecock)
I am active on a forum called Bellgab, which is mostly devoted to Coast to Coast. Most of the posters are deeply unhappy with Noory and reminisce about the days of Bell. My market no longer gets Somewhere in Time, which is sort of a Bell Best-of. I am not crazy about Noory—he’s kind of a lazy, by-the-numbers hack who takes the audience for granted. We all know the type. My favorite non-Bell host was Ian Punnet, but he left, mostly because he had tinnitus. John B.Wells was scary bad and they let him go.
Lately, Lisa Garr, Teri Garr’s neice, has been doing weekends.
There was a time when Hedgecock used to sit in for Rush a lot.