Episode of the Year : "JFK Assassination Special IV", Jim Marrs, Lamar Waldron, Brad Steiger, Paul Groody, and Alex Jones, (11.22.6)

Tough one to pick, but JFK Assassination Special IV gets the nod for a few reasons. First, it rejuvinated the JFK Special, which had gotten stagnant the last year or so. Second, the quality of guests was top notch and included some fresh perspectives from esoteric stalwarts (Alex Jones & Brad Steiger, notably). Third, it was devoid of any detrimental silliness, as can happen on Coast. Fourth, the callers actually enhanced the program, a bonafide rarity on Coast. Fifth, and finally, it stood out as the best of the bunch in a year that had a lot of "very good" episodes and one a handful of really, truly "great" ones.

In determining the award, I found myself looking at reasons why other episodes shouldn't win and this episode seemed to have the least working against it and the most working for it. A case could be made for the 911 Special or Bilderburger roundtable, but both had their problems.

Guest of the Year : Whitley Strieber

Strieber did what no other person did all year and what I would have considered impossible, unless I'd heard it myself. Two full show interviews, one on Thursday, one on Sunday, one with Noory as host, one with Bell as host, both excellent and the second one even seemed to eclipse the first. In a year which saw some guests run out of steam halfway through their interview, Streiber strung together two full episodes within days.

Theme Episode of the Year : "911 5th Anniversary Special", David Hawkins, Victor Thorn, Lisa Guliani, and Alex Jones, (9.11.6)

If 2004 and 2005 were dominated by "Roundtable" style episodes, 2006 may best be remembered for the "revolving door" episodes featuring many guests, getting a half hour each. From "Forecast 2006" all the way up to "JFK Assassination Special IV", the RD style of show was king throughout the year.

Best of the bunch was the "911 Special" which really seemed to be a mastery of the style, featuring a variety of different guests with different viewpoints on the subject, like polar opposites Alex Jones and Howard Bloom. Inclusion of the WingTV folks added that extra amount of intrigue, considering how much they seem to hate The Noor. Also, the use of a pre-recorded Howard Bloom 911 piece was a rare show of innovation and hindsight from Coast.

C2C Regular of the Year : Alex Jones

When looking at the small pool of candidates for this award, Jones stands out for the sheer versatility of his appearances. He was on Coast 10 times in 2006, of which, 1 was in a roundtable, 2 were full length interviews, 3 were revolving door episode appearances, and the remaining 4 were first hour "pop-in" appearances. That, my friends, is your C2C Regular of the Year, the ultimate utility guest.

Honorable mention goes to Jerome Corsi, had a mind-boggling number of appearances in '06, but this award is determined based on quality, not quantity. (Sorry, RCH).

Newcomer of the Year : Brother Michael Dimond, 7.10.6

Perhaps the toughest award to pick, but when looking over the folks who are up for it, Brother Michael Dimond stands out as the most perversly entertaining of the bunch, by a country mile. Between confounding Noory, damning everyone to hell, having an on-air debate with JC, and fighting with callers, Dimond was esoteric radio majic. The kind of guest you see scheduled and yelp out, "Yes !".

RCH Appearance of the Year : Discovers "robot head on the Moon" (10.16.6)

One of the easiest ones to call. Hoagland wore out his welcome on C2C in 2006 and this episode may have been one of the very few (out of oh, so many) RCH appearances that reminded me of "the good old days". Hoagland, flush with sheer insanity (and perhaps moonshine) finds a "robot head" (compared to C3P0, no less) on the moon. Nevermind that it looked like a panda bear's head, this was the kind of hard hitting "evidence" that made Sir Hoags so endearing in the first place.

Honorable mention goes to the night Space.com published the ESA pictures of "the face" and decimated Hoagland's life work.

Ian Punnett Hosted Episode of the Year : Simon, (8.12.6), "Necronomicon"

The deeply esoteric nature of the interview, the voice distortion, Simon's quest for "anonymity", and the strange allegations that he is Peter Lavenda, add up to make this easily the best "Ian" that I heard all year. Simon's story brought out the best in Ian, who had the right mix of inrigue and skepticism. The kind of episode that would fit in perfectly in the "classic" days of Coast to Coast and one of the best episodes, from C2C in general, all year.

Worthy of note was that in 2006, Ian's program "Coast to Coast AM Live" (or as I call it, "Ian") went through a stretch, notably in the Summer, where it was, segment-for-segment, the best of the three versions of C2C (Noory, Bell, Ian).

Pop-In of the Year : 10.6.6, Royce Myers, "UFO Watchdog"

While C2C continued it's fetish for half-baked celebrities (Hi there, Pat Boone), Royce Myers appearance may have been the most refeshing of the many, many folks who got a first hour slot on C2C in 2006. For starters, his appearance on Coast was a longtime coming and, some believed, impossible given the nature of Royce's work uncovering UFO hoaxers. That Noory seemed to take a shining to Royce was a nice surprise and, hopefully, this 1st hour appearance will bring about several more appearances in 2007.

Honorable mention goes out to the Dan Aykroyd appearance, which was a surefire winner on-paper, then failed in historic fashion.

The Coaster : Sylvia Browne, (1.3.6), Mining Disaster Prediction Gone Awry

Another easy one to pick. No other foolish event or statement on C2C (and there were quite a few of them) created as much buzz as this now historic faux pas from "psychic" Sylvia Browne. An episode that sets the esoteric back in the eyes of the mainstream. Sylvia's subsequent, perceived, banishment from Coast to Coast makes the whole affair even more infamous.