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Wow. Right after I decide to start covering C2C in a more "4th wall smashing" way, they go and provide me with a week of newsworthy events taking place in Coast-land.
Art Bell retires ... again.
C2C AM Live ("Ian") is shelved.
C2C decides to shut down their "Coastrider" message board.
We'll skip over the usual review and preview, since there is too much real news that is more important than Jerome Corsi's umpteenth appearance on the show this year.
Yup, lots to talk about here and lots of food for thought. This is a gigantic binnall report and I tried to cover everything as well as I could, given the fast paced nature of these unfolding events. We'll start with the most recent news ...
"Because something is happening here
I am stunned and saddened by yesterday's turn of events, which saw C2C announce that it was shutting down its popular Streamlink forum, "The Coastriders". Since I heard the news on Friday evening, I think I've gone through all five stages of grief. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.
On the surface, this may seem like a blip on the esoteric news radar, but it's bigger than that, in general and for me personally. You see, I cut my teeth on the Streamlink forum. Way, way, way before I ever started posting anything @ BoA, I crafted this very column in that quaint little community. Khyron and Lesley, the foundation of BoA, were culled from the membership of the Coastriders.
Many of my closest online friends and greatest supporters came from the Streamlink forum. Longtime members saw me go from a "lunatic with a keyboard and a modem" to a (some say) bonafide esoteric "personality". As things got busy with BoA, I slowed down my posting @ Streamlink, but still popped in from time to time and I always considered it my "hometown", of sorts, when it came to esoteric punditry.
There's so much to say here, that I'm afraid some stuff will be left out, but I guess we can get to what we miss next week.
The Story
For those of you out of the loop, who don't subscribe to Streamlink, here's the gist of things : Around 6 PM Friday, the bomb was dropped in the form of an e-mail from C2C webmaster Lex Lonehood to, apparently, everyone who subscribes to Streamlink. The text of said e-mail follows ...
Dear Coast Riders Member,
We're happy to announce a new daily Coast to Coast email newsletter, which will provide handy recaps, show info, and special audio links, to keep you updated on the show while you're on the go. In order to redirect our resources for this soon-to-launch project, we're closing the Coast Riders Message Board effective Thursday July 12th, 2007. This advance notice is being provided in order for you to save posts and information, and if you like migrate them to another system. Thank you for your participation in the board, which over the years has produced
much spirited conversation. We look forward to communicating with you via our exciting new e-newsletter.
Sincerely,
Lex Lonehood
And with that, the Streamlink Coastrider forum was officially pronounced terminal.
Moments later, chaos reigned (and is continuing to reign) @ the Streamlink forum, as bewildered members are scrambling for lifeboats, rightfully bemoaning this decision, and generally cursing the powers that be. Some are saying that it was a good move, but they are in the minority, it seems.
Something's Rotten in the State of Denmark
For starters, the reasons for shutting down the Coastrider forum seems to be less than honest. As someone who runs a forum that is nearly identical, I know that it takes almost no work at all. There are some aspects of the BoA franchise that I am admittedly lazy about and the forum is one of them. It runs itself. So the excuse provided stinks and holds almost no water with me. In the immortal words of Judge Judy, "Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining."
Is the closing of the Coastrider forum an overt form of censorship ? Given the Noory / Fantastic Forum blow up from a few weeks ago, coupled with the growing C2C hardcore audience backlash against The Noor (that we referenced in our last "tbr"), it does look suspicious. As BoA's Lesley pointed out, they are eliminating one of the key methods of audience interaction with the show, interaction with has grown increasingly hostile towards the program over the last few months.
Whether silencing the vocal dissidents was the purpose of this decision or not, the result remains the same : those unhappy with C2C will no longer be able to say it on the Coastriders forum. That is unfortunate.
Who Killed the Coastriders Forum ?
There are a few suspects, so lets take a look at them ...
A lot of folks are lashing out at Lex Lonehood over all of this, but I'll be the first to say I think this situation was thrust upon him. I suspect that poor Lex couldn't change a font color on the C2C webpage without having someone sign off on it. I've known Lex for a while now and he's always been straight up with me. I consider him a friend and I don't think he's to blame for the Coastriders getting axed. I don't expect him to resign in protest over this, that would be foolish. Lex is, to quote Dylan again, "only a pawn in their game."
Regarding Noory as a suspect, I'm wondering if blaming Noory for this is like blaming George Bush for 911. Part of me still thinks that if you asked The Noor what he thought of the Coastriders, he'd think it was "that Nicholas Cage movie". I think he posted there like three times and that was the first week it was opened in 2003. He's an unlikely candidate for the assassination of the Coastriders, by sheer apathy alone. I'd call it a slight long shot that his fingerprints are on this, but I also wouldn't necessarily be stunned if that turned out to be the case (especially if it was something that one of his handlers talked him into). Speaking of which ...
We can't discount various people in and around C2C who actually have decision making powers and may have decided to exercise them on the Coastriders. The various producers and faceless folks that Noory mentions at the end of the show could be the proverbial "Three Tramps" of the demise of the Streamlink forum. Little is known about them, but they pull a lot of strings behind the scenes, for which many people probably blame Noory.
There is also a small school of thought that blames the outspoken folks on the Coastriders forum who have been railing on Noory and the show for quite some time. Perhaps it was bad business to have a forum where the message continually revolved around the poor quality of the show. To me, this is a cop out excuse. It's fairly easy to regulate a forum, even one as big as the Coastriders, so shutting down the forum to shut those folks up sounds a lot like cutting off one's nose to spite their face. I'd like to think that C2C isn't that foolish, but given what I've seen from them over the past few months, anything is possible.
The three words that stand out to me when reading that press release are the last three : "Premiere Interactive Services". I've never heard of this group before, which makes me think this is part of a bigger elimination of various stuffs at a variety of Premiere programs. This story just broke about a day ago, so I haven't bothered to do the research, but it wouldn't surprise me if this was a sweeping initiative across a number of programs (say Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura, or whatever shows Premiere owns). Maybe someone can get on that one for me and find out.
Given the news of a shake up @ the upper echelons of power in Premiere radio, I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be the case. As the old expression goes, poop rolls downhill. And it may have just rolled into the Coastriders forum, despite the protests of the people @ C2C (let's hope).
The Bottom Line
No matter who did it, the bottom line is that it sucks, plain and simple. If the tragic turn of events surrounding the Chris Benoit family has taught me anything, it's that sometimes when something traumatic like this happens, you may never get answers, no matter how bad you want them.
And it all comes full circle to what we were talking about in this very column a couple of weeks ago : the ever growing backlash against the show by the hardcore audience. That was the originally intended topic for discussion here this week, but the stunning retort by C2C to that backlash (potentially) has rendered me making a case for such a backlash to be moot. It's there and it may have reached its zenith with the events of the last 24 hours. You know it, I know it, and perhaps someone with decision making power knows it too and decided to cut it off at the pass.
Ignoring, resenting, and attacking your hardcore audience doesn't seem like a good business concept, but it works for some people, like the WWE. I just hope C2C isn't taking their cue from the professional wrestling business.
The Fallout
It's a bit too early to determine how things will shake out from this, but we can say for certain that the decision to squash the Coastriders forum will only exacerbate the anti-C2C sentiments running amok throughout cyberspace. If the goal was to quell those folks, the opposite has happened, as they are full on frothing at the mouth at this point.
I've seen quite a number of people saying that they will cancel their Streamlink memberships. Whether they go through with it or not, I have no idea, but they seem pretty serious. I'm sure it will put a small dent in the bottom line @ C2C, as there seem to be quite a few disgruntled folks leaving Streamlink.
Whether it costs C2C anything in money or not, it does cost them, hugely, in good will with their most ardent customers. If Coast is willing to eliminate their favorite hangout with merely a week's notice, why should they be trusted ? Is C2C, once a bastion of free expression and audience participation, turning into just another mainstream radio show that could care less about their audience ? What about the propaganda that "C2C is a family" ? Who treats their family like this ? These are questions people are asking now that the Coastriders is shutting down. These questions have merit and will only serve to hurt C2C as a whole, at a time when they need to be making amends with their hardcore audience, not shunning it further.
Given the vehement criticism of this decision by the paying customers, its not wholly out of the question that C2C will reverse their decision. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for it to happen, but it's possible. I've a feeling that they will endure the slings and arrows of the hardcore fans for another week until the Coastriders board vanishes with the push of a button and then they will try and forget it ever happened. And it's a God damned shame.
Coda
Of course, there are many places to go to discuss C2C with like minded folks. I put together a nice list of various alternative C2C forums on the Coastriders board to, at least, help facilitate some folks bringing their dynamic to another frontier. The sad part of it all is that destroying the Coastriders pretty much demolishes that large, centralized C2C fan demographic that could be found there and scatters it across a myriad of small forums, like theusofe, Imaginative Worlds, FF, Nighthawk Zone, and countless others. There's no doubt about it, this is a massive blow to the online C2C fan community. It's a sad turn of events for C2C fans, that's for sure.
Fare thee well, Streamlink Forum. I grew up there, from a little, naive, feeble esoteric enthusiast into the jaded, cynical, and funky esoteric creature I am today. You will be missed, greatly.
I hope all the great binnall report readers @ the Coastriders will make the journey over to www.theuseofe.com to keep the party going.
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?" -- Bob Dylan, "Ballad of a Thin Man"
on behalf of CoasttoCoastam.com & Premiere Interactive Services
Art Bell Retires ... Again
Not much to say here. I think this is like his 5th retirement. He's the Terry Funk of esoteric radio.
Some people are trying to tie Bell's retirement into the Streamlink forum termination. While the chronology of events are very close to each other, we can't make the usual mistake in esoterica of jumping to conclusions based on flimsy evidence. (Even though it is so much fun.)
I also won't endorse the idea that Bell is disgruntled with C2C and thusly retired. It just sounds like wishful thinking on the part of the segment of audience that desperately wants him to return to weeknights and oust The Noor.
There very well may be more to the story than what meets the eye, but it is still far too early to determine if that is the case. For now, I'll take Bell's word regarding his retirement at face value. With the new baby, I can imagine how he'd want to take some time away from weekend hosting duties, which is essentially a hobby for him at this point.
I wouldn't despair, as since his final weekday retirement in 2003, Bell has come and gone a few times. They seem to revolve around 9 to 15 month intervals, so I expect he'll return by the Spring of next year.
Coast to Coast AM Live ("Ian") folds
With Bell retiring, C2C decided to slide Ian up to the main show, giving him back Saturday nights, which he hasn't had since July of 2005 to January of 2006, during the halcyon days of "Saturday Night Punnett". In doing so, they also decided to pull the plug on "Ian", which had grown from awkward spin off into a strong show of its own.
While I appreciate Ian going back to the more binnall-friendly late night time slot, I can't help but feel chagrined at the elimination of C2C AM Live. It sounded like it was carving out its own niche and picking up new affiliates all the time. I suppose it may have been taxing on the C2C staff, but it seems foolhardy to kill off a growing new brand like this.
That said, it is in keeping with the way the show was handled all along. It started out with promise, but was never really showcased as a spin off and was, more often than not, looked at as an afterthought. Instead of being given it's own identity, it was more like Diet C2C, which held the show back, despite Ian's superlative hosting skills.
I'm hoping that Ian can bring his skills with him to the big show on Saturday nights, because for the last year or so, the dirty little secret on C2C has been that Ian's show were, segment-for-segment, the best ones of the week.
BoA : Audio, Season Two
"One of the best esoteric interviews that I have ever heard"-- BoA & UFO Magazine's Lesley
"It's an excellent interview." -- Paul Kimball, filmmaker
"Tim Binnall’s season two finale interview with Brad Steiger was inspiring, reminding me of what I consider to be the crucial points of esoteric research and phenomena." -- BoA & UFO Magazine's Regan Lee
"Brad told stories that I hadn't heard before (or had forgotten) and it was great to hear him put it all together, paranormally speaking, as only someone with his breadth of knowledge can. Tim, as usual, asked just the right questions and put on a very polished and professional show." -- Patrick Huyghe, Anomalist Books
The BoA : Audio season finale, featuring Brad Steiger discussing 50 years of esoterica
This is a landmark episode, as we welcome a true icon in the world of esoterica, the venerable Brad Steiger. In this lengthy and in-depth conversation, we'll be discussing what it was like for Brad to break into esoteric studies, over 50 years ago, at the young age of twenty years old. We talk about the lessons he's learned from all these years studying the paranormal, the evolution of his journey as a researcher, the explosion of esoterica from niche market to veritable cottage industry, his thoughts on the lack of cohesion in esoterica, the role of the media in covering the unknown, the hopefulness of the 1960's, the problem with today's newcomers to esoterica, and tons and tons more.
It's truly the culmination of many of the big picture themes from Season Two, posed to a bonafide first ballot esoteric Hall of Famer, Brad Steiger.
Brad's website is bradandsherry.com
You can hear an MP3 preview of Brad Steiger on BoA : Audio HERE (Just right click and then "save target as") or listen to it in streaming audio HERE.
Additionally, you can hear an MP3 recap of BoA : Audio, Season Two HERE (Just right click and then "save target as") or listen to it in streaming audio HERE.
End Notes
Thus concludes the final Streamlink edition of the binnall report. A hundred and thirty seven weeks of this column were posted there. An era has ended. Of course, we'll continue onward with the column @ theusofe.com, Imaginative Worlds, and BoA. So, be sure to stop by one of those places if you want to read next week's edition and beyond.
Plugs : Tomorrow @ BoA, it's Lesley's C2C Rewind from The Debris Field. Monday, Tina Sena's Esotericana. Tuesday, Lesley's Grey Matters. Wednesday, Khyron's K-Files. Thursday, Hot Newz. And, Friday, the binnall report.
binnallofamerica.com ... our forum will never close on you.
Until next week, this is Tim Binnall saying "turn out the light, the party's over" and signing off.