Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Hoagland still off the air, and now it's a full-blown scandal

        So Richard Hoagland's radio chatshow The Other Side of Midnight is still in a state of chaotic hiatus, with no new shows since 13th October. (For the background on this, ref. my 20 oct blogpost.)

        The first broken promise was for election night, 8th/9th November. Guests Carl Johan Calleman & Georgia Lambert were supposed to be on hand to comment as the last results flowed in. That never happened. Twice more, on 10th and 14th, the same show was billed and replaced at the last minute by re-runs. It is now billed yet again for tonight. The comments on the web site have been almost universally scornful, although there are a few fans who'll apparently remain loyal no matter what. Like "Rob," who posted this morning:
"Just know, that many of us will wait for you to get things fixed. We know how important your work is. Thank you for all the years of service."
        The strangest thing of all was a message from Robin Falkov, Hoagland's partner, on 11th November. Falkov pleaded for patience, writing that "We have fought a long hard battle since the first airing of the show." She added that "...the solutions will be in place by next week at the soonest." So why, therefore, was the Calleman/Lambert show even billed for the 14th? If she really meant "latest" rather than "soonest," well, that's a rather serious error--one of which "Doctor" Falkov should be ashamed.

Scandal

        Falkov's message was headed "To All Our Family at OSOM..." Presumably she and her paramour like to think of us as a family because within families people aren't necessarily expected to pay off their debts. Club members, who pay $5/month for acess to the archives, have seen no new shows for over a month now. Requests for refunds are apparently being stone-walled, that's why I say this is becoming quite a scandal now. "Marcus" posted this comment on 9th November:
"I assume Mr Hoagland and the radio station have adequate legal representation. Tomorrow I will contact the Postal Inspectors on behalf of my elderly aunt who has been scammed and can’t even get a response on a request for refund."
         Unfortunately, Marcus won't win, and neither will any of the other angry members of "Club 19.5." The membership guarantees access to the archives, that's all. You don't have to pay to listen live. So, just like the Foolbook fans who contributed $1,200 to Hoagland's fantasy expedition to Egypt in May 2012, or the 20-ish punters who paid $189 (inc. box lunch) to witness Hoagland "measuring" the torsion field at the Pyramid of Kukulkan on 19th December 2012 (the expedition that was aborted when Hoagland was kicked out by security men,) they won't see a cent of a refund.

Hoagland's state of mind
        Many commenters, both on the OSOM website and in Bellgab, have wondered why Hoagland, never normally at a loss for words, has made no statement about this royal fuck-up, and instead allowed Falkov to speak--erroneously--on his behalf. My take on this is that Hoagland is just beside himself with rage. His arrogance is such that he doesn't think the normal rules apply to him, and he's very likely cursing Fred Lundgren and Keith Rowland for failing to appreciate his genius. Hoagland has shown that he feels no obligation to responed to critical reviews of his writings and doings, and those who write the critical reviews--including me--are by defintion idiots. On 2nd June 2015 Hoagland said this about us:
"These people have no character. They are certainly not any people that I would possibly want to answer to because they're not in the conversation. They are deliberate disinformation artists designed to submerge the truth."
        We'll have to see whether he turns up tonight/tomorrow morning. I wouldn't bet on it.

Update 16 November:
        Replay again last night. From KIYQ Las Vegas, not KCAA.Right now the Calleman/Lambert live show and the Imaging panel replay are both billed. Bunch of amateurs!!


Update 24 November:
 This just in on the Book of Faces:
"soon very soon - I can't give a date but think next week... "

...and from Robin Falkov...
"Please understand what a monumental job this has been to repair the damage to the site. The problems gave you double, triple and more billing, inability to log in, inability to access archives and more. There is a team that has been hard at work to make sure these issues do not rear their ugly head again."
...plus another eight paragraphs of rubbish, ending with a plug for her business. They must think we were born yesterday. "Monumental job" my ass. So the back end of the web site was broken, now it's (maybe) fixed. It happens, but IT DOESN'T TAKE 40 DAYS and there's no justification for suspending radio shows while it's being fixed.

        Meanwhile on the Comments page there was an allegation that a negative comment was deleted and the commenter accused of being "a paid misinformant." That's one of RCH's fave accusations, but of course he's never produced the slightest evidence that anyone is paid to cut him down to size.

56 comments:

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

Captain Hoagland was going to have a medium on to consult the late Jim Berkland about the Super Moon and likelihood of devastating Earthquakes though Thanksgiving, but censors have disallowed that effort of warning unsuspecting victims.

Alienmojo said...

As much as I despise the man... the world would be certainly a less funny place without him. But I soooooo do love watching the man squirm. $5.00 a month, huh? I wouldn't join even if he paid me $5.00 a month to listen. He had one somewhat good show when he had Tim Russ of star trek fame on... very interesting. He was ALMOST a good host, but interrupted Tim with his name dropping every 5 minutes and I couldn't bear to listen to all of it.

Chris Lopes said...

It would be interesting to see how the old fraud can shoe horn the election of Donald Trump into his HD physics model. Maybe he has a picture of the Sphinx with The Donald's face photo-shopped on it. ;)

expat said...

Irrelevant political speculation from Theadora disallowed.

jourget said...

RCH should be at home at KIYQ, seeing as how its page (www.kiyq.org) has that classic late 90s website look about it. Hilariously, they've had a big "COMIMG SOON" (sic) headline for RCH up top for the last few days, unchanged.

When his KIYQ tenure inevitably implodes within a couple months, it's hard to imagine what the next step down would be from here. I guess going back to writing for airline magazines would have nice symmetry about it...

expat said...

Hilarious...

Chris Lopes said...

It looks like a very low rent set up, where Hoagland gets to be their biggest "star". Like Dr. Johnny Fever in WKRP, he'll be the burned out radio guy who used to be (in the woo world anyway) famous, but now has to slog along in a low power station that no one really listens to. It's a long way from Coast to Coast AM in any case.

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

What you Guinness' overlook, is the fact that now anybody, even Patrick, can afford to Listen Live in real time, to that Dick Hoagland, from anywhere in the World. Our ancient ancestors, descended from Spacemonkys in caves on Mars, can also hear the show, with only a slight time delay.

expat said...

That's always been true, Theadora. Who's overlooking it? Certainly not me -- please read above.

Chris Lopes said...

Hoagland could have always gone the podcast route if getting the word out was his only ambition. It wasn't. He wanted the money and the fame too. So now he's on a station piping it in from the 1990's, where the main topic of interest is Vegas lore. Noorey, if he's even thinking about Hoagland at all, must be laughing his ass off.

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

The key word is 'Free'. Has his program ever been offered, for free? Not only that, the radio station that now broadcasts him is commercial free. Will he be able to insert his own ads for his own sponsors, and has he given up on selling memberships, other than for re-runs? I don't mean to be a bore, but have I missed something, here?

The genre of the radio station is of little significance. Hoagland has a following, and he most definitely has the potential of building ratings, exponentially, for the station.

The charity which the stations supports, by the way, actually seems quite worthy.

expat said...

« Has his program ever been offered, for free? »

Yes. Please read above.

Chris Lopes said...

Technically speaking, Hoagland's material has always been free and accessible to a world wide audience. That website (bad as it is) has been up for just about forever and even his conference appearances (the ones he wanted to charge for) were available for free if you knew where to look. Again, if this were just about getting the word out, he wouldn't need a radio station. He'd just do a podcast.

Dee said...

Well, KIYA states in their FAQ: "we are a 501(c) 3 Non Profit Corporation". And something about preserving Vegas history and so on. Perhaps Hoagland fits well there as extraordinary museum piece needing conservation of some kind?

Hoagland appeared to me always looking for some kind of syndication possibility for eventual expansion or at least the claim to "reach" some gazillion people, in theory, if they'd tune in and report on it. Not sure if KIYA does any of the like but they do offer besides FM also various streams and live phone radio.

And any FM station would offer Hoagland this idea of showering the ether with radio waves without any real metering. Something Hoagland would be most comfortable with. It would also remind him of his own glory days. And how much of the late night radio audience would be tuning into podcasts really? Perhaps, not unlike Trump, he has a reasonable grasp of his core audience and where they hang out. Although it's drying up, just too many other offerings these days?





expat said...

Chris, do you remember 5 years ago when Robin Falkov suggested that if fans wanted web pages that had been promised but not delivered, they might like to pay for Hoagland's time? I wrote about it at the time.

Chris Lopes said...

I do indeed. Hoagland has always tried to get his fans to pay for his "research", with varying degrees of success. Mostly he failed, as his fans tended not to have that much disposable income and most of his stuff was free anyway. The fact that he liked to put on airs about being a real important man with real important friends also made it seem like he really didn't need the money.

Chris Lopes said...

@Dee
I suspect his audience is probably tuning into shows like Ground Zero these days. It has the same vibe as Art Bell era C2C, and you can get the archived shows for free. So you are right, Hoagie has a lot of competition for the woo audience.

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

Hoagland always use to say, "scroll down". I still don't find in the original post above where it says if he can insert commercials in his show, broadcast over the commercial free radio station, but no matter.

That Dick Hoagland is famous, due to the twenty million regular, listeners of Art Bell's show, at it's peak. If Hoagland could manage to be entertaining or interesting enough, he would at least be able to sell lots of books, if he also could manage to finish writing one. How many ifs is that?

Chris Lopes said...

As a 501c, I think the commercial thing is a nonstarter. I also doubt they are paying Hoagland anything. It may be a case where the station believes it will get a bigger audience (and thus more donations) with Hoagie, and he believes being a radio personality will give him more legitimacy with the woo crowd.

jourget said...

Is it possible that part of this torturous negotiation process is RCH trying to get himself a kind of stipend? I can imagine a conversation with him going something along the lines of him rattling off how he's a famous personality, a brilliant scientist, and will bring KIYQ tremendous cachet.

I mean, he still has to pay for airtime, right? What's his plan here? Is he banking on subscriptions and only subscriptions at this point, or does he still think that his very presence demands discounts and considerations?

expat said...

I'm sure we'll never be told the truth. It's possible that he wants the right to sell ad time--that's how many media deals are structured.

Anonymous said...

Looking at his CV, I'm wondering if he ever had ANY quarters of salary paying into Social Security. Is it possible he's stone cold broke? -- jim oberg

expat said...

It's very possible. He probably had enough income in 2007Q3 and 2009Q3 to make contributions, but whether he had enough sense to do so is another matter.

He definitely made a loss over the Joshua Tree video venture, and I bet the United Nations video as well. His arrogance is his worst enemy.

Chris Lopes said...

Can he do that on a non-profit station?

Chris Lopes said...

Considering how loudly he used to complain about lost dvd sales, I'm betting most of his conference videos are in the loss column.

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

Why would anyone pay for a subscription when they can hear the show for free? Even the archives will be obsolete, if there are any ripped episodes worthy of posting on Youtube.

expat said...

« Can he do that on a non-profit station? »

I really don't know. But he might be demanding it even if it's impossible by the rules.

« Why would anyone pay for a subscription when they can hear the show for free? »

If, for example, they liked the subject matter but weren't willing to listen at 03:00 which is the air time on the East Coast. Of course, when no new shows are being added to the archive, a subscription is close to useless. Hence the loud protests we are hearing now.

Chris Lopes said...

He can demand all he wants, but the station is not going to endanger their 501c status just for him. He really needs to quit playing radio guy and just do a podcast.

expat said...

It's a dilemma Chris. If OSOM simply became a podcast, I'm sure the prestige of the guests would suffer.

Chris Lopes said...

From what I've heard of his show, the guests are mostly props anyway. His show with Tony Ortega (a Scientology critic) for instance had Ortega making his case for the first hour, but the rest was Hoagie using Hubbard and Jack Parson to present his NASA/magician thing. Very cringe-worthy.

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

It's the most elegant solution, really. Free rent for broadcast radio with World wide Internet audience, and he can insert commercials into the archive replays. With this free promotion, he can even attract paying sponsors of his website. It keeps him in the spotlight, so by the time he finishes writing his next book, that gets the big push, as well.

Chris Lopes said...

Hoagland will finish his next book sometime before the heat death of the universe, but not much before.

jourget said...

Yep, according to my notes he's been mentioning a book called "The Heritage of Mars" for over a decade, since at least his October 23, 2006 appearance on C2C. That's even before Dark Mission came out.

I think the only reason Dark Mission was published and that Enterprisemission flourished for as long as it did was that RCH still had Mike Bara around as a pet writer who could produce content under the Great Man's name. Once Bara moved on to living his life as a stereotypical burned out frat boy who never grew up, Enterprisemission was as good as dead. Can you imagine RCH producing a whole book's worth of new content and publishing it at this point? I'd sooner expect yet another edition of Monuments before I'd expect a new book. Either that or a re-appropriation of Bara's books shoved out under RCH's name. Those guys can probably trade those ideas back and forth and sell it to at least a few people until the end of time.

expat said...

He first announced The Heritage of Mars in November 2000. See this.

jourget said...

Ha! Awesome. Perhaps he shouldn't bandy about the title of a nonexistent book for almost TWO DECADES before publishing it. Guess it is one of his defining characteristics, though. That and contempt for his audience.

Chris Lopes said...

His laziness is astounding no doubt. Bara has managed to write more books in 10 years than he did in 40. Granted, Bara's writing pretty much the same book over and over again, but still.

As to the contempt for his audience, in many cases it's earned. When the fraud is exposed repeatedly and still he'll get "thank you Richard for all your hard work!!!!!", you have to figure the suckers deserve it. I stopped feeling sorry for those people long ago.

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

Did Hoagland actually interview James Burke last night, or was that another false alarm? I'd like to read Patrick's review of that show. Cough it up.

expat said...

I guess he did, I haven't heard otherwise. I did hear the original all through, but it was back in February and not fresh enough in my mind to offer a review.

I do recall that Hoagland spent a ridiculous amount of time explaining the occultation of KIC 8462852. It was sheer one-upmanship, since Burke hadn't heard about it, it gave Hoagland the chance to play "I know more than you."

Chris Lopes said...

Actually it says on the site that it's a replay of a February broadcast.

expat said...

Yes, that's why I wrote that it was too far back in time for me to rem it all.

Chris Lopes said...

Sorry, thought Justin was asking if it was a live show.

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

I didn't ask you, Topher, if it were a live show.

Dee said...

"IT DOESN'T TAKE 40 DAYS "

It all depends, I think he moved the Midnight setup now as well to Bluehost? Wasn't it at Rowland earlier? My guess would be that, like with so many things, it's about paying the bills -- assuming some bandwidth and performance for the archive is needed and perhaps other requirements to setup or repair? There's a lot of cheap hosting out there but this is about offering some paid services too.

Dee

Chris Lopes said...

40 days is fast for Hoagland. It took him over a year (or more, been so long I forgot) to update the website.

Binaryspellbook said...

Mister Lopes,

You fucking idiot. Don't you realise that 40(days) -19.5 -1 = 19.5 ?...etc
It's in the data. Fuck sake.

Clearly you have not been following "our work," over that past four decades. Do you pay tax on your disinformation salary? - I bet you don't. I also was science advisor to Walter Cronkite. For anyone younger that 40 years old "Google is your friend." Just in case you wondered what a Walter Cronkite is.

Cheers Chris, all in fun bro. I am sure you get it. But just in case. -)

Jamie

Chris Lopes said...

No worries Binary, I got it. :)

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

So, the show's being broadcast on terrestrial radio, as well as over Internet, yet still, no new shows on the air. Is Hoagland simply taking time off for the holidays, or is he just afraid of getting more calls, from Gary Leggiere?

expat said...

Theadora: We don't know. I've recorded my own guess.

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

I wonder if when Hoagland quit broadcasting with the previous radio station, if Art (who Patrick seems to surmise might have lent Hoagland some gear) could have repossessed it, and now that Dick Hoagland has a new radio station to carry his show, he doesn't have the studio facilities with which to create new product?

Binaryspellbook said...

Fair point mate. AB is on record saying he set Hoagland up with some pretty good gear. AB is a techy, he knows his stuff. Hoagland apparently did not know what a USB port was. He has been continually mocked for this. AB did (if I remember correctly) intimate that the gear was on loan, just to get Hoagland off and running.

So aye, maybe you have a point there mate. Perhaps the gear has been visited by the repo man. In which case Hoagland is fucked. Which would be a shame. Can you imagine the trauma of losing such a source of entertainment?

Sure there are many others out there, but they just spout new age crap. Hoagland tries to pretend to be a scientist, physicist, mathematician, and philosopher. The great polymath of our time. That makes him fair game for the real above skills that we have between us. I once heard him say to Noory, "cough , cough, actually George I am an astronomer." - I almost shit myself unconscious. The ego, the hubris, the mendacity, the repugnant nature of the man is astonishing. I could not do without it. It makes me laugh and sob at the same time.

He is on a par with "Dad's Army."
Old British farts like Expat will know what I mean, and for you silly Yanks I will quote the great man himself, "Google is your friend."

Except when it is not your friend and is part of the disinfo campaign.

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

I recall how Art got five thousand friends to his facebutt page, right off the bat. The only time he interacted with us, was when he decided to see if he could sell his old TV set. He lives in a trailer house on the cheapest real estate in the country. I really don't see him lending his valuable broadcast equipment out of the kindness of his heart. That Dick Hoagland must have promised him a piece of the action; only there wasn't any action.

Oh, well, he had a fair shot. Hoagland actually makes a damned, good, guest, but a lousy host, despite his grandiose notions of himself. Maybe he could patch things up with Noory. I hear that Gary Leggiere has a radio show, now. Maybe The Mad Martian, would like to interview the illustrious, Richard C. Hoagland?

Dee said...

Orbs... " I hear that Gary Leggiere has a radio show, now."

For at least ten years and Hoagland was a guest already almost at the beginning of that. Before that relationship went up in flames (or: how Hoagland failed to see all the obvious symptoms of psychosis while experiencing gushing praise and loyalty).

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

Gary Leggiere, recently mentioned something about getting a new show in Colorado, about Cannabis. He's not psychotic, just stoned out of his mind.

Aside from the fact that photographs aren't valid evidence, in and of themselves, without an actual eye witness to testify as to what the images are actually of, The Mad Martian makes a valid point about the previously unpublished images of a new face on Mars, featured in The UFO Diaries, which Hoagland provided to the show's producers, and now Hoagland won't discuss.

The problem is that Gary yells loud over the phone, broadcast on the hot medium of radio. He would be more effective if he would keep a civil tone, as he unloads on Hoagland.

THE Orbs Whiperer said...

In trying to be succinct, I don't mean to over simplify the fact that Dick Hoagland, seriously defamed Gary, while Robin tried to pass herself off as his physician in order to have him incarcerated as if a threat to himself and his own family, which he wasn't. Robin doesn't dispute the fact of what she did, despite that she's not a medical doctor, nor was she ever so much as even a lay therapist, in Gary's employ.

In fact, Hoagland even sent Gary on a wild goose chase to search for the source of the images that Hoagland himself provided to the producers of The UFO Diaries, only to play dumb about it, when Gary discovered that Hoagland was jerking him around, which led to Gary getting irate, and Robin becoming abusive.

That's probably till, over simplifying the situation, though.

Chris Lopes said...

He won't discuss them because they are fake. They were made for the show, to add visual drama. If Hoagie admits that he was responsible for faked images, it would call into question pretty much every image he's presented in his "research".

Unknown said...

I moved on and didn't look back after he left Fred Lundgren's station. It was clear he was scamming. The moon missions, Mars missions are suspect in my opinion. Its unfortunate but science just isn't as reliable as we'd like it to be. Science follows the money just like Richard.