I came to the game late--2003ish--but Art was still a strong presence and Noory still deferred to him. Also, I'm one of the few who will say that Noory wasn't always as bad as he is now--he's *declined* in quality over the years. Maybe he hadn't been completely co-opted by agendas and special interest groups, maybe he still felt the need to keep his game up because he knew it was still "Art's Show". Whatever, I think Noory 03-06 was at least listenable and sometimes good.
Of course from 06-on the decline was evident, if gradual--exacerbated, of course, by Art's tragedies early in 2006 and subsequent cutting back to 15 shows a year (15 or so--I've actually counted and he didn't quite reach it every year from 06-10).
To get back to the question--I was a casual listener in 03-04, a dedicated listener 05-07, and a strong listener well into 08, but by that time it started really becoming a platform for the aforementioned agendas and special interest groups--I remember that Coast is the first place I ever heard about the "Birther" issue and I thought it was rubbish from day one. So my listening declined starting I guess around summer 08. But I would still make a point to catch Art's shows, either live or on Streamlink, and I'd still listen to Noory if I was in the car late at night. Of course, if I wasn't interested in the guest or the topic, I'd turn it off pretty quick.
But now, since the "Art quits" debacle, I've pretty much put an embargo on Coast unless it's a non-Noory show, and even then, it's not a priority--as others have noted, even Punnett and Knapp seem to have declined in quality and are increasingly restricted and dumbed down (in their cases--certainly in Knapp's--I'm sure it must not sit well). Sure, if I'm in the car when it's on, I'll switch it on for a few minutes--but how long I leave it on depends entirely, again, on the guest, the topic, and how bad Noory is on a given night. (He's decent for the news of the day in the first ten minutes of each show, it seems, but almost always nosedives from there--especially if it goes into national ID chips, fluoride, birther stuff, or other tea party darling topics.) Some nights it's still tolerable, but for the most part--I switch it to my favorite local "alternative rock" station within a couple of minutes, just because--my ears have better things to do with their time.
So in other words, I never go out of my way to listen to Coast anymore, I rarely listen to it much (I did the whole half hour with Punnett and R. Gary Patterson the other night--that's a 2011 record for me I think), and I can't see myself ever having the passionate devotication to Coast that I once had--unless, of course, Art were to become part of it again.
So, there's my manifesto, hope you enjoyed it. Thank you, please drive through.
