Ground Zero Radio
Ground Zero is a show whose scope includes paranormal, political, and entertainment topics.
The show began in 1995 as KULT Radio at KCNR. One week later, under pressure from those who disliked the name, he changed it to Ground Zero. Two weeks after that came the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, after which he was pressured to change the name again, but refused. The AM talk station programed the show on Sundays before two nationally-syndicated paranormal radio shows—Art Bell's Dreamland and Michael F. Corbin's Paranet Continuum.
When the show moved to KBER, it became the top-rated show in its time slot in Salt Lake City.
Lewis was investigated by the FBI after his remark during the broadcast on March 25, 1997, a night marked by a full moon, that “This would be a great night for some cult to commit suicide.” That same night, 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult committed suicide at Rancho Santa Fe in California. Lewis had no connection with the cult; his remark had been a grisly coincidence.
Lewis moved to Portland, Oregon at the behest of Rick Emerson, his former co-host on Drive-By Radio, to produce Emerson's new syndicated show; his last KBER broadcast was May 16, 1999. Ground Zero was subsequently picked up by the NBG Radio Network.
The show lost its syndication in June 2001, after Lewis claimed on the air that the pending execution of Timothy McVeigh would result in a terrorist attack on United States soil, an eventuality that could, he suggested, be averted by keeping McVeigh alive long enough to extract information from him about existing terrorist cells in the country. Advertisers pulled their support, and NBG dropped Ground Zero after a contract dispute. Lewis wrote about the broadcast and the subsequent September 11 attacks in his essay "America's 911".
Ground Zero moved to Portland's KOTK. His producer from 2001–2002 was a former NASA contractor, Daniel Cascaddan. Other producers included Aaron Duran, with whom Lewis created the spinoff show News at Ground Zero, to which Sadie Gregg contributed.
MAX 910 went off the air due to a format change in 2005, ending Ground Zero's broadcasts on terrestrial radio for four years.
Ground Zero aired on "Krocks Radio One", an Internet radio station on Fridays from 10pm to 1 am from August 2009 to December 2009. This show was discontinued due to taking the news position at 750 KXL. Krocks Radio One continued to air the live shows from KUFO and aired replays of the show throughout the week.
In December 2009, Ground Zero returned to terrestrial radio on Portland's Rock FM 101.1 KUFO-FM on Sunday nights. In taking on an additional freelance news position at 750 AM KXL, Lewis had to discontinue his weekly event, Ground Zero Lounge. In November 2010, Clyde Lewis severed all ties with KROCKS Radio One due to undisclosed differences.
The radio show successfully continued on KUFO for 4 months after the online split from KROCKS. At 8 AM on March 15, 2011, KUFO's rock format was flipped to a simulcast of KXL-AM's lineup of news and conservative talk show hosts, including Portland-native Lars Larson. The former KUFO website released a farewell message, and all of the stations personalities were fired. Clyde was already a freelance reporter for KXL and was asked to continue Ground Zero five nights a week.
On April 1, 2011 it was announced Clyde Lewis was returning to KXL-FM, the Portland, Oregon flagship station where he was first syndicated.
On July 30, 2012 it was announced that Premiere Radio Networks had picked up nationwide syndication rights to Ground Zero. The show will be nationally broadcast weeknights 7:00pm – 10:00pm Pacific time beginning August 27, 2012. The show will then continue from 10:00pm - Midnight on KXL-FM in Portland.
Some of the guests who have been interviewed on Ground Zero:
- Recording artists Gene Simmons of KISS, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, Insane Clown Posse
- South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone
- X-Men comics writer Chris Claremont, Sin City comics writer and director Frank Miller
- Actors Bruce Campbell, Adam West, David Prowse, Mark Hamill; actor/directors Kevin Smith, Robert Englund; filmmaker James Gunn
- Authors Robert Anton Wilson, John Shirley
- Physicist Brian Greene
- Professional science fiction fan Forrest J. Ackerman
- Conspiracy theorists Richard C. Hoagland, David Icke, Alex Jones
- Church of Satan High Priest Peter H. Gilmore; Rex Diabolos Church, Magister Templi of the Church of Satan in Portland, Oregon
- Hacker "Emmanuel Goldstein"; attorneys for hacker Kevin Mitnick
- Attorneys for the West Memphis 3
- Ivan Stang, founder of the Church of the SubGenius
- Michael Fraughton, professional magician specializing in the supernatural
- Duncan Lunan, science writer who theorized the presence of an alien space probe orbiting around the moon and authored a book about the Green Children of Woolpit
Read more about this topic: Clyde Lewis
Famous quotes containing the words ground and/or radio:
“The ground for taking ignorance to be restrictive of freedom is that it causes people to make choices which they would not have made if they had seen what the realization of their choices involved.”
—A.J. (Alfred Jules)
“A bibulation of sports writers, a yammer of radio announcers, a guilt of umpires, an indigence of writers.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)