Radio UFO
Bill Birnes on Binnall of America
Here’s what Tim has to say about the show:
http://www.binnallofamerica.com/boaa6.16.8.html
Bill Birnes (Part 1)
UFO Hunters, UFO Magazine, Day After Roswell
1 Hour, 46 Minutes
The first installment of a marathon conversation with Bill Birnes, one of the stars of the History Channel’s UFO Hunters, noted esoteric author, and publisher of UFO Magazine. We’ll have an extended bio/background, where Bill takes us through his evolution in the world of esoterica, from discovering the Philip Corso story to how he ended up at the helm of UFO Magazine, with lots of side roads explored along the way. Plus, in this first half, we’ll cover a number of areas related to UFO Hunters, like Bill’s reaction to THC’s vast marketing of the show centered around him, aspects of how the show gets made, how much influence the network has on the content, and Bill’s response to critics who say the show is not “real Ufology.” Plus, of course, tons more.
It’s a tremendous edition of BoA:Audio with a guest who really fits perfectly into our long-form style, as Bill is allowed to give detailed and unfettered answers to a variety of questions.
Full Preview: We kick things off with an extended bio / background, where Bill gives us a thorough retrospective on his evolution in the esoteric field. He talks about his past in academia and his entry into the publishing world. We find out about his move from the East Coast to LA, his early work in the entertainment world and how this led to his meeting Col. Philip Corso. He gives some great first-hand perspective on how his original meeting with Corso was related to POWs and it turned, serendipitously, to Corso’s Roswell story.
He details how Corso wasn’t the first person to try and reverse-engineer Roswell technology and tells the story of what happened when the government attempted to do so in the 1940’s. This leads to Bill telling us about the process of writing The Day After Roswell and the fast deadline to produce the book to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Roswell.
Next, Bill shares the story of how he ended up becoming publisher of UFO Magazine with some fascinating insight into the inner-workings of the magazine business. He tells a great story of how he ended up buying the magazine and talks about where he sees UFO Magazine going in the future.
Returning to the Corso story, Bill tells us about some of Corso’s adventures in Rome from his other book The American Who Ruled Rome, which led to Corso’s involvement with the Roswell debris. Bill talks about how the Corso story was thoroughly vetted, despite what some of the critics of the story claim. This segues into a truly amazing story from Bill about filming a secret government project in Las Vegas and having his cell phone monitored by the NSA.
We get Bill’s perspective on having to defend the Corso story to the critics, especially since Corso has passed away since the publication of the book. He shares some great stories about the inter-personal intrigue within Ufology over the Corso book and why some of the “feuds” over the story developed. Bill talks about the problems of people pirating editions of The Day After Roswell in other countries.
Moving on to UFO Hunters, we start out by finding out how the show first came together. We get Bill’s perspective on being a TV personality, especially in light of the massive advertising campaign for UFO Hunters that centers around him. We find out how extensive the network input is on the program and whether or not it belies the long-standing belief in esoteric circles that there is a media cover-up of UFO information. This leads to a side story from Bill about the biggest frustration he has with responding to critics of The Day After Roswell.
Bill talks about how the stylistic decision of “showing the process” on the show has been the source of some consternation in Ufology’s circles, especially with regards to the Maury Island episode of the show. We find out about the process by which the program decides on what cases to investigate.
Wrapping up this week’s installment, Bill responds to critics in Ufology who contend that UFO Hunters is not “real” Ufology and he explains why there is no such thing as “real” Ufology. Bill tells us about how much input he has on the show after it has been taped and takes us through the post-production process. We get Bill’s take on the controversy from January over the UFO Hunters name.
This interview was recorded on 5.16.8.
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Jun 17 2008 
June 17th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Nick — just grabbed this from some “education forum.” I’m a BIG fan of Professor emeritus Peter Dale Scott so I find this fascinating:
“Truth and Consequences
It should be noted that according to Peter Dale Scott’s book Deep Politics and the Death of JFK (pages 214-215), Colonel Philip J. Corso, who appeared in Dateline NBC (6-24-97) as the author of a new book about the Roswell UFO crash, was in 1963 disseminating stories linking Oswald to Russia.
According to Scott, veteran of army intelligence Corso had work with C. D. Jackson (LIFE propagandist) and relayed information stating that “Oswald was tied to a Communist ring inside the CIA”. Corso was a right-winger and Shickshinny (Pennsylvania) Knight of Malta who developed an anti-CIA paranoia apparently because he finds it not extreme enough!!!!”
Scott’s latest book “Road to 911″ gives a lot more details on the far-right military wing nuts.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Drew:
Yeah, Corso had a very interesting background. Notably (well, I think it’s notable!), Corso was good friends with General Charles Willoughby.
It was Willoughby who was at the forefront of getting as much info at the end of WW2 on Japan’s Unit 731 transferred to the US.
It was Unit 731, of course, that formed the crux of my Body Snatchers in the Desert…
June 17th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Yeah don’t make me cry over your river Nick. I’m still pissed that every show interviewing you doesn’t seem to give your book the light of day. I mean what kind of Fatima event do we need to convert people to the new Pagan retro-revival?
The Fascist Regime.
June 18th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Drew:
Most certainly don’t want to give it the light of day at all - it’s not good from their perspective (in terms of getting large audiences!) to knock Roswell!
However, I will say that George Noory at Coast to Coast was one of the few notable exceptions, and he interviewed me extensively on his show about the book, and did give it a very fair hearing.