Paranormal radio shows are programs focusing on

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

subjects such as

unidentified flying object An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are Ide ...

alien abduction Alien abduction (also called abduction phenomenon, alien abduction syndrome, or UFO abduction) refers to the phenomenon of people reporting their experience of being kidnapped by extraterrestrial beings and subjected to physical and psychologica ...

, possession (by either demonic or spiritual forces),

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...

s and

cryptozoology Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness ...

. They are broadcast via

shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

, AM and FM radio stations or via internet streaming, often as late night shows. Depending on the type of programming format, many of these shows feature paranormal discussion between the hosts, include listener participation and also special guest appearances from

psychics A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws ...

and other prominent figures in the paranormal community. Such shows frequently feature reports from people on location at supposedly haunted locations, helping listeners feel like they are there.

History

In 1929

Joseph Dunninger Joseph Dunninger (April 28, 1892 – March 9, 1975), known as "The Amazing Dunninger", was one of the most famous and proficient mentalists of all time. He was one of the pioneer performers of magic on radio and television. A debunker of fraudule ...

hosted the "Ghost Hour" on

NBC radio The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first tw ...

. During the show Dunninger projected mental images to listeners, asking them to write in with their results. The show was an attempt to harness the perceived paranormal properties of radio waves (see also the contemporary experimental television series '' The Television Ghost'', which followed a similar conceit). The pioneer of paranormal radio was Long John Nebel who, from the 1950s until his death in 1978, hosted late night shows dealing with the supernatural. In 1988

Art Bell Arthur William Bell III (June 17, 1945 – April 13, 2018) was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program ''Coast to Coast AM'', which is syndicated on hundreds of ...

launched the late night talk show

Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 1 ...

(formerly ''West Coast AM'', broadcast on

KDWN KDWN (720 AM) is a commercial radio station in Las Vegas, Nevada, owned and operated by Audacy, Inc.. The station pronounces its call letters as "K-Dawn." The station's studios are located in the unincorporated Clark County area of Spring Vall ...

from 1978) which regularly deals with paranormal topics. The popularity of Bell's show caused a rise in similar programs across the US during the 1990s. Early paranormal radio shows focused on recounting local

ghost stories A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

, but with the rise of such concepts as

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1 ...

and

internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

, modern paranormal radio tends to focus on

paranormal investigators Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts. Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect evidence supporting the existence of paranormal activity. Ghost hunters use a variety of ...

and their research. Currently, it is easy for paranormal enthusiasts to host their own web-based radio shows, and as a result such shows have proliferated. The quality and content of web based shows varies dramatically, but most are focused on the local paranormal scene wherever they happen to be based.

References Reference is a relationship between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to ''refer to'' the second object. It is called a ''name'' ...

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book, last=Keith, first=Michael C, title=Sounds in the dark: all-night radio in American life, year=2001, publisher=

Wiley-Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...

, isbn=0-8138-2981-X, page
242
url=https://archive.org/details/soundsindarkalln0000keit/page/242 {{cite book, last1=Balzano, first1=Christopher, title=Ghostly Adventures: Chilling True Stories from America's Haunted Hot Spots, date=July 1, 2008, publisher=Adams Media, isbn=9781440515590, pages=70–74, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CHwWKijTwMC&dq=Paranormal+radio&pg=PT84, accessdate=26 October 2015 {{cite book, last=Sconce, first=Jeffrey, title=Haunted media: electronic presence from telegraphy to television, year=2000, publisher=Duke University Press, isbn=0-8223-2572-1, page
257
url=https://archive.org/details/hauntedmediaelec0000scon/page/257 Talk radio Paranormal