I gotta come back and add one thing.
Coast to Coast AM had 15 Million weekly listeners under Art Bell.
They barely have 3 Million with Noory.
As a podcaster, I had nearly half a million listeners.
Those numbers should tell you all you need to know about Noory's ability.
3 million people like him. 12 million do not.
To be fair, the decline in the number of listeners to C2C in 2020 compared to the mid 90s has more to do with the vast numbers of internet radio/podcast alternatives available today than it does with George. Similarly, no single episode of a network TV series will ever eclipse the numbers of the last M*A*S*H episode because we have more than three TV networks to watch.
Bell's show back in the 90s hit during a proverbial perfect storm. His subject matter was new to national radio, and it coincided with the huge success of the "X Files". Further, he was the first in the talk show genre to grasp the value of the personal computer and internet, a relatively new technology at the time. Computers were an integral part of the program, no one else was doing that. To many of those early callers/listeners, the internet was as much a mystery as the topics discussed on the show. Lots of us learned how to use our early Pentiums by trying to follow what Bell and his guests were telling us.
He literally had the right show at the right time in those days. Quite a contrast to just a few years ago when Bell couldn't give away his MitD show to over-the-air radio stations. He was reduced to asking previous fans to call local, 500w radio stations to carry the show. I know, I was one of them.
The lack of support he received with later incarnations of his show post C2C wasn't because he was no longer talented, it's because times changed.
The paranormal is not the "out there" subject it was 25+ years ago. TV is chocked full of ghost/UFO programming, both reality and drama/fiction. Similarly, radio shows covering the same topics are no longer uncommon. Even radio giant WABC in New York now has a daily overnight host who interviews many C2C guests and discusses paranormal topics.
I'd never defend George, quite possibly the laziest national broadcaster I've ever heard, but we have to acknowledge the apples to kumquat comparisons between C2C of 1995 and 2020.