On Saturday, July 25, 2009, residents of the U.S. and Canada (and some of the armed forces) were able to hear three hours devoted to HPB on the commercial radio airwaves. A first for Mme. Blavatsky, for never before had she received such extended public accessibility. Aired on Coast to Coast AM, a late night radio talk show which is broadcast over 500 stations in the U.S., the program, “Madame Blavatsky and The Secret Doctrine,” went from 2 in the morning till 5 in the East Coast and 11 PM to 2 AM on the West Coast. Michael Gomes, who the host of the show described as “the one guy in the country who can talk about it with authority,” was interviewed and took questions from the call-in audience. The first hour was devoted to her life, the second to her major book, The Secret Doctrine, and the third devoted to calls. On the whole it was a very balanced portrayal of HPB, stressing her cultural influence.
Though many were thrilled to hear HPB discussed on their local stations, there were those who were not as happy, mainly members on the Theosophical Society in America website—known for its trashing of peoples’ reputations—and fundamentalist Christianists. (Certain Theosophists, or rather, certain members of the Adyar TS in America, were irritated that she was not portrayed as infallible. So much misinformation was spread about this interview by them, that the historian, Paul Johnson, noted on his blog that “several theosophists owe Mr. Gomes an apology…The hostile atmosphere this exemplifies makes it impossible for anyone to be both a Theosophist and a historian without ending up attacked as a heretic.”)
Here is the link to hear audio from the show.
For those too cheap to subscribe, there are excerpts on YouTube.
