Radio Host Tunes In on Stars for Advice on Earthlings’ Woes

Extraterrestrials are giving advice to the lovelorn, ecology tips and suggestions for world peace via a tiny radio show in upscale Carmel.

That’s right. Aliens are said to be tuning in and giving earthly advice when weekly radio talk show host Carol Austen hits the airwaves with her “Ask the Source” program.

Austen, 61, claims that through channeling, a process in which her brain acts as a “crystal” receiver for cosmic messages, she can hear from aliens who dwell among the stars.

Her long-distance callers include galactic Commanders Ashtar and Ashtara from the star group Sirius, who through Austen sometimes give advice on love and family matters.

If the galactic couple is otherwise occupied, there are always the friendly Pleiadeans from the Pleiades constellation and the vocal Cosmos family--Cosmos IV through XIX--who say they are 150,000 years ahead of Earthlings, traveling aboard their M-100 space station.

For two hours every Saturday morning, Austen relays the thoughts of various extraterrestrials in her broadcast from the trendy Thunderbird Bookstore. About 30 followers gather to drink coffee and nibble on freshly baked muffins while they participate in the program and get first-hand advice from outer space.

Austen’s radio show reaches about 7,000 of the curious and faithful tuned to 10,000-watt KNZS-AM, 1540 on the dial, throughout an area stretching 60 miles north to the southern San Jose area and 90 miles south to the San Luis Obispo area, says station manager Peter Widdershoven.

Although he has reservations about the validity of the callers from outer space, Widdershoven said, “There is a substantial market for this. A lot of people are seeking answers.

“I put her on originally as a New Age type of deal, but when I saw those phone lines light up with dozens and dozens of callers--I have to respect this as a broadcaster,” Widdershoven said.

“There is an audience for this.”

If E.T. called home, then there’s no reason why extraterrestrials can’t call back. In fact, they do if only we’ll listen, says Austen, whose company, StarLink Communications, purchases a two-hour block of time from the radio station for $400, then sells commercials to cover the costs. The program is rebroadcast on Sunday nights.

‘Correspondents’ Report

On a typical Saturday, Austen warms up with reports from “correspondents” like Sasha, a middle-aged woman who tells the audience she is worried about endangered wildlife.

“Some animals are safer on a New York subway than in Yellowstone Park,” she reports. What can be done, Sasha asks.

Austen tells her audience to relax, place their feet squarely on the floor and concentrate with her. She will ask her extraterrestrial friends.

There is a brief silence and then she begins to speak, at first representing Ashtar, who commends a recent issue of Life magazine, which did a cover story on UFOs. The picture on the cover of a flying saucer is “one of ours” Ashtar says.

He advises everyone to buy and carry video cameras so that they can document UFO appearances.

“I’m getting some static,” Austen tells the audience, then explains that Ashtar has faded and Cosmos IV is now calling from the M-100 star station. Cosmos IV feels that, “I should come to be with you and do an entire show.”

Wildlife in the Subway

Earth’s wildlife is endangered everywhere, not just in a subway, Cosmos IV says, adding: “You’d be surprised how much wildlife is in a subway.”

Cosmos IV recommends an ecological relationship between land and its use. He predicts a heightened awareness of the ecology by the heads of large corporations and the universities of the world.

And so the program goes. Austen and her alien friends comment on the Alaska oil spill (they’ve given the formula for an emulsion to clean up the oil), give advice on rearing children and help 18-year-old Shannon know whether the girl he likes truly loves him.

“Get to know each other. Speak through the heart,” Cosmos IV advises the teen-ager.

Austen says she began hearing from aliens four years ago, shortly after reading the book “The Psychology of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind” by Julian Jaynes. She was studying phenomena in which people were communicating with sources outside themselves when the Pleiadeans, using her brain as a receiver, tuned in, Austen said.

“One night when we were working as a group I felt a different energy come in and I heard an inner voice say, ‘Welcome, these are your star friends from the Pleiades and we want to talk to you tonight.’

Delphic Oracles

“ ‘There are seven stars in the Pleiades. They all have names; they are called the Rezen Sisters, the same as the seven ancient Delphic oracles.’

“ ‘They exist in many histories. Most American Indian tribes think of themselves as star children. They all say their ancestors came from the Pleiades. So do African natives, the Dagons of Mali, the Egyptians, the Sumerians all say they are star children.’ ”

Her channeling has opened a vast storehouse of information, Austen said. For their part, the aliens have charged her with the three-pronged responsibility of bringing peace to the planet, cleaning up the Earth and defending the innocent.