About 20 years ago I used to volunteer for CICAP, the Italian skeptics society. One year we had a big convention with lots of cool speakers. Obviously also some weirdos with wacky ideas showed up at the venue. I will always remember how Marino, one of the senior members, used to interact with them: he didn’t take them seriously, but he made them feel heard. I bet many of them came ready for a “fight” (or to be ridiculed) and they found enough respect to be content and leave in peace.
This is what made Art Bell’s radio show, Coast to Coast AM, so great. Whether he was a believer or not, he was a great storyteller and took a default position of respect and good intent with every caller. If someone claimed to be a time traveler, well hey that’s big if true, so let’s hear more.
Comparing an Italian skeptics society to a for-profit entertainment radio show is idiotic. These organizations exist for different reasons, have members with different motives, and have completely different audiences.
For every uneducated 1AM unsleeping pleb, like yourself, who treated the ridiculous skeptically, ten more probably took it as fact. That show is probably responsible for a lot of real-world harm, and they made a lot of money doing it.