Open Lines begins during the second half of the first hour. Art opened special lines for international callers, and people who claimed to be aliens or immortal. Other topics from callers included reality as a video game, illegal immigration, Art’s former work as a police dispatcher, meeting a woman on the internet, why the show thrives on doom and gloom, a volcano in the Caribbean that was about to erupt, and a Christian view on how to care for animals.

Among the global callers were a spirited Canadian near the Arctic Circle as well as a young man calling from the frozen tundra north of Norway. Stan Deyo phones from Australia and he and Art chat about a virus affecting Aussie rabbits. The 'Immortal' line' included an intriguing woman who claimed to never die, and another from a man who believes he married an immortal.

Art featured news in the first half-hour. It was the 17th day of the Montana Freemen standoff and negotiations had broken off. The Unabomber was also in the news, and a search of his remote cabin revealed a "hit list," which included airline executives, geneticists, and computer industry experts.