Art Bell

[coaster]

I just want to hear radio that isnt retarded.

[MV/Liberace!]

LOSING MY MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

happy 2013 to me.

well hiiii lasertron!

[Morgus]

one thing i've noticed is whenever Art posts "stay tuned" it never turns out as people expect...

[lasertron]

well hiiii lasertron!

if there's one thing to get me back posting....

[lasertron]

Yes, but it's been a long strange trip.  I remember waaay back in freaking 1998 when he unexpectedly quit, only to come back 2 weeks later.  Then he retired/returned about once a year ever since.  I just don't expect anything from the guy anymore.  It's hard for me to take seriously his endless taunts of 'STAY TUNED.'  With all that said, I'd sure listen if he came back. The years he hosted were the best.

we know we all love him for his capriciousness

[HorrorReporter]

So excited I can't sleep!!

[PB the Deplorable]

Complete baseless speculation, but that is what Art would want right?

... As for the non-compete, I am a corporate attorney and my expectation was that the non-compete started with hios last show, ran two years, and the reason he stated "they confirmed my non-compete has expired" is because the money or producers behind his new show confirmed with Premiere that his non-compete was two years and was over.

Two years is a very common period for a non-compete.  Art may have been able to fight it and win since he was not working anywhere, but...who wants to go to court.

As for a new show - AMAZING!  That would be great.  Also, I pray St. Paul, MN means he is being Ian Punnett into the new venture!...

I wonder why he would sign one just to do a few shows a year.  There are lots of radio hosts that leave one place and pop up at another.  I don't know much about any of this stuff, just speculating

He does seem to like Ian.


One thing about broadcasting, it's not like he'd be out doing manual labor - I think he could do shows for years to come.  He does/did have that back problem that makes it difficult to sit too long though.

[PortlandDangler]

Did someone say portland?

[mombird3]

I had gone on my facebook Friday night and saw the wonderful pictures of Art Bell and his daughter. At "We miss Art Bell", on there.And there was Happy New year under it. And a message of please, do not share these pictures or will be removed.  I was not sure if these were a message that something was going to happen but it did. And he looked great. And so did his daughter. Grey hair but he looked fit and happy. Go Art!


I am so happy. My husband and I hope it is true. Thanks for the message.

[Falkie2013]

 

I had a weird thing happen. I was trying to post on here about this and wanted to upload a picture and the thing locked up. I can't get out of Safari because I'm listening to a program of Art's from 1999 when I used to work graveyard. It kept me from going nuts and kept me awake back then. Its a program from around Christmas and that year it got so cold it got to 28 in Concord, Ca. This year it has ALMOST been that cold here and was in some spots around the Bay Area.

IF Art did come back, he'd knock Snoory off the air for good. I get tired of hearing Snoory's guests come on and telling him what a WONDERFUL job Snoory is doing. You got that from callers with Art but not from guests, if I recall correctly.

Please come back Art ! You are needed !

What I'm listening to is Somewhere in Time and don't get why they have to jump around so much and switch programs. Why not just play the whole program ?

I couldn't use my new Imac for over a year. Is there a way I can download the old programs to my Ipod or eventually to an Ipad once I get one ?



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[Falkie2013]

Art could do it as a podcast and allow callers and still have guests.

IF he still has a back problem, he could do the show 3 days a week and have Punnett, Knapp or someone else ( Whitley or Ann ? ) do the show the other 2.

There are poker podcasts that do this and Art wouldn't have to do it late at night either. He could do it in the daytime or the weekends or whatever time is right for him.

The Sean David Morton I listened to was like that. He talked a lot and then had some callers call into a Skype line.

AS to the Somewhere In Time programs, couldn't one just copy them to cds ?

I used to be able to do that with my earlier Imacs and now I guess you could do it to an Ipod but don't know for sure.

[Juan]

I suspect the non-compete was in connection with selling the show, not with employment.  I know it's rather common for someone who sells a business to agree to longer a non-compete such as the 10-years. 

[Agent : Orange]

Just saw the update for myself. Like The General, I remain cautiously optimistic. I do find it somewhat discouraging that this ended with "stay tuned" which is exactly what we've been hearing for the past year...

[PB the Deplorable]

No, but I can say that his Wiki entry was updated with the same message 15 minutes ago by someone with an IP address in Saint Paul, Minnesota     (true)

Art would likely want to work with people he already knows well, and he likes Ian.  I wonder if Ian's tininitus was at least in part a ruse to be let out of his contract, either in MN or on C2C, or both..

Ian did a better job when Art was the main host too, not as much of his negative traits came through (same with George when he was a fill in).

[MV/Liberace!]

...exactly what we've been hearing for the past year...

Or longer. I see this as a big snoozefest and I think this development means nothing.

[lasertron]

Or longer. I see this as a big snoozefest and I think this development means nothing.

hi hater.

I think it means he's gonna spill the beans and maybe do a sporadic podcast.

[McPhallus]

Or longer. I see this as a big snoozefest and I think this development means nothing.

Agreed.  He's not indicated in any way that this has anything to do with him coming back.  More likely, it's related to getting SIT pulled. Art seems to think we care about the minutiae of his career.

[Tara]

Even if Art did come back on some level, even part-time, I don't think he'll ever do what would give us all some guilty pleasure:  tell us what he really thinks of George Noory.  Art's too professional for that.  However, given the quality of Art's work when he had the show, we'll always KNOW what he really thinks of Noory's C2C. 

[Agent : Orange]

Agreed.  He's not indicated in any way that this has anything to do with him coming back.  More likely, it's related to getting SIT pulled. Art seems to think we care about the minutiae of his career.

Actually I think this might be right on.

Art seems to want to establish a presence on facebook and has done things which have been aimed toward this goal, and at times has generated quite a bit of attention with some shocking statements, ie the poorly worded and veiled "six months to live" reference with respect to his relative.

Art KNOWS he has an audience for whatever medium he's engaged in and knows how to stir the pot and get attention. He knows how to get his fanbase talking and this keeps his web presence relevant. I think if he has to use a tease like hints toward a possible show to keep people talking about him then he will.

How about this, maybe it's all a big joke to Art and he likes to push our buttons to watch us get excited?

[ChewMouse]

How about this, maybe it's all a big joke to Art and he likes to push our buttons to watch us get excited?

I wonder that, too, because AB logged on to Coastgab.com last night for the first time since October. He's taking the pulse of "the masses" by checking in here now and again. I've noted that he shows up here every time he makes an "announcement" on Facebook.

[PortlandDangler]

Remember when Art was in the movie I Know Who Killed Me?

[McPhallus]

How about this, maybe it's all a big joke to Art and he likes to push our buttons to watch us get excited?

The cynic in me says this is what it all boils down to. As good a communicator as he was during his career, his antics over the last decade toward his fans are shitty.

[PortlandDangler]

The cynic in me says this is what it all boils down to. As good a communicator as he was during his career, his antics over the last decade toward his fans are shitty.

What other antics?

[Eddie Coyle]

Remember when Art was in the movie I Know Who Killed Me?

Almost eliminating higher ground against Noory. Holy smokes was that awful.

[tmock00]

I suspect the non-compete was in connection with selling the show, not with employment.  I know it's rather common for someone who sells a business to agree to longer a non-compete such as the 10-years.

I agree.



I signed a non-compete contract which was for 5 years and it was website/writing related, so I'm not surprised by a 10 year non-compete, especially in radio.  Mine was finally completed last year.


In signing, I could not use a variation of the website name in any form, could not start a competing website, and could not use my real name on any website or on any form of work which could be construed as "competing."  I got around it by using an alias, but it was still somewhat difficult - and when your work is your name - such as Art Bell - I can certainly understand why a long non-compete would be beneficial to the other party. They want to make money off of your previous hard work, cull your fans as their own, and hope your replacement is accepted by the masses - all while hoping you are forgotten in the long term.  The longer the term, the better for the new kids.


I can't stress enough how bloodthirsty and immoral the entertainment arena is.  There's big money to be made in the entertainment business and they will do whatever it takes to make it. 


If I learned anything from my own experience with selling to a huge entertainment corporation, it's to make sure the money is worth every ounce of hard work put into it beforehand. You can move on, you can do something new, but you can never go back.

[awguy]

If Art returns with a nightly show, isn't it over for Coast?  His relationship with Premiere seems bad enough that he could return just to screw them...and screw George.

I heard a radio insider speculate about a year ago that c2c may be on the chopping block soon.

Premiere has just cancelled the syndication of "Dr. Joy Browne" effective January 18th. Ironically, a station in my area which ran Browne overnight just replaced her with her with Coast to Coast this week.

As for Art's non-compete clause... two years seems about right. Look at how long this thread has been around... just over two years. Maybe he didn't get around to signing the papers until early January 2011. Seeing as Art was still in the Philippines at the time, that's very likely.

I don't want to bring down the mood of this recent news (because I'm as excited as anybody) but Art being a "free agent" may just be a reference to him now being allowed to tell the whole story as to why he left, his may retirements etc...

If he does return, I'll listen. And hopefully he can find a way of bringing Rollye James along too. I Think She's been looking for an avenue to get back on the air since she parted ways with Sirius/XM.

[MV/Liberace!]

hi hater.

I think it means he's gonna spill the beans and maybe do a sporadic podcast.

hmm... you're more hopeful than i.

[Morgus]

don't think Art would ever do a podcast only, since he only likes real radio broadcasting.
plus podcasts don't allow for live callers, since its recorded and replayed at any time.
thats why whitley strieber's dreamland podcasts are a pre-recorded guest only program.
Art wouldn't like that format at all.
Art probably just plans to try further to get Premrat to stop broadcasting his old programs on Somewhere in Time, as he has mentioned recently, thats all, no plans to come out of his retirement, since he is obviously concentrated totally on his young family.

[kingdomofsigh]

Art would likely want to work with people he already knows well, and he likes Ian.  I wonder if Ian's tininitus was at least in part a ruse to be let out of his contract, either in MN or on C2C, or both..

Ian did a better job when Art was the main host too, not as much of his negative traits came through (same with George when he was a fill in).

Just to clarify about Ian Punnett/Minnesota Public Radio speculation:


The St. Paul source of the wikipedia update was me. Been an Art fan for years and take no pleasure doing hoaxes to his fans like the "Portland source." As soon as I saw Art's status update in my newsfeed, I copy/pasted it, and someone later added a screenshot (I was also excited enough to screenshot it myself 17 seconds after he posted it). I'm sure many speculations will continue, but my temporary presence in MN here is all irrelevant to what's happening with Art. 

[Eddie Coyle]

I heard a radio insider speculate about a year ago that c2c may be on the chopping block soon.

Premiere has just cancelled the syndication of "Dr. Joy Browne" effective January 18th. Ironically, a station in my area which ran Browne overnight just replaced her with her with Coast to Coast this week.

         Those rumors have been swirling since late 2009-early 2010, when they started losing major affiliates in NYC,Boston and Chicago soon followed...I had my hopes up, but so far the cockroach that is Noory has survived. Could he finally get the gate this year? One can only hope.