Art Bell

[awguy]

yeah, i saw tim pate's post about phil leaving TRN.  is there anything to it beyond that?  you know anything about the specifics of what he's doing next?

I'd be willing to put money on this being one of the opportunities that Art was offered but turned down.

[MV/Liberace!]

I'd be willing to put money on this being one of the opportunities that Art was offered but turned down.

you could very well be correct.

[apogee]

If Art started broadcasting against the time slot that C2C holds, it would be no time at all before the majority of the listeners would jump ship. Then the hosts that are acceptable to Art would come next. This is something I would like to see happen......apogee

[Jackpine Savage]

i don't think anyone is a solid replacement.  that's because i think the magic of art's show in the 1990s was as much the result of the times as it was the man.  if art were 45 years old again today and started over as an unknown just as he did in the early 1990s, i don't think he could become successful.  every home in america didn't have instant access to the sum total of human knowledge in those days.  it made the genre far more interesting than it could ever be now.  there was a cloud of mystery surrounding everything the show discussed, and that magic is now dissolved.  today, there's no mystery in anything.  anywhere.  at all.


the times have changed, and i don't think it matters who you put in the chair.  the genre is toast, which is partially why c2c it's self doesn't even cover those topics any longer.  it's become a program about self improvement, alternative medicine, and touchy feely, new agey horse shit.

It's not just paranormal radio either. The 90s was really radio's second Golden Age. And like all golden ages, you never know it while you're in it. The great (and bad) shock jocks, prank radio, vulgarity, radio wars, even fart gags have all been regulated and litigated into obscurity or rendered obsolete by mp3s and internet forums, facebook, reddit and general memeology. If people didn't have to commute to escape the wretched state of American cities, radio would be even more of a shadow of its former self than it is today. 

The internet is such a blast, it's only the rare time I really miss 90's radio. However, enjoy this forum while we have it. There are things looming on the horizon that may very well draw the free-wheeling days of the net to a close. Who knows. This may very well be the golden age of the internet. But we'll never know until it's gone.

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

It's not just paranormal radio either. The 90s was really radio's second Golden Age. And like all golden ages, you never know it while you're in it. The great (and bad) shock jocks, prank radio, vulgarity, radio wars, even fart gags have all been regulated and litigated into obscurity or rendered obsolete by mp3s and internet forums, facebook, reddit and general memeology. If people didn't have to commute to escape the wretched state of American cities, radio would be even more of a shadow of its former self than it is today. 

The internet is such a blast, it's only the rare time I really miss 90's radio. However, enjoy this forum while we have it. There are things looming on the horizon that may very well draw the free-wheeling days of the net to a close. Who knows. This may very well be the golden age of the internet. But we'll never know until it's gone.

Indeed.  3-D printed guns and the like will probably motivate governing agencies to enforce some pretty serious restrictions on internet content.

[Agent : Orange]

However, enjoy this forum while we have it. There are things looming on the horizon that may very well draw the free-wheeling days of the net to a close. Who knows. This may very well be the golden age of the internet. But we'll never know until it's gone.

Words of wisdom.

[coaster]

summer is coming around. art will have a 10th wind. out of retirement. watch and learn. unless he reads this. art, seriously, if you are going to do something, do it now. who gives a shit about what might of been. our days are numbered. hang on to anger until you die. thats my plan. or get on the fucking radio and talk. its not the end of the  world. its a business you sold, and it sucks. who gives a FLYING FUCKING SHIT. its in the past. have fun.
what the hell is wrong with you. i did the same job for 25 years. last time someone took my job. i said fuck it and took a better job, and it was fucking awesome.
do what you do. turn your anger into something. YOU worked for it . someones been working your job for over 10 years and youve sat on your fucking hands art. wow
but im drunk. dont throw shit away.
ill regret this in the morn. cheers to sardondi.

[eddie dean]

I hope someday Art will tell us the story, in detail, why he left and why he thinks the show is so terrible now.
Please Art!

[mombird3]

It is sad. He has a right to retire. Maybe the C2C show will end just by the loss of radio stations carrying the show. If Art changes his mind, then it will be back. And if the deal they offered was not to Art's liking that is his right to refuse. Maybe it is time to let it go.

[Jackpine Savage]

Hey, he could always write another book. Didn't rule that out.

[Scully]

Him being in some sort of mentor/executor role would require two things: his wanting it, and Premiere's wanting him to do it. And somehow, I suspect, those two are mutually exclusive and preclude one another--thus, the situation we, and he, have been in for some time now.

Did I say anything about Art and Premiere getting together again?  Perish the thought.  He's supposedly had at least two solid offers from other sources, hasn't he?

[Scully]

Just for kicks, here's  Art's first Facebook offering of the evening:

[Juan]

Re: Art on CNN - it is sad.  It's the result of broadcast consultants who focus group everything.  (Oh,God, I just used focus group as a verb.) They take decision making away from people who have a seat-of-the-pants feel for news and substitute a formula. 

[West of the Rockies]

Re: Art on CNN - it is sad.  It's the result of broadcast consultants who focus group everything.  (Oh,God, I just used focus group as a verb.) They take decision making away from people who have a seat-of-the-pants feel for news and substitute a formula.

Damnit, Fill, I hate it when people go verbing words that are nouns!  (And don't get me started on people who nounize verbs -- otherwise, your post was a good read!)

[ItsOver]

The current HLN makes People Magazine look like The Wall Street Journal.

[West of the Rockies]

i don't think anyone is a solid replacement.  that's because i think the magic of art's show in the 1990s was as much the result of the times as it was the man.  if art were 45 years old again today and started over as an unknown just as he did in the early 1990s, i don't think he could become successful.  every home in america didn't have instant access to the sum total of human knowledge in those days.  it made the genre far more interesting than it could ever be now.  there was a cloud of mystery surrounding everything the show discussed, and that magic is now dissolved.  today, there's no mystery in anything.  anywhere.  at all.


the times have changed, and i don't think it matters who you put in the chair.  the genre is toast, which is partially why c2c it's self doesn't even cover those topics any longer.  it's become a program about self improvement, alternative medicine, and touchy feely, new agey horse shit.

Hi, MV... I guess you're right.  It's sort of like if we all started pissing and moaning about how we wanted old-time radio to come back.  Aint' gonna happen.  Well, once again, let me say that I appreciate your forum; it gives a place for people like us to vent a bit (and piss and moan).

[ItsOver]

MV makes a good point.  Those times and radio with Art were a magical moment.  If PremRat has done anything right, calling the old Art rebroadcasts "Somewhere in Time" is right on.


However, what's a real killer with the current C2C is the lack of a quality host, no matter the topic.  When George Knapp is on his few times a month, not only is he a professional, competent, knowledgeable host who gives a damn, IMO, he can actually address a lot of Art's old paranormal topics and still make them interesting.  He's not Art but he shows just how critical it is to have a host who has something going on.  Art was such a master at setting the nightly atmosphere from his remote outpost in "The Great American Southwest" and spinning entrancing stories around that mysterious campfire, he's damn near irreplaceable.

[West of the Rockies]

summer is coming around. art will have a 10th wind. out of retirement. watch and learn. unless he reads this. art, seriously, if you are going to do something, do it now. who gives a shit about what might of been. our days are numbered. hang on to anger until you die. thats my plan. or get on the fucking radio and talk. its not the end of the  world. its a business you sold, and it sucks. who gives a FLYING FUCKING SHIT. its in the past. have fun.
what the hell is wrong with you. i did the same job for 25 years. last time someone took my job. i said fuck it and took a better job, and it was fucking awesome.
do what you do. turn your anger into something. YOU worked for it . someones been working your job for over 10 years and youve sat on your fucking hands art. wow
but im drunk. dont throw shit away.
ill regret this in the morn. cheers to sardondi.

I admire your passion, coaster!  But I'm starting to like Art to a professional sports coach, say a Phil Jackson.  His best days are probably behind him.  He won't likely end up with a Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant to coach again.  He's no kid (Jackson) and doesn't need the money.  His health is iffy.  Maybe Art is in pretty much the same boat.  We've been in denial for a while.

[HorrorReporter]

MV makes a good point.  Those times and radio with Art were a magical moment.  If PremRat has done anything right, calling the old Art rebroadcasts "Somewhere in Time" is right on.


However, what's a real killer with the current C2C is the lack of a quality host, no matter the topic.  When George Knapp is on his few times a month, not only is he a professional, competent, knowledgeable host who gives a damn, IMO, he can actually address a lot of Art's old paranormal topics and still make them interesting.  He's not Art but he shows just how critical it is to have a host who has something going on.  Art was such a master at setting the nightly atmosphere from hisremote outpost in "The Great American Southwest" and spinning entrancing stories around that mysterious campfire, he's damn near irreplaceable.

Amen.. but so few people actually talk about Knapp, so few. But he is clearly the best and greatest of the hosts......

[ItsOver]

Knapp is miles better than you-know-who but, as I mentioned, he's not Art.  I enjoy Knapp's shows, as opposed to Noory's, but Knapp is somewhat "dry" and just doesn't have the personality of somebody such as Art.  I just know Noory doesn't come anywhere near cutting it for C2C.  All I really ask for is a competent, professional, somewhat entertaining nightly C2C host.  Apparently, that's too much to ask of PremRat.  :

[bigchucka]

Didn't Art sue that fucker that's the guest on tonight's SIT?  The reverse speech guy?

[ItsOver]

Didn't Art sue that fucker that's the guest on tonight's SIT?  The reverse speech guy?

Sounds like a question for Morgus, to get all the real details.  I know Art banned him from the show and I believe Art did do something further.


I'll be listening to the show tonight to hear Art, if nothing else, but it'll be kind of funny listening to the RS guy knowing how it eventually turned out.  The reverse speech guy should have analyzed the remote viewing guy and vice-versa.   

[bigchucka]

I'm thinking the dipshit got his threes and fours (or III and IV) confused.  Went on some show and said Art did some shit, was investigated, and paid to have it covered up.

What's funny is that Art doesn't want to proceed in anger, or kill what he created, but it seems to me that Premiere doesn't really give a fuck about Art anymore.  Replaying this guy is a prime example of that...

[Morgus]

Didn't Art sue that fucker that's the guest on tonight's SIT?  The reverse speech guy?

Yeah after several years in the 90s as a regular frequent guest, David John Oates turned on Art along with some other guy and accused him of unspeakable things.
I think that was just after Art's first retirement (1998?) and Art never had him on the show after that and started a law suit for libel or slander I think against him. Don't recall what happened from that though.

[The General]

...my Pahrump Source...

Alejandro's Balls

[bigchucka]

Got an apology and an undisclosed settlement.  Official statement at the time is on Art's Wikipedia page.  References #16.

[Morgus]

I found this webpage from a google search on Art Bell and David John Oates:

History of Bell/Oates Feud - Decide for yourself
http://davidoates.tripod.com/index12.html

The history and info there from 1998-1999 is informative and mentions multi-million dollar law suits and counter-suits , but the links to old broadcast.com audio and old website references of course are invalid nowadays.

This excerpt is interesting, I don't remember that at all:
"On December 30th 1998, Art Bell, Richard Hoagland, Keith Rowland and Michael Bara all joined together in what can only be described as a public lynching, and slammed David John Oates, claiming that he had left the path of Truth and was altering speech reversals so that that they something else according to a hidden agenda he had. In the interview Bell claimed that Oates had repeatably attacked him on the internet and on the radio."

[BobGrau]

I may have got my wires crossed somewhere about this, but do I remember MV having a story about Oates?

[Morgus]

David Oates current website:
http://reversespeech.com/

[MV/Liberace!]

I may have got my wires crossed somewhere about this, but do I remember MV having a story about Oates?

he was the guest on the first ever episode of my podcast back in 2006, but nothing beyond that.