For
those interested in such things, or for the fans of Art Bell, he announced,
abruptly, that he was retiring from his latest radio show, Midnight in the
Desert. He cited concerns for his family and that someone was stalking him,
even taking shots at him and at his house. To read his statement see:
I
will say that I always found his show entertaining and his enthusiasm for many
subjects interesting. He seems to have had a strange radio career, especially
since he gave up regularly hosting his old show Coast to Coast in the late
1990s. This retirement, however, seems to be permanent.
I've never listened to Art Bell, but I know of him through the infamous Area 51 call which is the fakest thing this side of Fakeville, Fakeasota in the United Fakes of America.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he is being harassed by unknown forces, but more likely these tales are his way of covering up contract disputes. He did the same thing with SiriusXM where he claimed listeners had poor reception of his program. I gather his contract with them had a provision he wouldn't pull the "ZOMG THEY'RE AFTER ME" nonsense to back out.
Glad he's happy, has enough f.u. cash in his bank to act this way, but I've seen pastries less flaky than him.
I won't claim to be much more than a casual fan of Art Bell, although I've listened to him on Coast to Coast when he was at the top of his game so to speak, and did listen to this latest incarnation of his show. These are the things I've noticed about the most recent version. The quality of the guests are far inferior to what Art Bell used to get. Michio Kaku and Seth Shostak are the only "top quality" guests that come to mind that was on Midnight in the Desert. Most of the rest were people that were relevant in the paranormal circuit 15-20 years ago, or frankly just were not terribly interesting guests. You could hear the frustration in Bell's tone sometimes with some of the guests and it was uncomfortable to listen. There is a rumor that potential guests were threatened by the current owners of Coast to Coast that if they did Art's show, they would not be invited back to C2C, but I have nothing to support that claim.
ReplyDeleteThere was the sense that Bell was just mailing it in the whole time, I can't recall the number of times he stated he's doing the show because of his love for it, not because he needs the money, etc. Well, how many times does someone need to say "I don't need the money" before they walk away? My personal opinion of it, and I have no evidence to back it up, is that he was given an opportunity to do something groundbreaking, making internet broadcasting "legit" and saw a chance to add to his legacy. However, as our minds tend to do, the memories understate the bad things and overstate the good. I think once he began the day to day, he was reminded of why he quit all the times before.
So I don't know if this stalker business is true or not, or perhaps just overstated, but it seems like a convenient out for him regardless.
Hey Kevin;
ReplyDeleteI heard you on the Art Bell show recently and enjoyed it very much. I've heard you several times before on C2C but you never sounded so personable and youthful. Good Show!
Bell is more of a natural radio personality and showman, where as Noory is more the merely competent broadcast journalist who just happened to score one lucky break at the right time. Still, to Noory's credit, it takes a certain talent to do that job.
Just how does one say "That's Strange" and "That's Spooky" repeatedly and convincingly night after night for years? That's a talent of some kind. Acting, I suppose. (g)
Hope to hear you on again!
I don't know if this is for real or simply more of Art's theatrics. I'm very familiar with Bell's show having listened since he appeared on KABC in 1994 when late-night fixture Ray Briem retired. Reality has never had a high priority on Bell's radio program; and that's all it is, a late-night radio program that has it origins in "Long John Nebel" and "Good Morning Vietnam" as much as today's talk and "reality" programming. I didn't sleep for laughing for years into the 2000s!
ReplyDeleteBut there are very good reasons why Bell is in the UFO Watchdog's Hall of Shame; and they're not limited to allowing pseudoscientific charlatans, like Hoagland, let's say, to make the most outlandish and irresponsible claims about lost worlds on nearby planets or threatening NASA people while claiming a very famous planetary scientist was his close personal friend. Hoagland even claimed he suggested the idea for the Voyager plaque, and just as laughably claimed that he had imagined a subsurface ocean on Europa before the great astronomer John Lewis calculated it!
As bad as all that was, I think most know the dark side of the Art Bell radio show.
http://www.ufowatchdog.com/art_bell.htm
I echo many of the above comments, particularly the dubious nature of some of his most recent guests.
ReplyDeleteWhat has surprised me even more is how someone who has interviewed some of the keenest minds in the alternative media over the last 25+ years, and has been exposed to some very powerful alternative arguments, can still cling to the official narrative of 9/11, and still embrace Catholic beliefs and dogma, both sentiments aired by him recently.
Art Bell was a pioneer, and at his peak was head and shoulders above his competitors. I'll miss him, but I hope that he finally stays retired this time to avoid further tarnishing the legendary status he still hopefully enjoys.