Art bell on SXM (Update, Art Bell QUITS SXM)

KTMCDO

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Oct 15, 2008
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NEW YORK (AP) — Art Bell, radio's master of the paranormal and outward edges of science, will return to the microphone on Sept. 16 with a new nighttime show on Sirius XM Radio.

Bell was one of radio's top syndicated voices in the 1990s before walking away from his nightly show in 2002 due to family issues. He worked occasionally after that but hasn't been on the air since Halloween 2010.

"I missed it terribly," said Bell, 68, whose weeknight show will air live from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET. Sirius is building a studio at Bell's rural Nevada home where he will work.

A Sirius representative contacted Bell through social media a few months ago, leading to the formation of his show, "Art Bell's Dark Matter." He'll talk about things like UFOs, ghosts, near-death experiences and weird aspects of science. He'll do interviews and take calls from viewers.

Scott Greenstein, Sirius XM president and chief content officer, said the show will be "uncensored, unrestricted, uncluttered and utterly unique."

"There's probably more interest in the genre now than when I did it," Bell said. "When I did it, I was damned near alone."

Bell was on some 500 radio stations nationwide and "quit when he was at the top of his game," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, a magazine that covers the radio industry.

Harrison said Bell's subject matter has roots in old-time radio, and he predicted it will become popular once again in the coming years.

"He'll be looked at as one of the veteran, old masters," Harrison said. "He's the real deal when it comes to marching to the beat of a different drummer."

There's also a potential rivalry with George Noory, who replaced Bell on the syndicated show. Bell isn't a fan, saying he considers Noory "not edgy enough." Noory's program is on later at night, so the two will not compete directly live.

No contract terms were divulged.

Bell said he's intrigued to learn the differences between satellite and terrestrial radio.

"It seems to me they are the next step in technology," he said. "I've always been a technological junkie. The mix of what they're giving me, the freedom that they're giving me, is priceless."
 

kingchuck69

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Oct 11, 2008
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AWESOME move on SXM's part.

Growing up in northern Michigan, Bell was one of the only talk show hosts I could stomach.

It was well-rumored for years that he left his show mainly because he and his syndicator, Clear Channel didn't get along. He owned the show at first, but sold it to CC. Not long afterward, CC shut down Bell's network, CBC (not the Canadian broadcaster) and fired everybody.

As for Noory, he's got nothing to worry about, IMO.
 

geosync

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2008
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This should be interesting. He goes on as Coast to Coast goes off satellite. I caught a piece of this Philips Phile show from Tampa on Talk Radio yesterday. The host Philips was railing about not getting any dough from CC for the time his show was 're-purposed' on XM for all these years. It'll be nice to not have any CC music stations on the service now too.
 

Brad Bishop

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Dec 3, 2008
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I've found the format of C2CAM a bit waning over the years. I record it each night but I get crap like:
- The Numbers Lady
- Political talk
- Health Advice
- Financial Advice
- etc.

I want:
- weird ass ghost stories
- weird ass UFO stories
- other similar "Ancient Alien" stories

I hope he comes back. I hope I get an update on the guy in the NW with the hole to Hell... ("What? You put a bunch of fishing line down the hole??? Well, the amount of fishing line would eventually equal in weight to you seeking the bottom you dumbass.")
 

TSS Taylor

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Oct 9, 2008
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I'm shocked. I got an email from an Art Bell forum about this tonight. It's a huge bummer.

This was the email I got from the forum

"We are in shock to be sending you this message, but we're sending it. Art Bell has quit his new show on SiriusXM.

Art announced on his last show (Halloween) that he wants to stream the show for free from ArtBell.com for three reasons:

1) SiriusXM's web player is notoriously unreliable, causing a loss of subscribers and a degraded listening experience for those who remain listening online.

2) For a "caller driven" show, the caller pool for art's show is just too small.

3) International listeners have no legitimate way to hear the show.

Art said he'd announce the company's response on Monday, and today we have our unfortunate answer. Art feels there is no longer a practical way to continue the show via their platform, and so it's cancelled. Let's hope Art has something else in the works (although that now seems entirely unlikely).

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Everybody is discussing the news here:

Art Bell Quits Dark Matter "
 

Salesman

Active Member
Jul 27, 2011
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This is disappointing. I never listened to Art Bell before but I was enjoying the show. This guy is a quitter. No way anyone should follow him if he does decided to show up somewhere else.
 

syphix

Member
Oct 15, 2008
366
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This is disappointing. I never listened to Art Bell before but I was enjoying the show. This guy is a quitter. No way anyone should follow him if he does decided to show up somewhere else.
What faith does anyone who signs him have that he'll complete his contract?? NONE.
 

microbob

Well-Known Member
Oct 14, 2008
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The whole thing is strange. I have been lurking over on bellgab.com and they are going crazy. I have a hard time believing that Art has a better way to stream his show than SiriusXm does. I never had a problem with streaming his show as He claims and why He chose to quit his show with them unless they allowed him to stream his show for free on artbell.com.