Topic: Art Bell Quits Coast

[FortRock]

I have seen this resignation by Art coming for some time now! On the Halloween show Art repeated a conversation with his daughter Asia, to the effect of Asia saying "why do you work daddy?". As a fellow Ham, KI6EQT, 30 in the message is code for his inner core of technogeek listeners. 30 is often used as a sign-off as when a Ham has their final transmission from a particular location, say a Ham moves to another city or home! Then Art relays his resignation message via KNYE, Pahrump, Nevada. I was listening to Bell when he was doing his political late-night show for KDWN, Las Vegas. I would consider myself an expert on Bell's behavior, by observation. Art is angry, when he's angry it becomes the locus for revolutionary change! Also consider something else, Richard C. Hoagland was scheduled to appear on the Monday 12/20/10 Coast Show. There was a last-minute cancelation, and no commitments of future Coast efforts by Hoagland! Art is returning to the USA, and to Pahrump! Art does not move until he has his "ducks" in a row, Hoagland included! Monitor high wattage talk stations in the large-city Coast affiliate locations. Here's a test beacon for those of us in the West, check after the New Year off and on KDWN, Las Vegas, AM 720KhZ. Art is returning to the air full-time, I can feel it in my bones!

[M. Knight]

You have some really interesting points here, rooted in a particular insight into Art's personality.  I'd be happy even if Art returned to the air once a week.  It would still blow away 7 days a week of C2C ratings.

[ArtBellFan]

There was a last-minute cancelation, and no commitments of future Coast efforts by Hoagland!

What does Hoagland have to do with Art, Hoagland insulted Art big time and highly doubt if Art ever does shows again that he would have him on.
 
I don't second guess Art any more, would be surprized if came back to the airways in any form,  but not holding my breath.

[M. Knight]

There was a last-minute cancelation, and no commitments of future Coast efforts by Hoagland!

What does Hoagland have to do with Art, Hoagland insulted Art big time and highly doubt if Art ever does shows again that he would have him on.
 
I don't second guess Art any more, would be surprized if came back to the airways in any form,  but not holding my breath.

Fill me in on the insult.  Seems like I missed that.

[ArtBellFan]

It was a number of years ago when Hoagland was on with Noory, the clip is all over the place, sure MV has it, Art mentioned on Ham after that he was done with Hoagland.

I also have the clip and try to find it, in the meantime maybe some one else has it and will post it here.  Why do you think Art never had Hoagland on when he did a show.

[saab93driver]

Hoagland is an ass clown.  Hope Art doesn't ever do a show with him, here or in any other universe ever again.  If Art is really gone from radio then so be it.  His later shows were a nice distraction and I either listened live or recorded them but it was a slow progression downward and they never captured the real essence of the show from the 90's and early 2000's.  A real "good-bye" would have been nice, in fact I think he owes his listeners that but then again that's AB.  Maybe it's time he did finally go.  If so then thanks for the ride, Art. 

[FortRock]

Here's a couple more indicators of the situation. Coast To Coast AM lost 2 major affiliates which were near and dear to Art Bell emotionally. The first is WABC AM 770 in NYC, and the second is KIRO AM 710 in Seattle. Those near The Big Apple should monitor WABC, and their website, those in the PNW/Seattle area should monitor KIRO. The Hoagland insult to Bell was probably in exchange for being able to appear on Coast with Mr. Snoresville! Any decline on the part of Art came from corporate pressure, which will not be repeated! Art's coming back in 2011, bet on it!

[GuerrillaUnReal]

I'm with you guys in that I don't think we've heard the last of Art. He's much too fiery an individual to trot off into the sunset before getting bored and wanting to jump into another project. I honestly see Art jumping into satellite and doing a weekend show. I really think they'd have the money and position to entice him. My only question would be could Art stomach leaving terrestrial radio. Considering how regulate, corporatised and dead terreristrial commercial radio is, I really think XM/Sirius would be the best place for him. Imagine Art's show with no censorship.  Also you have to think the satellite demographic is on average much more techy conscious and intelligent than terrestrial. This is just my guess though based on nothing more then being a fan of C2C for so many years. Art could just as easily never be heard from again except in little articles and blurbs here and there.

[guildnavigator]

wonder if there's any chance of him taking dreamland back from whitley

[mib12890]

wonder if there's any chance of him taking dreamland back from whitley

Now this sounds realistically possible. I really hope we haven't seen the last of Art.

[FortRock]

Art has never leaped before he knew where he was headed to! Also Art would NEVER do the internet thing. NEITHER would he do satellite, I remember him deriding Howard Stern for the satellite radio decision. One title that Art is proud, very proud of, and that's BROADCASTER.  Mr. Bell also has never kept his listeners in the dark for very long. Expect news by late next week, or just after the New Year. Here's a man who would know what's going on, Art's former webmaster Keith Rowland, Manager of the website www.artbell.net. Monitor this website! Also on the Whitley Strieber front, some here might be slightly psychic. Whitley has always appeared on the Christmas Eve show of George's since Art stepped down, BUT not this year, wonder why? Oh well Whitley IS one of Art's best friends! Monitor www.unknowncountry.com as well, they covered a lot when Ramona passed away.

[mib12890]

Art has never leaped before he knew where he was headed to! Also Art would NEVER do the internet thing. NEITHER would he do satellite, I remember him deriding Howard Stern for the satellite radio decision. One title that Art is proud, very proud of, and that's BROADCASTER.  Mr. Bell also has never kept his listeners in the dark for very long. Expect news by late next week, or just after the New Year. Here's a man who would know what's going on, Art's former webmaster Keith Rowland, Manager of the website www.artbell.net. Monitor this website! Also on the Whitley Strieber front, some here might be slightly psychic. Whitley has always appeared on the Christmas Eve show of George's since Art stepped down, BUT not this year, wonder why? Oh well Whitley IS one of Art's best friends! Monitor www.unknowncountry.com as well, they covered a lot when Ramona passed away.

You really know your Art.  I sent an email to Keith about the whole deal seeking info.  Even if he does know something I kinda doubt he would share, but I can hope.

[mib12890]

Wouldn't it be so great if Art reunited with Keith, got artbell.com back up and going, and picked up a few affiliates for a weekend show.....

[TaoOfLuxLisbon]

Here's a couple more indicators of the situation. Coast To Coast AM lost 2 major affiliates which were near and dear to Art Bell emotionally. The first is WABC AM 770 in NYC, and the second is KIRO AM 710 in Seattle. Those near The Big Apple should monitor WABC, and their website, those in the PNW/Seattle area should monitor KIRO.

KIRO became an all sports (ESPN) station, so I doubt that means anything.

If Art wanted to do it, I think Sirius/XM would be a good place for an all Art Bell station. He could be the feature host three or four times a week and program the rest of the station with hosts he likes.....

[minnehan]

Good tip regarding watching artbell.net.  Just checked and noted they still have a link to C2C.  May not mean anything, but if there is bad blood, the site isn't reflective of it (or hasn't been updated).

What happened to the former artbell.com?

[FortRock]

I've got an update for the group. I just recieved an email from Keith Rowland with a one-line quote, "Nothing official has been relayed to me yet". Which does not say anything really, their relationship was very outside of corporate channels when Art was hosting anyway.

[mib12890]

I also just got an email from keith saying: "I have no information from Art. This is all news to me."

[Stevenqbosell]

Living in LA or one of it's suburbs isn't it, but bringing your "art" there to die as a job that you no longer respect is the ultimate in typical LA bullshit.

Fair enough. Unless it's an L.A. based product, service or art, I see your point there.

I knew I was forgetting something in that sentence...

[MV]

It was a number of years ago when Hoagland was on with Noory, the clip is all over the place, sure MV has it, Art mentioned on Ham after that he was done with Hoagland.

I also have the clip and try to find it, in the meantime maybe some one else has it and will post it here.  Why do you think Art never had Hoagland on when he did a show.

i would love to hear this.  i might have the clip, but i'd have to know what the airdate was in order to find it.  i would also like to hear what art had to say about it on HAM, although i'd be surprised if anyone has that lying around.

[ringthane]

re: Art/Hoagland -- they've always had, on-air at least, a rapport that challenges each other. Not quite adversarial and not vituperative, but Art *constantly* called bullshit on Hoagland's... well, bullshit. Remember the one show where RCH had this absolute rock solid photographic proof that there was an intelligently-made structure on either the moon or Mars? IIRC, Art said something like come on, it looks like a cat box. Bell would frequently get under RCH's skin. Bell always added a healthy dose of skepticism to  RCH's moonbattery. That said, even the worst of enemies can patch things up.

re: would/would not return -- this is such a wild card. Art could truly say fuck it, it went to pot, I have a wife and kid, screw the workload. Art also seems to have a healthy but competitive ego and want to 'get back in the game.' Barring Art (god forbid like Roger Ebert) losing his ability to talk, he could technically do a top-notch show well into his 80s. The issue, i think, is the production. Art had Ramona on production duties, and she had radio experience. They did a fantastic job and were a great team behind the scenes.

If Art could assemble a team he trusted to produce and basically just show up with minimal show prep, he could ostensibly limit his workday to 4hrs + 1hr pre-show prep.

Also, Asia is nearing an age where she'll be attending school full-time soon. He may just get a bit of a 'come out of retirement itch.'

Or, it wouldn't be out of character for Art to just figuratively disappear and we'll never hear anything from him again.

As much as I love speculating, we don't know squat. His name was partially scrubbed from the c2c site. He's not doing annual predictions, and now Snoron has officially come out and said (in a pretty tactless way) that Art was pretty much done doing shows.

We've heard nothing from Art, and tempting as those ham messages are, they're vague.

One good thing -- Snoory's tactless announcement could be a good sign. He didn't give details like 'Art is done for good with broadcasting, due to age, family, fill in the blank.' and if that were the case, Art probably would've said something on G2G.

The way things have played out, it feels like something is happening behind the scenes, George/C2C is giving as little details as possible and maybe we'll hear from Art in 2011.

Premiere's page hasn't been updated yet:

http://www.premiereradio.com/shows/view/coast_to_coast_weekends.html

[california_ham]

"ringthane 

If Art could assemble a team he trusted to produce and basically just show up with minimal show prep, he could ostensibly limit his workday to 4hrs + 1hr pre-show prep."

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My guess is that Craig Kitchen is one of the missing pieces of the puzzle:

******************************************************************************

"  http://www.eskimo.com/~nanook/radio/2007/07/kraig-kitchen-resigns.html

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Kraig Kitchen Resigns

Kraig Kitchin has announced his resignation as president of Premier Radio Networks. Kraig Kitchen was co-founder of Premier Radio and many of you have heard Art Bell talk about how much he helped Art through difficult times. This announcement was apparently made the same day Art Bell announced his retirement.

This article on Unknown Country, gives some insight with respect to the corporate culture at Clear Channel. It might give further insight as to the reason for Art Bell's resignation. It is clear that the company line stating that Art Bell resigned because he wanted to spend more time with family is just so much bovine excrement.

Kraig Kitchin has stated that his future projects will be much more tightly focused. I can't help but wonder if some future collaboration between Art Bell and Kraig Kitchin might be in the works? Perhaps one not so burdened with heavy handed control by Clear Channel? We can only speculate and hope."

*******************************************************************************

I think that the best way for Mr. Bell to get back into the talk show biz would be for him to talk to Glenn Beck, and Beck's production company: Mercury Radio Arts.

Who else is better qualified than Glenn Beck to know how to handle a wildly successful, but "quirky' radio personality such as Art Bell?  Maybe Beck could hire Kitchen to manage Art's show. 

[FortRock]

Well I just love this exploration of possibilities! I feel in my bones we will not have long to wait for an answer. Since his resignation, how many trips has Mr. Kitchen made to Manila to converse with The Master? Also expect to hear the departure in the next few weeks of George Knapp from Coast, he was Art's silent News Editor for years in the 1990's, that's why Knapp moved to Las Vegas to start with. Would not Knapp be a great Weekend Host for Bell's Monday through Friday show? Glen Beck is a Mormon, and Art has a major affinity for free-thinking LDS educated types. We should have been expecting something like this (ME INCLUDED) when Beck said he "missed Art Bell". What date was that quote made? Remember, when Art's fellow Liberatarians wanted Nevada US Senator Harry Reid's head on a platter, Art supported him, Reid is another freethinker Mormon. Art did a whole show once on the Nuclear Testing Downwinders, and Reid was the Downwinders Chief Legal Counsel, and appeared on Art's show in the 90's.

[PaCartwright]

Here's a couple more indicators of the situation. Coast To Coast AM lost 2 major affiliates which were near and dear to Art Bell emotionally. The first is WABC AM 770 in NYC, and the second is KIRO AM 710 in Seattle. Those near The Big Apple should monitor WABC, and their website, those in the PNW/Seattle area should monitor KIRO. The Hoagland insult to Bell was probably in exchange for being able to appear on Coast with Mr. Snoresville! Any decline on the part of Art came from corporate pressure, which will not be repeated! Art's coming back in 2011, bet on it!

Just to clarify, here is a brief history of Coast to Coast AM in the Seattle market, beginning from the mid-90's. Until late 2002, when KOMO-AM 1000 switched to an all-news format, the program was carried on this 50 KW blowtorch. Art reported once that Coast had been heard in Scandinavia over the Pole directly from KOMO. Between the end of 2002 and early last month, Coast was heard on 5 KW KVI-AM 570. KVI's overall ratings problem resulted in the station dropping its talk format, now broadcasting "classic hits" music. For the period November 7th through January 3rd, Seattle radio has been and will remain "Coast-less," although where I live in the northwest interior of Washington, I have been listening to 50 KW stations KEX-AM 1190 Portland, OR and KFBK-AM 1530 Sacramento, CA, in addition to various online streams. Beginning in 8 days, Coast will be heard on Seattle's KIRO-FM 97.3. On April, 1, 2009, 50 KW KIRO-AM 710 became the region's new ESPN affiliate.

[Do you think it was angels?]

• I don't know why his daughter is repeatedly brought up as an obstacle.  I know parenting isn't easy, but Glenn Beck has three kids, and not only does the daily radio show, but a daily TV show and finds time to schedule massive rallies.  So I find the constant reference to Asia a bit silly.
• Webmaster Keith Rowland says, on his site
  

  Art Bell is not associated with this site and most likely doesn't know it exists.

  
  He doesn't seem like somebody who's in the inner circle anymore!
• Kraig Kitchen left 4 years ago! What is this a clue about?
• Does anybody make recordings of these ham radio discussions?

[ArtBellFan]

If Art is close to anyone these days it would be Alan Corbeth not Keith Rowland or Kraig Kitchen.
 
It was Alan Corbeth who promoted Art and was his partner...

[FortRock]

I totally agree with you on Alan Corbeth! I bet his frequent-flyer miles to Manila are huge right now!

[C2CWeekend]

This post may end up getting merged, but I felt that my thoughts touched on a different topic (sort of).

So, I have stepped back from the shock that has occurred.  It has given me some time to think.  I am not an extreme fan that looks forward to the next picture of Asia Bell (in fact I could care less about that kind of stuff).  Regardless, this whole Art Bell quitting has almost had a funeral type feeling to it.  The further we get away from George's "he's winding down" comment, the more we seem to gain perspective. 

Art Bell has power.

Love him or hate him, the man has power.

Its incredible to think about:  Think of all the money Clear Channel PAID to buy his program.  Yet, at the end of the day, it is still Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell.  George still seems like a temp host waiting for the big man's (albeit few..15 a year) shows.  I listened to Art's shows from this spring.  I was remodeling my home, and stayed up all night listening to him and working.  I came to notice that as Art took un-screened calls, 75% of the callers didn't even really want to talk about the topic of the program.  They wanted to ask Art to host more or complain that the show has lost its way.

Having said that, how must Clear Channel's Executives feel?  ( I by no means am attempting to defend them).  However, they paid big money for his show and here we are a decade later and he still has control in many ways of the program's fate.  Looking back on it, it appears that forcing Bell to use a Premiere controlled call screener on his last hosting gigs was the "straw that broke the camel's back."  Yet can you really blame the executives?  George is their man.  They don't have to worry about him retiring five times and moving out of country.  They are there to make $$$.

So, back to my main point.  Are we only hoping (as humans sometimes do) or are we accurate when we think that Art may be making a power play to either 1) get Premiere to do what he wants with the show or 2) break free from Premiere and come back to radio in some capacity that he controls?  If it is true that he comes back, think about it....really think about it....he sold Premiere CTC and he might potentially be the one to destroy it....that is power my friends...that is power......is this why Clear Channel Pays Limbaugh upwards of $60 million a year NOT TO RETIRE........

It is truly a testament to the program that Bell created. 

I hope Im clear in why my post is a bit different.  I want to talk about POWER.  For Art to demand his NAME be taken down fro the COAST TO COAST AM website, there must be POWER involved.

[ArtBellFan]

Art did not sell C2C to Clear Channel he and Alan Corbeth sold the show to Jacor and they in turn sold two years later to Clear Channel.  I don't remember the exact figure any longer but think Art and Alan sold the program for around seven million.
 
The original program was Chancellor Broadcasting Company

[MV]

Art did not sell C2C to Clear Channel he and Alan Corbeth sold the show to Jacor and they in turn sold two years later to Clear Channel.  I don't remember the exact figure any longer but think Art and Alan sold the program for around seven million.
 
The original program was Chancellor Broadcasting Company

this seems correct.

[C2CWeekend]

i greatly appreciate the clarity, but how does it change my main point.  ART SOLD THE SHOW