Art Bell Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Arthur "Art" Bell, Jr. (born June 17, 1945) hosts the radio show Coast to Coast AM which he founded.Bell's original program in Las Vegas, Nevada was a political call-in talk radio show, but he tired of the format, believing there were too many such programs, especially in the wake of Rush Limbaugh's massive success.
Bell abandoned political talk and began highlighting his long interest in UFOss, time travel and other oddities, gaining a large following after it was syndicated in the early 1990s. Bell broadcast from his home in Pahrump, Nevada.
Bell's guests' topics often dealt with the paranormal, occult knowledge, conspiracy theories, UFOs, protoscience and pseudo-science. He is regarded by some as a kook, and some guests have been criticized as cranks or quacks. Others regard Bell as a master showman, and note that he says he does not necessarily accept every guest or caller's claims, but only offers a forum where they will not be ridiculed. His calm attitude and patient questions gave his show a relaxed and serious atmosphere earning him much praise from those who argued the paranormal deserved a mature outlet of disccusion in the media.
Bell's interests, however, extend beyond the paranormal, interviewing singers Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, comedian George Carlin, writer Dean Koontz, and frequent guest physicist Michio Kaku.
Bell has retired and returned to Coast to Coast four times. The reason for his first retirement, 2001, was a personal crisis regarding the rape of his son, which at the time Bell was reluctant to discuss publicly. That retirement ended with his return, replacing Mike Siegel, who had taken Coast to Coast in a "different direction." Bell, who retained some authority over the direction of the show as creator, eventually felt his return was necessary. He last retired in early January 2003 citing recurring back pain, and was replaced by George Noory, only to once again return to do part-time duty on the weekends.
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Philippine allegations
A hoax e-mail recounting Bell's allegedly racist statements, calling the Philippines "a disgusting and filthy place" on-air, has been circulating online since the 1990s. Bell has repeatedly denied making such a statement, noting that his wife Ramona is partly of Philippine extraction.
In 2001, Bell sued the Philippine Daily Inquirer after the newspaper published the e-mail as fact; the Inquirer published a retraction and apologized to Bell.
On September 11, 1997, Bell opened a special line for callers who claimed to have been employed at US airbase Area 51. (Bell had done such themed shows occasionally, seeking calls from purported time travelers or from the antichrist.)
One caller, an apparently distressed male, said he had been an Area 51 worker, but had been released for "medical" reasons, and was being pursued by unnamed persons. He reported that plans were underway for wide scale destruction, by sinister forces who "want those major population centers wiped out." [1]. The caller was interrupted, and Bell's program went off air. There was a brief period of dead air before Bell's network rebroadcast a portion of a previous interview with Mark Fuhrman for about 30 minutes until the technical problems were resolved.
When Bell came back on the air, he reported that the caller had screamed in what Bell took to be genuine terror or fright, before the line was disconnected. This scream was not broadcast to listeners, as it apparently occurred after the disconnect.
The interruption of Bell's program gained some mainstream attention, and some concluded it was a publicity stunt, especially since that evening a writer for Penthouse magazine was in Bell's home studio, interviewing the broadcaster.
However, some have argued there were puzzling aspects to the incident, saying a problem with a communications satellite was the source of Bell's temporary outage. An unsourced account of the event was reported that "(according to GE engineers) the satellite's 'Earth sensor lost lock' and the craft rolled into an attitude where it no longer pointed at the uplinks, causing 50 channels to go off-air for about 30 minutes," and that Bell's program was not the only one affected by the purported satellite problem. [1].
One caller claiming to live near Area 51 is documented as saying damage to his home was similar to that caused by an electromagnetic pulse at about the time Bell's broadcast stopped, and a man who claimed to work as an engineer for Hughes Aerospace in Tucson, Arizona reported a similar effect.
Rock band Tool incorporated portions of the distraught Area 51 caller's voice on their album Lateralus.
This is an Article on Art Bell. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Art Bell September 11, 1997
See also
External links
#Coast_to_Coast chat channel on the SorceryNet IRC network (down)