July 20th (21st?) 2015 at midnight ET is when Art Bell expects to return to the “air” when his non compete with SiriusXM is done.
If you listen to Art Bell replay shows on Saturday nights (“Somewhere in Time”), it becomes really painful how bad George Noory is in comparison. Noory has apparently been actively undermining Art Bell’s return. Art (no relation!) doesn’t really need any help there – his own conduct hasn’t exactly been reassuring to potential business partners.
He will be showing up on the Dark Matters Radio Network, if anyone thinks it matters.
I’ve updated the footer countdown to reflect the date (assuming he is starting at 9 PM PT, which is July 21st in the part of the country not suffering from drought. I wonder if Art is still in the Phillipines, which is in Tomorrow.
This is also the day “the trial” begins in Charlotte – of the white police officer who shot an unarmed black man 10 times for the crime of asking a woman for help after wrecking his car on I-485. The police chief at the time has resigned effective July 1st, and his successor was just named – a man who worked his way up through the ranks. Unlike the prior chief, he has a real college degree – even a Master’s degree.
I agree Art’s the best, both of them. George is such an alarmist and is paranoia goes on even after the show into real life.
One of my beefs with Noory is he is incredibly lazy. He starts a long segment asking an open ended question… “So what’s new with UFOs?” and takes a nap for 12 minutes, not even listening to the guest and certainly not challenging them.
My assumption is Noory will continue the policy of “if you appear with Art Bell, you’re banned from this show”
USA Today has a story about Art’s return. It’s McNews of course, not the NY Times, so don’t expect a lot of insight
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/strauss/2015/06/15/steve-strauss-art-bell-small-business/28459885/
The only thing new is Art claims that 20 affiliates have already signed up, even though he wasn’t planning to be on “over the air” radio. His requirement is there will only be 6 minutes an hour for commercials. Affiliate relations adds complexity he may regret down the road.
Art was originally on the now almost dead Talk Radio Network – Roy Masters sold TRN Chancellor Media which was acquired by Jacor which owned Premiere. After Clear Channel bought Jacor/Premiere, they didn’t want Roy Masters and gave him his company back – but kept Art Bell’s contract, and the rest is history.
Art Bell was an indirect part of my involvement in the alt.aol-sucks newsgroup around 1996. Art didn’t like people criticizing him in “his” Usenet newsgroup – alt.fan.art-bell and he demanded that AOL try to delete the newsgroup. Art’s understanding of the Internet (especially alt.*) was heavily skewed by living inside the protective AOL castle – he eventually did spend some time using Internet Relay Chat (IRC) while doing the show, but eventually retreated to an AOL chat room
The first time Art Bell quit:
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/1998/10/14/ent_241821.shtml
The reason turned out to be an allegation that his son was sexually assaulted by a high school teacher.
At least as of last year, the teacher is still in jail, in part because he continues to have sex while being HIV positive (but oddly, still alive 16 years later – it’s a miracle!). The teacher claimed the sexual activity with a minor was consensual but he didn’t disclose his HIV status.
http://leagle.com/decision/In%20FDCO%2020141124B77/LEPLEY%20v.%20NEVEN
Around late 1998 and early 1999, Curtis Sliwa started an on-air feud with Art that lasted many months. It was over the 1-2 AM hour that Curtis wanted and had at some point. From memory, when Art had retired the first time, Curtis got that hour on WABC. When Art came back, Curtis kept the 1-2 AM slot for a short time and than initiated an on-air feud.
On occasion, Art would respond with comments about Curtis.
In the spirit of the usenet alt groups, some of the feud is documented here:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.fan.art-bell/nghsoWFpIxM
Here is my message from 1996 – the Art Bell rmgroup incident is what woke me up to AOL’s real situation.
https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!search/Another$20AOL$20decision$20arts$20one/alt.aol-sucks/-kGQgMn-CPE
I opened an account at Concentric and then realized that AOL was proxying,logging and controlling all the Internet and using a strategy of deliberately portraying the Internet as a dangerous place. While AOL had clear jurisdiction over their forums, they don’t have a right to control what its users said in Usenet (unless they were spamming ads).
The final straw was when a “guide” muted a guy I was talking with in a chat room. He was talking with me about Windows NT. the guide showed up for no particular reason and made some technical assertion about AOL and the the guy was given a TOS warning for publicly disagreeing with the Guide. When he didn’t respond, I sent him a private message – which was when I learned that the volunteer guides had the power to “mute” other people – the muted person didn’t know they were muted and would just assume nobody wanted to talk to them any more.
Something you probably didn’t know about Art Bell
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/lost_in_space-38428459.html
He fathered 2 children in Japan when he was in his 20s…
Getting a little more insight into Art Bell and his long time helper
http://www.psicounsel.com/skepti02.html
Back in the day, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh was by far the most active text based newsgroup. It had little to do with Rush Limbaugh and certainly wasn’t inhabited by “fans”. Rush read it for a while, but the message volume got so huge that just scanning the subjects was a full time job.
Google essentially took over Usenet – originally taking over the huge and expensive task of archiving it all, but quickly became the de facto central distribution point, at which point I lost interest
alt.fan.rush-limbaugh is still kicking
Here is a typical thread – now up to 1,300 replies for a message posted 18 days ago
http://alt.fan.rush-limbaugh.narkive.com/xOmhFIYR/gun-activists-with-assault-rifles-harass-marine-veteran-on-memorial-day
Here is an oldie but goodie, for those not around in the Usenet era.
http://alt.fan.art-bell.narkive.com/LdtdaKpU/notice-of-intent-to-remove-alt-fan-art-bell-newsgroup
The post that started this is a troll – the person who posted it has nothing to do with “running” Usenet. Once created (and anyone with a little knowledge could create one), it is essentially impossible to “delete” them. Even if you throw legal threats at the providers, there are other providers all over the world beyond the control of US Courts
If you’re hoping to hear Art Bell on one of those 20 affiliates, think again
http://www.insideradio.com/free/broadcasters-pick-up-bell-s-online-show/article_df496022-16a2-11e5-9446-1f8fc204fbb1.html?mode=jqm
One of the conditions is that the station not stream the program.
http://artbell.com/terrestrial-affiliates-inquire-here/
Affiliates will have a total of 4 minutes of commercial time (total) during the three hour show.
Interesting. I checked the station list an not a single affiliate in the 400 mile long I-95 corridor from Washinton DC to Boston MA where about 25% of the USA population lives.
There is a station in Maine, but it is where Interstate 95 becomes New Brunswick Provincial Highway 95.
Break out your Short Wave radio. They’re the future. Radio Shack has the best.
I looked at Jim Quinn’s podcast version thingy. His most active Facebook post had around 85 likes.
Art Bell’s web site is pretty active with people getting excited. This could be the 2015 version of Ric Flair vs Wahoo McDaniel
http://youtu.be/SYWxLS2k2PU
The show will stream live for free, but $5 a month for on-demand with music stripped out.
Art will be doing the show from his double wide, relaying that to Keith Rowland’s house in Arizona, and from there to stream guys, and available by tunein apps
Interesting CC, I know where that is ! (where Interstate 95 becomes New Brunswick Provincial Highway 95.)
parrott
WXME-AM has an interesting history, which I think I wrote about a while back. The owner is a “pirate station” operator – one of those guys would plop down in a boat just in International waters and blast away on shortwave.
Normally, running an unlicensed radio station results in a permanent ban on ever getting a real license. This station is literally on the border. The far side of the clearing is the border and there is no fence. Short of sending in black helicopters, there is no way to “surprise” him in time to prevent slipping over the border. At some point, the FCC gave up trying to shut him down. Nobody lives anywhere near there except a few mooses.
Last I heard the owner is in poor health and unable to keep the battle going and started simulcasting a similarly like minded “fuck the FCC” station in the Hudson Valley.
http://www.whvw.net
Definitely stands out as not your typical AM station
That is very interesting. It reminds me of Art Bell’s story of him running a pirate station years back… also interesting that Art’s new show found its way onto the station he had owed in Pahrump.
I took another look at WXME, the border station on the affiliate list and found that clicking the link brings me to WBCQ.com. The web page says “WBCQ 9.330 MHz has returned to the air … We broadcast on 7.490 MHz, 9.330 MHz, 15.420 MHz and 5.110 MHz. We have been bringing access to the airwaves for people like you since 1998.” It also mentions sharing programs with WHVW that you show below.
If you live in the Great Lakes area, or live where Buffalo is to your northeast, your best bet at night might be the 50 kw 1010 AM from Toronto. It uses a nighttime directional antenna to protect 1010 WINS New York, along the New Jersey – Pennsylvania border they are almost equal strength at night and with a directional antenna, you can choose which you want to listen to.
Or pay Art $5 a month!