Dammit!

-- INever (inevercheckmy@onebox.com), April 01, 2000

Answers

http://www.artbell.com/retire.html

-- (links@r.us), April 01, 2000.

good riddance!

-- (doomerstomper@usa.net), April 01, 2000.

Art Bell is not a good person. This so-called retirement is just an extension of the forces that have come into play to remove this scumbag from the public scene. Remember the big TV deal that just evaporated? Just read his going away speech and you will have some insight into this disturbed persons life. Please, dont take my word for this as it will all come out in the near future.

-- Ra (tion@l.1), April 01, 2000.

I'd have to agree with doomerstomper on this one. I'd never HEARD of Art Bell until Y2k came up. Suddenly his name was associated with the Y2k phenomenon. Apparently he had Gary North on his radio show and folks became fearful. Outside of THAT, I remember him being associated with aliens, chemtrails, and other fearful things. I ALSO remember reading a news article that discussed how a family was packing all their belongings and "heading for the hills" due to Y2k. When the reporter asked "WHY?" the mother of the family asked the child at hand to bring up Art Bell's website on the computer.

I also remember him quitting once before, and the reason having something to do with his son. Never having heard the man, I don't KNOW what this is all about, but I would tend to take anything he says about this now with the same grain of salt I would have used on anything he said BEFORE the Y2K "gravy train" dried up.

Were you a follower of his BEFORE Y2k entered the scene, INever?

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.thingee), April 01, 2000.

Anita,

Do you know how pervasive the Limbaugh radio show is during the daytime hours? Bell's show took over the airwaves during the nightime hours several years ago.

Anyone out there know much about the radio biz? This particular mass media franchise has piqued my curiosity since before the Y2k build- up.

-- flora (***@__._), April 01, 2000.

I was listening to Art Bell for over 10 years. He has always been open to a wide variety of topics, presented in a non-judgemental way. He's been my favorite talk show host for a long time.

As the show grew, it got worse. The intelligence and wit of the callers was reduced after he grew in popularity. As he grew more popular, you could feel the restrictions on his freedom come into play, primarily through self-censorship.

For a brief moment, Art Bell MAY have been "too powerful" to the powers that be. I hope he can get on with his life and be HAPPY.

So, when i hear that he's quit, i know i can get the info at Jeff Rense or David Icke or Whitley Strieber or Stan Deyo or Richard Hoagland...BUT Art Bell was a good ENETERTAINER...and DAMMIT, i'm gonna miss his SHOW!

-- INever (inevercheckmy@onebox.com), April 01, 2000.

INever:

I think you summed it all when you said Art Bell [not to mention the OTHERS you mentioned] are good ENTERTAINMENT. There WERE folks, however, who took these people seriously.

flora? [memory lapse here]

I'm QUITE aware of the Limbaugh craze. I worked at the desk next to another contractor a few years past who wore earphones while he "worked", specifically so he could hear the show. On occasion, he'd break into hysterical laughter. I understand he's doing well at the right-wing conservative firm that hired him as an employee, but he sure didn't do well as a contractor at the firm where *I* met him. In fact, several of the employees at the site at which we both worked commented to him about his "obsessive" behavior when it came to Rush. I'm talking about folks who hold John Wayne up on a pedestal here, so you know I'm NOT talking about "liberals."

Rush made a statement a few years back that I'll never forget. It went something like "When people ask what YOU think about THIS, tell them:....." [I don't remember what he said, but the point IS/WAS that Rush listeners had to have Rush TELL them what they thought.] THERE'S independent thinking for ya!

Rush has his arch-enemy on the web, known as Bart-Cop Did Art Bell have the same?

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.thingee), April 01, 2000.

Anita,

Yes, there is a guy named Curtis Sliwah who is always out to get Art. Not to mention the FBI, CIA, NSA, NASA, and all those guys. I think he's done okay until now, but now he's just losing his balls and taking the easy way out. Bet ya dollars to donuts he's going to have a big last chance deal for all 3 of his books autographed or something like that, then he'll come back in a year or so. Using his personal problems as an excuse to "retire" is pretty sleazy. If the kid has problems, get him a shrink. If Art has problems, get a lawyer. Don't need to retire just to take care of a couple problems. It's a scam.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), April 01, 2000.

I'd never HEARD of Art Bell until Y2k came up.

Anita, as someone wrote earlier, Art's been a fixture on the fringe for quite some time now. I've always associated him with the AZ UFO crowd, the crew that hangs around Roswell and Area 51, sitting up all night to watch the skies and swap scary stories.

I like Art. I don't take him seriously as a researcher (or even a credible witness), but I think that he's basically a harmless looney, and he does tell a pretty good tale when he's not grandstanding for a large crowd.

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), April 01, 2000.

Deja vu all over again.

Best wishes,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), April 01, 2000.

Have you guys happened to notice the date today?

-- semper paratus (here_with@my.pals), April 01, 2000.

SP:

Don't know where you are. It is 2 April 2000 here.

Best wishes,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), April 01, 2000.

Saying that his son was raped and that he is accused of being a child molester would be a pretty sick way of pulling an April fools joke. I don't think Art would stoop that low.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), April 01, 2000.

I am not saying that he made all those things up for a gag. All those things are true, and have been reported before. It just seems odd to me that he makes a retirement announcement on 01APR2000.

Call me a skeptic. Guilty as charged. Especially on the first of April.

-- semper paratus (here_with@my.pals), April 01, 2000.

Thanks, Hawk. I did a search on Curtis Sliwah and got only ONE hit. It seems that he's another talk-radio host on WABC in the 11pm-2am time-slot. I never heard of WABC, but a search on THAT showed that Drudge is ALSO heard there. There's ANOTHER name that I'd never heard until Y2k.

Maybe it's just my occupation, but I can't concentrate on work while someone is TALKING in my ear. I can listen to music while working, but there's a certain distraction to my work when someone is talking. Since I had to re-fix many of the programs worked on by the contractor I mentioned above, I have the feeling that I'm not the ONLY one who can't concentrate while listening to talk radio.

11pm-2am. Isn't Art Bell ANOTHER who has a late-night time-slot? When do folks sleep?

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.thingee), April 01, 2000.

Anita, think I screwed up, his name is spelled Sliwa. He is the founder of the Guardian Angels, and has been attacking Art over the air for several years, calling him the Antichrist. I like his black belt wife though, very cute. :-)

The archives of the Art Bell show are available on the net for those who can't stay up late, and he has a lot of listeners around the world who can actually listen live during daytime hours.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), April 01, 2000.

Thanks, Hawk. 406 hits on THAT guy. You're quite right. She's VERY fit [reminding myself to do leg-lifts this evening.] Hinsdale, Illinois, eh? As a former Chicagoan, I can appreciate BOTH her hometown AND the Guardian Angels. There's just something about seeing a Guardian Angel on the elevated train while traveling home from work that gives one comfort. The number 1 comfort level was when the train stopped and a security officer came aboard [with Doberman], but Guardian Angels were DEFINITELY the next-best thing.

With or without the 'H' on the end, Curtis is STILL heard on WABC radio, it seems. I'll look into this guy further. It's a GOOD thing to have an opposing force. Where would religion be without the devil?

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.thingee), April 01, 2000.

I have followed Art since LONG before my interest in Y2K (has something to do with not getting home until he's on). the problems with his son and the lawsuits are quite real. He has had his character assasinated by several folks who are quite good at it.

He has presented some very off the wall stuff in a very "I ain't gonna tell ya what to believe" manner, letting his audience decide, which is refreshing.

He is the # 3 talk show behind Rush and Dr. Laura, and effectively OWNS the night, by ANY book you check (ARBitron, or whoever).

I tend to hope Rollye James gets the gig, because she shares his approach. And she is a Radio Person, who is interested in the history as well as the medium. (besides she prolly knows a friend of mine named Jon Wolfort, who is a sort of demi-god in the Jingle arena)

chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), April 01, 2000.

ntertainment For educational and research purposes only

Radio Host Art Bell Retiring

By BART JONES, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Radio talk show host Art Bell announced Saturday that he is retiring for a second time - and for good - because of false allegations that he is a child molester.

Bell, whose "Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell" is America's most popular overnight radio program, made the announcement to his estimated 15 million listeners.

"For myself, an ordeal looms ahead to clear my good name of accusations I committed a crime, committed against my own son," Bell said.

Bell said his son, Art Bell IV, was kidnapped and raped in 1997 by a substitute high school teacher who was infected with the AIDS virus. The boy was 16 at the time.

The teacher, Brian Lepley, was sentenced in May 1998 to life in prison.

"The reality that, after suffering the fate of my son's own molestation, I now stand destined to be tainted for life as a child molester, has proven simply too much to bear," the Nevada-based broadcaster said. "God knows, I have tried."

His last broadcast will be the night of April 26 and the retirement will be permanent, Bell said.

Bell's program, heard on more than 400 stations nationwide, deals with topics ranging from space aliens to FBI and CIA conspiracies. The program will continue with a new host, said Premiere Radio Network, Inc., which syndicates "Coast to Coast."

Bell first announced his retirement in October 1998, mysteriously citing "a threatening, terrible event" suffered by his family but offering no details. Two weeks later, he was back on the air.

On Saturday, Bell said the event was the attack on his son, which sent his family into a deep crisis and the teen-ager into a "psychological tailspin which continues to this very day," Bell said.

Bell also alleged that a few months after the attack, WWCR, a worldwide Christian short-wave radio station based in Nashville, Tenn., allowed the broadcast of false rumors that he is a child molester.

Such rumors have spread, Bell said, and he continues to receive on-air calls from listeners asking if he is child molester.

Bell broadcasts his program out of his home in the small desert farming community of Pahrump, 60 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

-- de ja vue (dejavuee@dejavuee.xcom), April 02, 2000.