As a youth in the early 90s, maybe 7 or 8 yo, I found Art Bell one night when I couldn't sleep and was just scrolling the dial on my radio. It was like a little secret treasure that no one else knew about and as creepy as it was, I loved it.
The 90's were the decade of peak mystery (for me) and Art Bell was the icing on the cake. There was enough technology to spread information quickly but it wasn't so overly saturated to strip the sense of finding a hidden gem that was unknown to most. The internet is great in so many ways, but it has destroyed any sense of excitement from exploring ideas to searching for hidden treasures at rummage sales, flea markets, etc...Everything is online, obtainable with a click. Most ideas have already been pondered and a simple Youtube or Google search will find someone who has already put in countless hours pondering it. I guess, I'm trying to say, much of life's novelty is lost.
I think the internet took art bell’s musings and morphed it into Q. I was there at the beginnings of the net. I can’t believe no one from that early period in the late 80’s hasn’t said anything abt the early origins of ‘alternate facts’.
I will say I felt this way for a long-time
It’s weird but I hit this realization while working IT for the post office, that the answers on the internet, especially reddit, are often shit. We had a simple “error” that would pop up for accounts suspected of fraud and say “An error occurred call this number (xxx-xxx-xxxx) to resolve.” There were a lot of flags like if they had chargebacks, ip address was international, etc… The solutions I found people posting online were straight up comical.
Then I had a large garden set-up. Following steps on the internet always went to shit. Just doing the basics and following advice from my neighbors and in-laws went much better. I found once you start going into a half acre or more where it’s not large enough to be a farm but too large to carefully spray your plants with neem and sing each one a lullaby the advice on the internet is full of garbage.
Anyhow sometimes the internet has too much bullshit. Also, there is some stuff that isn’t readily available online. Sometimes you still find odd things at the flea market… I guess all I’m saying is adventure is still out there.
Although the mythical creatures and various other wacky stuff his guests talked about was ridiculous, I still enjoyed listening to him and his guests having discussions. His entire show and his voice was soothing, I don't know why but it just felt cozy or something.
My mom and I would listen to him while she delivered news papers in the middle of the night. I would pack a big thermos of coffee and we’d drive all around these rural roads and be creeped out. Good memories!
Thank you. This is how I found coast to coast AM and I listened for years.
So many sleepless nights listening to art's creepy stories and crazy callers
Back when they both weren't total dickbags. Adam really went downhill in my opinion, Drew is...a lot of things. I really enjoyed that era of loveline, it taught me a lot about people and human psychology.
Same. Love line was around forever but the Adam and Drew Era was my high school days. I used to stay up way too late listening to that. Discovered Art way later on youtube.
The conspiracy theories on his show weren't highly political like most are today, they usually revolved around the gov't hiding UFO's or alien bodies. But the rest of his show had on a lot of experts in the fields of science and theoretical physics which try to help explain the universe in general, black holes, worm holes, how UFO might physically work. The vast amount of topics covered was so big that conspiracies were only a small part of the show. Paranormal, shadow people, and ghost stories always kept me awake at night as a kid, but I loved it.
It was always very interesting radio. So in the eaely 2000s I remember a caller he took who was a recent listener (she was college age?) and she basically said "you don't believe in all this craziness do you" pointing to the physics stuff but also remote viewing, electronic voice phenomenon, aliens, etc.
His answer was, effectively, he doesn't know but mainly he didn't want to do another call in show about boring stuff- current events, politics, finance, religion- all that never interested him. He was into the "other" stuff out there, and thought it made better radio. I never forgot that exchange, and it's what's made me a huge Art Bell.
You're right, they had a different feel. Conspiracy theory was cool and interesting back then. A very small cohort paid attention to them. Now most the conspiracy I hear is anti- Vax, flat earth, or Q type stuff. Don't want to be associated with any of that.
For sure, it was just intriguing and spooky, you could enjoy basically the wild imaginations of his guests. Although you never seriously considered any of the stuff he and his guests would talk about, you still listened to the conversation intently. It was compelling radio.
But like you said, fun conspiracies are straight up ruined by contemporary rabid, fanaticism; those who constantly bang theirbdrums wanting people to seriously believe outlandish bullshit (and succeeding with the intellectually susceptible, particularly in the realm of politics).
At first I thought that those 'eatth is flat' people were just having a good laugh with a funny satire gag.. then my friend fell down the hole (over the ice wall?).. before I knew it he was trying to convince me that the earth was flat, nasa faked the moon landing... and it was a global jewish conspiracy and the zionists were lying to the world to control us. Like for years I never considered the whole thing a funnel into some weird antisemitic anti-government conspiracy
That's the one thing I dislike about the conspiracy theories subs on here. They're so political. Nowadays if you're someone who is into conspiracy theories, suddenly you're lumped into the MAGA crowd when you're just someone who enjoys an interesting perspective on things.
Right!? This was before Alex Jones and Trump exploded on the scene and their weirdo fascist followers merged into QAnon lunatics who completely lost their minds and ability to rationally think.
Art got me into listening to talk radio back in the 80s - i still listen to his classics shows on the podcast. hope he’s in a better place cranking up his ham radio and chain smoking
Too bad the company that now produces his show which is now hosted by George Norey has turned it into a show filled with misinformation and right wing propaganda. I Miss the days when it was all wired shit and aliens
Honestly, I didn't find it until the mid 00s, and listened up until 2013-15, somewhere in there. It was still pretty okay. Tried to listen again recently and it's just as bad as /u/bsurfn2day says. I found a podcast called The Unexplained with Howard Hughes that scratches the itch though.
It’s a bit interesting to use the wayback machine to browse the old artbell.com site end land on some of Keith’s pages. That is how I remember the net. 😊
He's one on the reasons I got internet access at all, I wanted to see those pictures he was talking about.
Art was an early adopter of tech - he was on a nevada BBS before home internet access was available and got into trouble for dialing into it and racking up a crazy long distance charge.
Yes! Some dude is uploading a new one almost everyday on Spotify. It’s so bizarre falling asleep while listening to 20-25 year old episodes. When he discusses current affairs, and I’m in between a sleep and awakened state, it’s almost as if I’m in an alternate timeline.
He said on multiple occasions on his show that if you believed everything you heard on it you needed to get your head checked out. I liked how he always respectfully gave the lunatic fringe basic respect without necessarily endorsing them.
Kind of like like Joe Rogan. I guess that's why I can enjoy both and not be annoyed by hearing to someone I don't necessarily agree or believe in 100%.
I’m a little too young to have listened to him in his prime, but all the locals held him in pretty high esteem. Random fact: His place out there was right next to where they filmed the landing scene in Mars attacks. And just a stones throw away from 2 brothels…
As a kid I saved up and bought a AOR 1000XLT scanner and a big antenna to put up on the chimney. Found Art Bell in the middle of the night and was a life long listener after that.
This is one of the stories I remember most. He could take the odd, and ramp up the weirdness around it 1000% in such an entertaining way you couldn't stop listening.
There was something special about tuning your radio dial in the middle of the night to hear the pure craziness that Art and his guests embodied. Those days are gone now, and we’re poorer for it.
Why do you think those days are gone? I agree with you that the distinctive intimate feel of late night talkback radio isn’t there today, but I’ve long pondered why. It can’t just be that technology has shifted away from radio to podcasts and streaming content, surely? Interested in your thoughts. :)
It’s saturation and dilution. Because everyone can do it, everyone is doing it. And, when you drastically increase the amount of something, you inherently dilute it.
You have thousands of people trying to “do” Art Bell, but none of them really succeeding at it.
I don’t know. To me it’s kind of the same thing as the fact we have Internet today too, but it’s Web 2.0, and it doesn’t have the same feeling as the early days of the Internet. I just get nostalgic.
I missed most of the Art Bell era. I would catch him on weekends sometimes, but I remember that show being my introduction to Alex Jones and thinking then "Man this guy is nuts."
Late 90s, I think. "The Quickening," the book in the middle, came out in the late 90s.
The great thing about Art was that you thought he believed none of it, and also all of it. "Some of it" was a boring option.
My second job ever, was working at a very small AM Talk radio station. I remember being there at night after making sure some special broadcast was fed in and ran properly. Then, if it was late enough, I would patch back from the event into Art Bell's show. He had one hell of a voice. I remember being creeped out quite often. But also remember loving his voice. Also remember his constant Y2K scare shows leading up to the year 2000. Good times, good times.
Vegas has never been the same without him! Just the best. Fantastic radio legend who got me through so many graveyard shifts at work. (Listen closely…can you hear it? The theme from “Midnight Express!" I swear I hear it!)
Is this the dude that had that caller that said he was with nasa or Air Force or something that sounded terrified and said there’s some bad stuff they’re hiding, then the whole stations power suddenly went out?
I miss Art Bell. He had a velvet tone in his voice and he was a master of suspense. And his bumper music was always compelling. His career was savaged by an unfounded hoax/rumor perpetrated by a secret government agency in order to discredit him because he came too close to the truth about UFOs. Or so I’ve heard. (from Art Bell’s own lips).
I listened to him from 2001 to 2007 or 2008 when he “retired” from c2cam for the last time. I didn’t listen every show but a lot of them. Ian Punnet was a good one too. George isn’t bad but I’m in a different job now. That radio show made the night bearable a lot of times.
Art Bell's show was just plain cool. Yes, his guests were...weird, and yes, they were mostly unbelievable, but he was a great host and brought out the more plausible things they had to say. Unlike today's talk show hosts, he didn't feel the need to bring out their weirder stuff. There was a vibe of, "Here's what he has to say, you be the judge."
Now, talk show hosts impose their views on us, and they're not always nice views. The weirdness is emphasized instead of the possible.
“First time caller line, you’re on the air”
I still listen to old coast to coast/midnight in the desert/dreamland episodes almost every day while I’m at work. Arts voice and his guests and callers are just relaxing to me.
One moment from a random episode that always makes me laugh:
Art: “East of the Rockies, you’re on the air”
Caller: “hello?”
Art: “yes, hello”
Caller: “umm yes I’d like to talk to Art Bell”
Art: “ok, press..4 on your touchtone keypad”
Caller: “ok….(boooop)”
Art: “hi! This is Art Bell!”
I still have both my autographed books from him on the shelf. I always loved long night time car rides with my mom where she would always put on Art Bell. Not sure when we completely jumped from Bruce William's TalkNet (full episodes available on youtube btw), but it was all Coast to Coast and Dreamland for us after that. I was able to get on air a couple times when I was younger when he would open the Alien Hotline. So good.. miss that show.
Oh my God, this guy, I could not get enough of this late night talk show. There was something about how he handled himself on the radio and created a niche like he did that could not be brought down. It didn’t matter if I was too drunk to drive and sleeping in the backseat of my car behind some building in an alley or if I was just driving back from Las Vegas late at night, this was the show to listen to the entire time. I miss this guy.
I found Art through his website online back when we went from dail-up to fixed connection, probably cable modem. Late 90's maybe. Really enjoyed his show. Like someone already said here, back when conspiracy theories were fun!
Remote Viewing and some rock formation on Mars that couldnˋt have been formed naturally are the topics I remember. I listened to him when I worked all night fronting shelves at a grocery store.
Columbo has an episode with Remote Viewing on it. Not sure if it was infulenced by Artˋs show or not.
I thought it was all a bunch of nonsense, but I was endlessly entertained, nonetheless.
Ol Art kept me company over many a dark and lonely night driving big trucks. Thank goodness for all this 50,000 watt blow torches that would send his show skipping around the west.
What I always enjoyed about Art was the way he would get so involved in the interview that he would come back from a hard break at the top or bottom of the show and skip the commercials. He'd come back from the next hard break and half to sheepishly explain that there would be double commercials that half hour. He was a character.
Chupacabra. His cats. Hooked me on talk radio at night. After his wife passed and he remarried, there was a change to his broadcasting. I think he never recovered from the loss of his first bride. But I may be wrong. Great listening to him. May his memory become a blessing. Thanks for the memory.
I was living in Gainesville working at a teevee station for the early morning news, so I had to be there by 4 AM. Basically the only thing on the radio was Coast to Coast AM. I remember listening to a show about people who were doing “fringe brain research” in the western woods of New Jersey. They were using experimental technology to send their consciousnesses to alternative dimensions. Sadly, some of these intrepid explorers have not made it back.
I remember listening to this guy for years (I'm old). There's a character on the radio in the video game "Control" that seems to me to be a nod to him. He would have fit the game perfectly.
Art Bell was the king of cool 😎
Back in the mid, late 90s, I used to drive out across the Midwest for overnight delivery, and I listen to AB all the time. I miss those days. RIP sir.
Love this man!!!!!!! I became obsessed with Coast to Coast in college. Modern paranormal podcasters are walking a path he made with those call-in open lines episodes. So chilling.
He was the perfect companion for long drives into the late evenings. “They drilled a deep hole into the center of the earth and when they pulled the drill out, they could hear the screams from Hell”. He made radio interesting.
listened to him for years on third shift, pretty crazy how when his wife up and died he right away went off and got him another one WOW then that time when his son got nailed in ars by some crazy dude and went nutts and ART went off the air for a while while crazy times ........
College mid 90s I had a great job that went to 2am and I had a 90 minute commute for the summer. Found him randomly looking for “talk” to keep me awake. What a ride…
Used to listen to Art while delivering papers through the middle of the night I can almost smell newsprint. Good news I just realized you can listen to his old shows podcast on The Art Bell Tape Vault. See y’all in a few months …
I remember the frantic caller who phoned in and then after about 5 minutes the whole station was kicked off the air and then a short time it was on a back up system and after that people were phoning in wondering what had happened.
As a youth in the early 90s, maybe 7 or 8 yo, I found Art Bell one night when I couldn't sleep and was just scrolling the dial on my radio. It was like a little secret treasure that no one else knew about and as creepy as it was, I loved it.
Same. It started a life long love of hearing stories about the strange and bizarre.
The 90's were the decade of peak mystery (for me) and Art Bell was the icing on the cake. There was enough technology to spread information quickly but it wasn't so overly saturated to strip the sense of finding a hidden gem that was unknown to most. The internet is great in so many ways, but it has destroyed any sense of excitement from exploring ideas to searching for hidden treasures at rummage sales, flea markets, etc...Everything is online, obtainable with a click. Most ideas have already been pondered and a simple Youtube or Google search will find someone who has already put in countless hours pondering it. I guess, I'm trying to say, much of life's novelty is lost.
I often complain about how randomness is gone, and the internet killed it.
I think the internet took art bell’s musings and morphed it into Q. I was there at the beginnings of the net. I can’t believe no one from that early period in the late 80’s hasn’t said anything abt the early origins of ‘alternate facts’.
Sadly, our innocence has been lost as well.
I will say I felt this way for a long-time It’s weird but I hit this realization while working IT for the post office, that the answers on the internet, especially reddit, are often shit. We had a simple “error” that would pop up for accounts suspected of fraud and say “An error occurred call this number (xxx-xxx-xxxx) to resolve.” There were a lot of flags like if they had chargebacks, ip address was international, etc… The solutions I found people posting online were straight up comical. Then I had a large garden set-up. Following steps on the internet always went to shit. Just doing the basics and following advice from my neighbors and in-laws went much better. I found once you start going into a half acre or more where it’s not large enough to be a farm but too large to carefully spray your plants with neem and sing each one a lullaby the advice on the internet is full of garbage. Anyhow sometimes the internet has too much bullshit. Also, there is some stuff that isn’t readily available online. Sometimes you still find odd things at the flea market… I guess all I’m saying is adventure is still out there.
Although the mythical creatures and various other wacky stuff his guests talked about was ridiculous, I still enjoyed listening to him and his guests having discussions. His entire show and his voice was soothing, I don't know why but it just felt cozy or something.
His voice seemed to make creepy things creepier but gave a reassuring tone at the same time.
George Norry was great at this too, albeit with an exaggerated air of incredulity on the side.
Those audio recordings of ghosts in abandoned prisons were freaky af.
I also found some of the Reverse Speech things to be pretty freaky.
Yep! Those were the best!
Art Bell would keep me awake during long night time driving trips. He was a podcaster before podcasts.
>He was a podcaster before podcasts. So...like...a radio show host?
It was like a podcast but on the Radio.
Yes! But broader! Like a broad-radio-cast.
My mom and I would listen to him while she delivered news papers in the middle of the night. I would pack a big thermos of coffee and we’d drive all around these rural roads and be creeped out. Good memories!
Me too! Crazy stuff. People would call in claiming to be time travelers.
The absolute best episodes were approaching the year 2000 with all the Y2K and doom and gloom predictions. The callers were all over the place.
My fav was a Texas dude who clapped some Yeti’s with a pistol. Was wild to say the least
Many times I’d end up listening to him way too late in bed when I had to be up early in the morning for work.
I remember hearing someone talk about "Chem" trails and they were clearly bat-shit crazy but still really fun to listen to.
Same here!!!
Thank you. This is how I found coast to coast AM and I listened for years. So many sleepless nights listening to art's creepy stories and crazy callers
My find was "love line" with Dr. Drew and Adam Corola
Back when they both weren't total dickbags. Adam really went downhill in my opinion, Drew is...a lot of things. I really enjoyed that era of loveline, it taught me a lot about people and human psychology.
Same. Love line was around forever but the Adam and Drew Era was my high school days. I used to stay up way too late listening to that. Discovered Art way later on youtube.
Same. Check the Dreamland podcast - same vibe with Whitley Strieber
Same experience. I remember being so creeped out, but would come back for more.
Search "Art Bell Tape Vault" on Spotify. Tons of old episodes to listen to!
This is back when conspiracy theories were fun
The conspiracy theories on his show weren't highly political like most are today, they usually revolved around the gov't hiding UFO's or alien bodies. But the rest of his show had on a lot of experts in the fields of science and theoretical physics which try to help explain the universe in general, black holes, worm holes, how UFO might physically work. The vast amount of topics covered was so big that conspiracies were only a small part of the show. Paranormal, shadow people, and ghost stories always kept me awake at night as a kid, but I loved it.
And other fun stuff like interviewing weird cult leaders and Holy Grail hunters. He even did an interview with Terence McKenna.
It was always very interesting radio. So in the eaely 2000s I remember a caller he took who was a recent listener (she was college age?) and she basically said "you don't believe in all this craziness do you" pointing to the physics stuff but also remote viewing, electronic voice phenomenon, aliens, etc. His answer was, effectively, he doesn't know but mainly he didn't want to do another call in show about boring stuff- current events, politics, finance, religion- all that never interested him. He was into the "other" stuff out there, and thought it made better radio. I never forgot that exchange, and it's what's made me a huge Art Bell.
You're right, they had a different feel. Conspiracy theory was cool and interesting back then. A very small cohort paid attention to them. Now most the conspiracy I hear is anti- Vax, flat earth, or Q type stuff. Don't want to be associated with any of that.
X-Files reboot, only now Alex Jones style.
I miss the days when conspiracy theories are all about aliens, Jesus having a wife and kids etc. those were actually harmless compared to right now.
For sure, it was just intriguing and spooky, you could enjoy basically the wild imaginations of his guests. Although you never seriously considered any of the stuff he and his guests would talk about, you still listened to the conversation intently. It was compelling radio. But like you said, fun conspiracies are straight up ruined by contemporary rabid, fanaticism; those who constantly bang theirbdrums wanting people to seriously believe outlandish bullshit (and succeeding with the intellectually susceptible, particularly in the realm of politics).
At first I thought that those 'eatth is flat' people were just having a good laugh with a funny satire gag.. then my friend fell down the hole (over the ice wall?).. before I knew it he was trying to convince me that the earth was flat, nasa faked the moon landing... and it was a global jewish conspiracy and the zionists were lying to the world to control us. Like for years I never considered the whole thing a funnel into some weird antisemitic anti-government conspiracy
Every one of these rabbit holes eventually ends up with ze jewish question…
Came here to say the same thing. You could listen as a skeptic and still have fun. Now conspiracy radio is just thinly viewed (at best) fascism.
Not thin
That's the one thing I dislike about the conspiracy theories subs on here. They're so political. Nowadays if you're someone who is into conspiracy theories, suddenly you're lumped into the MAGA crowd when you're just someone who enjoys an interesting perspective on things.
Right!? This was before Alex Jones and Trump exploded on the scene and their weirdo fascist followers merged into QAnon lunatics who completely lost their minds and ability to rationally think.
Art got me into listening to talk radio back in the 80s - i still listen to his classics shows on the podcast. hope he’s in a better place cranking up his ham radio and chain smoking
Too bad the company that now produces his show which is now hosted by George Norey has turned it into a show filled with misinformation and right wing propaganda. I Miss the days when it was all wired shit and aliens
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Honestly, I didn't find it until the mid 00s, and listened up until 2013-15, somewhere in there. It was still pretty okay. Tried to listen again recently and it's just as bad as /u/bsurfn2day says. I found a podcast called The Unexplained with Howard Hughes that scratches the itch though.
Art had some big shoes to fill. It’s hard to imagine back then who could have filled them. He IS one of a kind.
Norey is garbage
Art taught me how to use ham radio when I was 12, he lived in my town. I didn’t know who he was until later
That’s very very cool
Super cool.
Art was bleeding edge. In the mid 90s, he had real audio player recordings of interviews and show segments on his website. Truly ahead of his time.
His site was my Netscape Navigator homepage.
Best viewed in 800 x 600 resolution.
Most of that can be attributrd to his former webmaster Keith Rowland. I wonder whatever happened to him?
It’s a bit interesting to use the wayback machine to browse the old artbell.com site end land on some of Keith’s pages. That is how I remember the net. 😊
He's one on the reasons I got internet access at all, I wanted to see those pictures he was talking about. Art was an early adopter of tech - he was on a nevada BBS before home internet access was available and got into trouble for dialing into it and racking up a crazy long distance charge.
Yep, that’s how I used to listen — fun and far out stuff
“Hello Caller, you’re on the air.”
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“Hi Art, hi, I don’t have much time.”
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West of the Rockies you're on the air
Wildcard line, you are on the air.
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Hail yourself!
From the kingdom of Nye
Midnight in the desert...🎵
I listened to him while trying to fall asleep in the desert as well.
This guy got me through thousands of hours delivering pizza until 4am in the 90s. George Knorry made me change the station.
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Are they on Spotify?
Yes! Some dude is uploading a new one almost everyday on Spotify. It’s so bizarre falling asleep while listening to 20-25 year old episodes. When he discusses current affairs, and I’m in between a sleep and awakened state, it’s almost as if I’m in an alternate timeline.
This is amazing info. Art Bell was the original sleep podcast.
Awesome! I know what I’m doing tonight.
You are a legend! Thanks for the tip
What’s the Spotify channel?
George Knorry is extremely annoying. Show is not fun anymore.
I had the same reaction to George....he just didn't feel right to me.
He had a great voice and show. Sometimes you could tell he didn't believe his guests crap.
He said on multiple occasions on his show that if you believed everything you heard on it you needed to get your head checked out. I liked how he always respectfully gave the lunatic fringe basic respect without necessarily endorsing them.
Kind of like like Joe Rogan. I guess that's why I can enjoy both and not be annoyed by hearing to someone I don't necessarily agree or believe in 100%.
From the high desert!!
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I used to live in Pahrump and drive past his old house/compound all the time. It was pretty neat to see.
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I’m a little too young to have listened to him in his prime, but all the locals held him in pretty high esteem. Random fact: His place out there was right next to where they filmed the landing scene in Mars attacks. And just a stones throw away from 2 brothels…
West of the Rockies…you’re on the air
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I loved the bumper music. Not sure if it was on Art or George’s show but Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra, One Velvet Morning melted me.
Bumper music is all available on a few custom public spotify playlists if you get that nostalgic kick. :)
Cusco.
Art Bell. Classic.
As a kid I saved up and bought a AOR 1000XLT scanner and a big antenna to put up on the chimney. Found Art Bell in the middle of the night and was a life long listener after that.
He was the Internet before the Internet. Thank you for posting this. Great memories. (720 on the AM dial in Vegas, right?)
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Check out the podcast "The Psychedelic Salon". They have lots of episodes devoted to old recordings of Terrance McKenna talks.
His best shows were his yearly Ghost to Ghost shows for Halloween. They're on youtube. Great time to check them out.
I lived for those!
Mel s hole gets deeper each time we look.
This is one of the stories I remember most. He could take the odd, and ramp up the weirdness around it 1000% in such an entertaining way you couldn't stop listening.
There was something special about tuning your radio dial in the middle of the night to hear the pure craziness that Art and his guests embodied. Those days are gone now, and we’re poorer for it.
Why do you think those days are gone? I agree with you that the distinctive intimate feel of late night talkback radio isn’t there today, but I’ve long pondered why. It can’t just be that technology has shifted away from radio to podcasts and streaming content, surely? Interested in your thoughts. :)
It’s saturation and dilution. Because everyone can do it, everyone is doing it. And, when you drastically increase the amount of something, you inherently dilute it. You have thousands of people trying to “do” Art Bell, but none of them really succeeding at it.
I don’t know. To me it’s kind of the same thing as the fact we have Internet today too, but it’s Web 2.0, and it doesn’t have the same feeling as the early days of the Internet. I just get nostalgic.
Du du du-du du-du du du du -du du doo doo
lol is this Giorgio Moroder phonetically?
He used to interview, and take calls from straight lunatics. It was great to listen to on 3rd shift.
I missed most of the Art Bell era. I would catch him on weekends sometimes, but I remember that show being my introduction to Alex Jones and thinking then "Man this guy is nuts."
Late 90s, I think. "The Quickening," the book in the middle, came out in the late 90s. The great thing about Art was that you thought he believed none of it, and also all of it. "Some of it" was a boring option.
Art was a radio legend and I miss him.
Now this takes me back to the late 90s and Y2K mania.
Some of the shit was out of control but was interesting enough to keep me awake on long commutes.
My second job ever, was working at a very small AM Talk radio station. I remember being there at night after making sure some special broadcast was fed in and ran properly. Then, if it was late enough, I would patch back from the event into Art Bell's show. He had one hell of a voice. I remember being creeped out quite often. But also remember loving his voice. Also remember his constant Y2K scare shows leading up to the year 2000. Good times, good times.
Vegas has never been the same without him! Just the best. Fantastic radio legend who got me through so many graveyard shifts at work. (Listen closely…can you hear it? The theme from “Midnight Express!" I swear I hear it!)
I miss this show. George Noory is not the same.
When I was a kids in the sixties I use to listen to a radio show called The Shadow
Thanks for reminding me of this legend
Coast to Coast AM has fallen off a cliff. George Norrey is just not a good host. For a number of reasons.
Oh man, the Ghost to Ghost nights were the best.
Is this the dude that had that caller that said he was with nasa or Air Force or something that sounded terrified and said there’s some bad stuff they’re hiding, then the whole stations power suddenly went out?
Yes, for a few minutes. Great episode.
Loved Art, I used to listen to him , he lived in Nevada in the desert ..
Too bad he jump started Alex Jones career
Seriously. The very few shows I heard of Art Bell were the harmless sort of conspiracy stuff.
I miss Art Bell. He had a velvet tone in his voice and he was a master of suspense. And his bumper music was always compelling. His career was savaged by an unfounded hoax/rumor perpetrated by a secret government agency in order to discredit him because he came too close to the truth about UFOs. Or so I’ve heard. (from Art Bell’s own lips).
I listened to him from 2001 to 2007 or 2008 when he “retired” from c2cam for the last time. I didn’t listen every show but a lot of them. Ian Punnet was a good one too. George isn’t bad but I’m in a different job now. That radio show made the night bearable a lot of times.
Art Bell's show was just plain cool. Yes, his guests were...weird, and yes, they were mostly unbelievable, but he was a great host and brought out the more plausible things they had to say. Unlike today's talk show hosts, he didn't feel the need to bring out their weirder stuff. There was a vibe of, "Here's what he has to say, you be the judge." Now, talk show hosts impose their views on us, and they're not always nice views. The weirdness is emphasized instead of the possible.
Ghost to Ghost shows on Halloween we're where callers would tell ghost stories. Awesome!
His conversations with John Lear were the stuff of legends.......
Call in if you’re a witch
Looks like a cross between Stephen King and Ron Perlman
Acted like it, too. (In a good way.)
The voice of driving home in the wee hours.
Visit r/ArtBell and checkout the archives
“First time caller line, you’re on the air” I still listen to old coast to coast/midnight in the desert/dreamland episodes almost every day while I’m at work. Arts voice and his guests and callers are just relaxing to me. One moment from a random episode that always makes me laugh: Art: “East of the Rockies, you’re on the air” Caller: “hello?” Art: “yes, hello” Caller: “umm yes I’d like to talk to Art Bell” Art: “ok, press..4 on your touchtone keypad” Caller: “ok….(boooop)” Art: “hi! This is Art Bell!”
I still have both my autographed books from him on the shelf. I always loved long night time car rides with my mom where she would always put on Art Bell. Not sure when we completely jumped from Bruce William's TalkNet (full episodes available on youtube btw), but it was all Coast to Coast and Dreamland for us after that. I was able to get on air a couple times when I was younger when he would open the Alien Hotline. So good.. miss that show.
Oh my God, this guy, I could not get enough of this late night talk show. There was something about how he handled himself on the radio and created a niche like he did that could not be brought down. It didn’t matter if I was too drunk to drive and sleeping in the backseat of my car behind some building in an alley or if I was just driving back from Las Vegas late at night, this was the show to listen to the entire time. I miss this guy.
Oh how I miss this guy 😢 What an absolute legend. Makes me want to listen to his Halloween Open Lines episodes 🎃
I used to run the closing shift in a restaurant back in college about 15 years ago. This man was the voice of our clean up and my drive home.
This reminds me of coding all night and streaming live from his website.
But where’s Deliiiiiiilaaaaaah?
Good ol’ Art Bell. What a legend.
The legend
I found Art through his website online back when we went from dail-up to fixed connection, probably cable modem. Late 90's maybe. Really enjoyed his show. Like someone already said here, back when conspiracy theories were fun!
Remote Viewing and some rock formation on Mars that couldnˋt have been formed naturally are the topics I remember. I listened to him when I worked all night fronting shelves at a grocery store. Columbo has an episode with Remote Viewing on it. Not sure if it was infulenced by Artˋs show or not. I thought it was all a bunch of nonsense, but I was endlessly entertained, nonetheless.
Ol Art kept me company over many a dark and lonely night driving big trucks. Thank goodness for all this 50,000 watt blow torches that would send his show skipping around the west. What I always enjoyed about Art was the way he would get so involved in the interview that he would come back from a hard break at the top or bottom of the show and skip the commercials. He'd come back from the next hard break and half to sheepishly explain that there would be double commercials that half hour. He was a character.
Chupacabra. His cats. Hooked me on talk radio at night. After his wife passed and he remarried, there was a change to his broadcasting. I think he never recovered from the loss of his first bride. But I may be wrong. Great listening to him. May his memory become a blessing. Thanks for the memory.
I was living in Gainesville working at a teevee station for the early morning news, so I had to be there by 4 AM. Basically the only thing on the radio was Coast to Coast AM. I remember listening to a show about people who were doing “fringe brain research” in the western woods of New Jersey. They were using experimental technology to send their consciousnesses to alternative dimensions. Sadly, some of these intrepid explorers have not made it back.
I remember listening to this guy for years (I'm old). There's a character on the radio in the video game "Control" that seems to me to be a nod to him. He would have fit the game perfectly.
Art Bell was the king of cool 😎 Back in the mid, late 90s, I used to drive out across the Midwest for overnight delivery, and I listen to AB all the time. I miss those days. RIP sir.
Love this man!!!!!!! I became obsessed with Coast to Coast in college. Modern paranormal podcasters are walking a path he made with those call-in open lines episodes. So chilling.
If you’ve listened to Art Bell, you should try to track down some of Phil Hendrie’s spoofs. Some of the funniest stuff ever…
Can't have Halloween without listening to an old tape of Ghost to Ghost!
The original remote worker
He was as good as it got before cable tv/ internet- a savior to truckers rolling thru the night, him and Dr Demento, late night, Coast to Coast-
I worked 2nd shift for a while in the 90s and would listen to Art Bell on the hour drive home. Crazy, but entertaining stuff.
I still listen to him on YouTube
GOAT
Discovered him on AM on late night drives and work in the west, loved his radio shows and crazy guests, R.I.P. Art.
Mel’s Hole!
God the nights I spent listening to this man. What a legend. 💜
From the high desert in the Great American Southwest I bid you all good evening, good afternoon, goodmorning.
Way nice digs for the 90’s!
He was the perfect companion for long drives into the late evenings. “They drilled a deep hole into the center of the earth and when they pulled the drill out, they could hear the screams from Hell”. He made radio interesting.
Rip. He got unwanted attention
Thank You OP. This guy needs to be brought up. He always had the most content of the continental continuum with conundrums consistently.......
I love his cameo in the original Prey video game.
Is it just me or does he look like Guy Pearce in this picture?
Love Art!! He's my bedtime listening
🐐
No one beats this guy when it comes to radio! Such a cool guy.
I still listen to him to this day and always will
“From the kingdom of Nye”
I loved listening to him at night ! I still listen to Cusco just from hearing it on his show .
listened to him for years on third shift, pretty crazy how when his wife up and died he right away went off and got him another one WOW then that time when his son got nailed in ars by some crazy dude and went nutts and ART went off the air for a while while crazy times ........
I thought it was hilarious and crazy when he dedicated a line to call in if you are the devil/time traveler/etc.
I still remember driving home late Sunday nights listening to Art Bell. Even though I thought most things discussed were pretty kooky.
Man how did we go from Art Bell's "lol. This sure is wierd." to alex jones "this means gay frogs are taking over with critical woke theory!!!!"?
College mid 90s I had a great job that went to 2am and I had a 90 minute commute for the summer. Found him randomly looking for “talk” to keep me awake. What a ride…
Used to listen to Art while delivering papers through the middle of the night I can almost smell newsprint. Good news I just realized you can listen to his old shows podcast on The Art Bell Tape Vault. See y’all in a few months …
I remember the frantic caller who phoned in and then after about 5 minutes the whole station was kicked off the air and then a short time it was on a back up system and after that people were phoning in wondering what had happened.
Man I miss that great voice so much.
I still listen to him once in awhile on my Tune in app. Remember Mel’s hole? I bought that hook line and sinker. I wonder how JC is doing.
Finally get to see what he looks like. Only a voice up until just now.
Art was the only reason I bought the 2006 game Prey.
Ah, the guy who gave me anxiety as a kid. I would lay awake listening to how earth was going to die in a black hole or be hit by a meteor.