Art Bell
Robert Spencer 
The Venusian thread got me thinking what's his deal? I know he's had a few tinhat radio shows but his actual life seems to be nearly as dramatic. His wife's sudden death, marrying some random Filipino love bride and people apparently trying to kill him or hurt his family. Is all of this true? If his life really threatened as much as he says?
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | May 30, 2021 5:26 AM |
all over san Francisco in movie theatre toilets are graffiti with his name.
odd
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | March 12, 2018 2:56 AM |
There was a really weird story about Art Bell’s son being kidnapped by a sex predator and chained up. Anyone else remember that?
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | March 12, 2018 3:05 AM |
I have no idea who Art Bell might be, but the subject header reminded me of gay journalist Arthur Bell from the Village Voice. His column, Bell Tells, was always a must. It's nice to think of him again.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 5 | March 12, 2018 3:10 AM |
What Venusian thread, OP?
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | March 12, 2018 3:13 AM |
Art was so much better than the right-wing nut job, George Nouri, who hosts the show now. He's tried to turn it into a political show.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | March 12, 2018 3:22 AM |
Art Bell was a right wing nut job. Nouri is less creepy. Though Art Bell, did start the show - a good idea.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | March 12, 2018 3:35 AM |
I think you have it backwards, R8. Art was a nutjon but a fantastic broadcaster, and he was not so much political as uniformly suspicious about everything. Nouri is a right-winger (and a bore), and the show is now a platform for libertarians (ie. Republicans who smoke pot). I can’t listen to it any more. Ian Punnett (sp?) or the other George, the one with a smoky voice who popularized Area 51, would’ve been smarter choices for Art’s succesor.
I think Art was a kind of genius. All these fringe elements crystallized around him and entered mainstream popular culture. I don’t think we’d have InfoWars, discussion about “crisis actors,” or the anti-vaccine movement without him. He harnessed something powerful and deeply irrational and made it accessible and entertaining. His influence may’ve been poisonous, but he was fun and great in his way.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | March 12, 2018 3:56 AM |
Yes, I agree with that, but Art Bell was a bit of a nut, too. But he did make late-night radio more interesting.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | March 12, 2018 3:59 AM |
I am as anti-conspiracy theory as it gets, but I used to listen to Art Bell a few nights a week because he was quite compelling.
Never, ever boring.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | March 12, 2018 4:36 AM |
Art Bell is a self-described socially liberal libertarian who voted for Obama twice.
He had a shrewd interviewing technique that could bring realness or take listeners into a purely entertaining zone. Wanna take a ride?
I had a minor business connection to someone involved in his last comeback. I think the death threats he reported were real. Best theory is it involved associates of a former staffer or a nutty ham radio operator who had previously harassed him. Bell attracted some bad vibes and sketchy people, plus he may have done something to piss off Premier, Coast to Coast's (now) owner and syndicator. I think he decided he just wants to live out the rest of his days quietly.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | March 12, 2018 7:01 AM |
Im 29 and Love the old coast to coast shows!
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | March 12, 2018 7:08 AM |
Yeah, Art's show was good. There was a certain amount of skepticism (though not so overt that it would throw guests off) that is completely absent from the worldview of hysterical morons like Alex Jones. It made for good late-night listening.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | March 12, 2018 7:30 AM |
[quote]Ian Punnett (sp?) or the other George, the one with a smoky voice who popularized Area 51, would’ve been smarter choices for Art’s succesor.
Ian Punnet is a closet right-winger - he hides it fairly well, or couches it in his 'faith'. But I distinctly remember him sharing some anecdote on the air about a party he and his wife attended one weekend, where a fellow guest was 'my dear friend Sean Hannity'. He then came back from the break and tried to backtrack, giving a muddled excuse that he actually didn't know Hannity well - he knew he'd fucked up. That was before George Noory turned the show into a full-on Nazi fest. George Knapp, on the other hand, would have been a fantastic successor to Art, and I'm betting they did ask him - but he still mostly does mainstream TV news in Vegas, and probably didn't want to put himself in a box by taking over C2C.
Art was an excellent interviewer who guided conversations effortlessly, and wasn't afraid to challenge guests - the skepticism spoken of by R14. You didn't get the sense that he actually bought what some guests were pushing, but was merely giving them a forum. I still treasure the beatdown he gave that fraud, Nostradamus 'expert' turned 'prophet' John Hogue, on one of the episodes of his short-lived Sirius XM show. Hogue was flabbergasted that Art demanded actual answers to questions instead of the evasions George Noory had been happily slurping for years. Like a lot of people, I was creeped out by Art's re-marriage 3 months after his wife Ramona died to the Filipina child-bride he met online, but there is no denying his talent as a broadcaster.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | March 12, 2018 9:02 AM |
His wife Ramona died of a sudden asthma attack in the middle of the night in their RV while he slept, and he found her the next morning. After a few weeks off he came back to his show and told the whole story, choking back tears the entire time. It was immensely sad. He said the only reason he didn't commit suicide out of despair afterwards was because nobody would be left to take care of their beloved cats. Aaaaand then he married his 22 year old Filipino internet bride three months later. They've now had two little kids. He's 72. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | March 12, 2018 7:08 PM |
I never got the impression that Art was political at all. It was weird, though, how he lived out in the middle of nowhere in the Nevada desert. He definitely was eccentric. He kind of reminded me of Randy Quaid's character in Independence Day.
What was the name of the guy who replaced Art when he retired for the first time? I though he was almost as good as Art. I'm still not sure why he was fired.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | March 12, 2018 9:33 PM |
Bell's son was kidnapped and raped by a substitute teacher who has AIDS. I've read conflicting stories as to whether the boy was infected. The teacher is serving 25 to life.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | March 12, 2018 9:43 PM |
Sometimes I like Clyde lewis show Ground zero. His supernatural shows are really new and truly frightening but some of the political stuff he talks about Psychotic and annoying.
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | March 13, 2018 8:46 AM |
I used to listen to Art Bell to put me to sleep. I’d put the clock radio on timer, and conk out before it ended.
I was listening the night he had contact with the closest thing to a real time traveler. Weird messages, but seemed plausible.
The major aspect of his presentation that overall irked me most was that he was a constant doom-sayer. Worldwide destruction, calamity, plague, whatever, were just around the corner. Even his, pre-recorded, ads were for survival gear: radios, lights, food supplies. It got relentless.
Another, kind of ironic, element was his repeated plugging for a book he had written, not surprisingly, about the imminent end of civilization as we know it. I don’t think it had been very well received on publication, by critics or the public. So he kept plugging on, referring to his own prescience and erudition.
The man was just not a book writer. A radio personality, with an entertaining talent for interview improvisation, yes. But not a book writer. And I haven’t heard of any further books from him since.
And, have any of you ever actually been to Pahrump, Nevada, where he lived and broadcast? I have. A flatter, more nondescript, deplorable location I’ve never seen. (Though now I live in Florida, which often seems similar, but with added palm trees and humidity.)
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | March 13, 2018 11:29 AM |
I remember staying up all night to listen to the caller who swore he shot a Bigfoot, buried it in the woods and felt extreme guilt over it. It was riveting. Turns out it was a hoax, but he was so damn believable at the time.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | March 13, 2018 6:05 PM |
R21 'Bugs' turned out to be birther trash.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | March 21, 2018 4:22 PM |
Norry has now put those commercials on during the show trying to claim that he doesn't care about politics
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | March 21, 2018 4:58 PM |
Where the Filipina mail order child brides at?
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | April 5, 2018 11:18 PM |
Is Nevada a red or blue state?
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | April 5, 2018 11:19 PM |
My favorite aunt used to keep the radio on all day and all night and I would occasionally sleepover and have to share a bed with her. I would have a terrible time falling asleep listening to Art Bell. I found it terrifying and fascinating as a 10 year old.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | April 5, 2018 11:27 PM |
He currently airs shows on Midnightinthedesert.com.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | April 5, 2018 11:34 PM |
Well, well, well. This some Jani Lane shit right here. Someone bumped off Art Bell by bringing this old Post up. Way to go.
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | April 14, 2018 8:41 PM |
What Venusian thread? I searched and saw nothing like that.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | April 14, 2018 9:28 PM |
Dear god I wish someone would explain the Venusian thread reference.
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | April 15, 2018 1:02 AM |
I guess it’s too late to claim I hooked up with Art Bell.
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | April 15, 2018 4:50 AM |
Ok, so what's going to be the weirdness concerning Art's death? Because you know there's going to be something.
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | April 15, 2018 5:32 AM |
[quote]His wife Ramona died of a sudden asthma attack in the middle of the night in their RV while he slept, and he found her the next morning. After a few weeks off he came back to his show and told the whole story, choking back tears the entire time. It was immensely sad. He said the only reason he didn't commit suicide out of despair afterwards was because nobody would be left to take care of their beloved cats. Aaaaand then he married his 22 year old Filipino internet bride three months later.
If you ever heard Art and Ramona interact on the show - as cliched as it sounds, they really were soulmates. Just perfectly matched - both of them total radio nerds who were really into all this speculative stuff. Ramona was also quite good on the radio herself. They co-owned a Nevada radio station where the format was basically them using it as their personal playlist. It sounded really cool.
That was why his lightning-fast remarriage was so shocking - it never seemed like he even processed the loss of Ramona, because by his own admission, he began communicating with his young wife-to-be one month after Ramona died, at the instigation of some friend of his (an old hillbilly-looking ham radio buddy) who was communicating similarly with the girl's older sister. The friend ended up marrying the sister too - was it a double wedding? Can't remember. Anyway, in the years since Art has spun it as Airyn 'reaching out to him' to express condolences after Ramona died, but I distinctly remember the role of this buddy in hooking them up. It is clear that these two girls were on the lookout for a couple of old American saps to get those green cards...and they did.
Something that always creeped me out was that the new wife's name was Airyn, pronounced 'Irene'. But Art always insisted on pronouncing it 'Erin', because, he said, he liked it better. Who gives a shit about her identity or anything? Ugh.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | April 15, 2018 5:37 AM |
I wonder if the guests on C 2C really believe in alien abduction or are just trying to make a fast buck.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | April 15, 2018 6:52 AM |
Too bad he didn't get a chance to murder this wife.
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | April 15, 2018 11:08 PM |
It seems that Ian Punnett is coming back to C2C
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | May 8, 2018 10:50 AM |
Dave Schrader from Darkness Radio has apparently taken over Art Bell's old internet show, Midnight in the Desert, so I'm guessing he won't be subbing on C2C anymore - thus leaving an open slot for Punnett.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | May 8, 2018 11:26 AM |
Now that he's gone, I feel oddly giddily happy that he had me on his show in 2011(following 9-ii.)
| by Anonymous | reply 40 | May 8, 2018 11:33 AM |
Details please, r40. Share your story.
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | May 8, 2018 12:24 PM |
I cannot believe that I actually typed 9-ii. I shall attribute that to the hour. I had pulled an all nighter and my brain was scrambled.
R41 It's not much of a story, but here it is: I called AB, and I had never done so before, and told him that I was a flight attendant of 25 years, and I could shed a fair amount of light onto what was happening that morning, and how our training actually caused the situation to become a literal car wreck from the jump. I think he found me to be clear thinking and talking, and he sensed that I might have be able to help people understand better how the terrorists gained entry into the cockpits and why the plans seemed to work so easily for the bad guys. I also had a close friend on one of the flights which crashed into the WTC, and I had an acquaintance(her parents lived in the same gated community in Stuart, Fl as my parents) who was married to a United captain*not on any of the doomed planes) who she called and kept on the line while their B757 was heading towards that field in PA. We had met twice at social functions in Stuart,
Anyhow, I enjoyed the chat/interview, and I became a regular listener from there forward. FTR, I am a woman.
| by Anonymous | reply 42 | May 8, 2018 4:00 PM |
There's a lot of drama with Midnight In The Desert and the new host replacing Heather Wade, who was Art's hand-picked successor. Apparently she couldn't get over her grief from Art's death and was unceremoniously fired from the show and network for not going back on the air soon enough.
| by Anonymous | reply 43 | May 8, 2018 6:36 PM |
Damn I loved the Art Bell Show, especially when driving at night. My favorite was when he decided to have only people from the future (travelers? can't remember the term) call in. You were only supposed to call if you were here from the future and you could tell what was going to happen in 50 or 100 years or whatever. Except the assholes kept forgetting the premise. They kept slipping into "I think there will be weekly travels to Mars" or whatever, and Art had to keep stepping in to say what d'ya mean "I think" so they could get back to "No, I mean there are definitely weekly travels to Mars now." It was awesome.
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | May 30, 2021 4:19 AM |
What that bewigged creep George Noory has done to C2C is unforgivable. It’s just a right-wing loon-fest now, lending legitimacy to all of it.
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | May 30, 2021 5:26 AM |
