No matter how you shake it, Art Bell is going to retire again--sometime. The chances are he will be on Sirius satellite radio for a few years and then call it quits--truly..
The reaction to Art Bell returning to radio is interesting.. On one hand, many have become frustrated with the George Noory broadcasting style .. and since he took over the show full time, most have believed the quality of Coast to Coast AM has suffered greatly. Art Bell seemed to agree, though last night's AP story had only a terse and humane comment directed at Noory..
But pay radio?
That part is the divisive issue..
Users at the then CoastGab.com, now BellGab.com, have been debating whether satellite was the right course of action.. The cost is a factor, the idea that it's not a show that can be found on AM dials late at night..
But the landscape has changed.
Sirius boasts 25 million users (in the last press release I saw that speaks of these matters) ... 25 million is a lot.. so open line phone calls would most likely still unpredictable.
Judging from the Tweets from Art Bell, along with the press release, it seems his contract favors him to be able to have the freedom to conduct his program as he sees fit--a chances are that's a change from how Premiere dealt with him years back..
But you cannot escape the other reality: Clyde Lewis, who the HORROR REPORT has truly favored in the past years over other paranormal radio show hosts, may suffer the most. Art Bell will compete for the paranormal audience in the same time slot that Clyde Lewis broastcasts in..Thankfully for fans of both, Lewis has a free podcast offered up post-show.. It will be interesting to see if it hurts Lewis more than Coast--since Art Bell will not be directly competing with Coast to Coast AM during the time slot that program airs..
Two things are telling in the post announcement world. Last night during the sign-off, George Noory did not mention Art Bell's name, as he has been doing for years. The relationship appears to be finally over--if it was ever there to begin with.
And the other telling thing? Art Bell is trying to get as much attention on this announcement as he can.. he has under 4,000 Twitter followers at this point, but appears to be hoping that a Tweet directly sent to Matt Drudge will help share the word.. At this time, Drudge has yet to post the link. But it's early.