Signing Off Into That Good Night

Art Bell --- the late night weekend talk show host on Coast to Coast AM announced his retirement last night. He is still with Premiere Radio Network and may 'fill in' once in awhile. I suppose after close to 25 years of UFOs, chem-trails, Big Foot, crazy callers, quacks, and bizarre guests perhaps he is serious this time. (But he has announced retirements before....see below.) This time he says he wants to spend time with his wife and baby.

I've been an on and off listener of Coast to Coast since about 1999. I keep a transistor radio beside my bed incase I wake up in the middle of the night and I turn it on when I do, just to hear about the latest news of the paranormal, or laugh at the peculiar things that make it onto the website --like this story Art was talking about over the weekend--the humanoid that looks like a Witch flying over Mexico.... (It's a Mexican TV news story with subtitles.)

Art's annual New Year's Eve Show, which I wrote about in January, was always a hoot. Art had callers make a prediction for the coming year--- then at the end of the year he would replay them and give them a Ding... if he deemed them to be true...and a Bonk if they didn't come true.

If you like him or not, he was what he was. The paranormal- themed radio show was a welcome relief from the right wing shouters out there. Doesn't everyone wonder the truth about Roswell and the Alien Autopsy? (I have the grainy film on a CD-rom somewhere in this house... don't ask me where.)

And ya know, I gotta admit, more than once, he got me. I realize some people think of him as a charlatan...and maybe he does put us on a bit.... but late at night when I heard his famous "sounds from Hell" deep from a hole into the center of the Earth, or those eerie ghostlike soundbytes caught on tape in a cemetary... I shivered a bit under the covers . Just like a kid at camp.

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Art's previous retirements....from Wikipedia:

His first retirement, highly unexpected, was announced on October 13, 1998. He returned two weeks later, leading many to believe it was merely a publicity stunt. Bell asserted that the brief departure was brought on by threats made against his family.

In April 2000, Bell again retired, but offered no details other than stating he intended to "resolve a family crisis." Mike Siegel was left in charge of the program. It was later explained he had left to deal with the aftermath of a sexual assault against his son. Brian Lepley, a substitute teacher, was convicted of sexual assault and attempted transmission of HIV and was sentenced to 10 to 25 years.

In late 2002, recurring back pain (the result of a fall from a telephone pole during his youth) forced yet another departure, and Bell was permanently replaced by George Noory as weekday host of Coast to Coast AM.