Art Bell

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Arthur "Art" Bell, III (born June 17, 1945) is an American broadcaster and author, known primarily as the founder and a longtime host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM. He also created and at one time hosted its companion show, Dreamland.

Semi-retired from Coast to Coast AM, he currently helms weekend broadcasts, in addition to owning his own oldies station: KNYE 95.1 FM ("The Kingdom of Nye ... Things That Go Pahrump In The Night") in Pahrump, Nevada.

1 Early years
2 Background
- 2.1 Previous Marriages
3 Retirements and comebacks
- 3.1 Current Involvement
4 Events of 2006
- 4.1 Ramona's passing
- 4.2 Remarriage, Relocation
5 Books
6 See also
7 Sources
8 External links

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Early years

Bell was born to Arthur Bell, Jr., a United States Marine Corps captain, and Jane Bell, a Marine drill instructor. He was always interested in radio and at the age of 13 he became a licensed amateur radio operator. Bell served in the U.S. Air Force as a medic during the Vietnam War, and in his free time operated a pirate radio station on his base. He would go out of his way to play antiwar music (like "Eve of Destruction" and "Fortunate Son") that was not being played on the American Forces Network.

After leaving military service he stayed in the Far East, residing on the Japanese island of Okinawa where he worked as a disc jockey for KSBK, the only non-military English-language station in Japan.

While in Anchorage, Alaska at radio station KENI he set a Guinness record for staying on the air 116.25 hours. He also set the world record for seesawing while broadcasting for 57 hours. The money raised there allowed Art to charter a DC 8, fly to Vietnam and rescue 130 Vietnamese Orphans stranded in Saigon at the war's end. They were eventually all brought to America and adopted by American families.

He returned to the United States and studied engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. He dropped out and went back to radio, this time as a board operator and chief engineer. Being around the stations he got a few opportunities to be on the air. For several years he worked back and forth behind and in front of the microphone. After a period of working in cable television, in 1989 the 50,000-watt KDWN in Las Vegas, Nevada offered Bell a five-hour time slot in the middle of the night.

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Background

Bell's original program in Las Vegas was a political call-in talk radio show, but he tired of the format, believing there were too many such programs, especially in the wake of Rush Limbaugh's massive success.

Thus, Bell abandoned political talk and began highlighting topics such as gun control, conspiracy theories, and other topics that appealed to a segment of the populace that thrived on such discussion (but which shows like Limbaugh's, who were attempting to reach a mainstream audience, did not wish to carry for fear of being labeled supporters of fringe kook elements). This led to a significant success in his overnight ratings, which in turn not only kept Bell on the air but also finally allowed him to shift the main focus of his show towards his long interest in topics and guests not generally invited to appear on his competitors. Bell's guests and their topics often deal with the paranormal, occult knowledge, conspiracy theories, UFOs, protoscience, and pseudo-science.

At his peak popularity, Coast To Coast AM was syndicated on over 500 radio stations, and it claimed 15 million listeners nightly. In its current form, the show receives upwards of 30 million listeners when Bell is actually hosting the show. [1] Bell broadcasts from his home in the town of Pahrump, located in Nye County, Nevada, hence, the catchphrase "from the Kingdom of Nye".

Some critics see Bell as a charlatan, and some guests have been criticized as cranks or quacks; Coast-to-Coast is subject to frequent ridicule and criticism on the usenet group alt.fan.art-bell, in the AOL chatroom "Beyond Belief", and on blogs. Radio host Phil Hendrie occasionally lampoons Bell (using the bumper Dancing Queen by the pop group ABBA), his guests, and the unusual products offered by advertisers.

Others regard Bell as simply a master showman, noting that he calls his show "absolute entertainment" [2] and further noting his statements that he does not necessarily accept every guest or caller's claims but only offers a forum where they will not be ridiculed. Bell is one of only a few talk show hosts who do not screen calls. His calm attitude, patient questions, and ability to tease substance from the sometimes nebulous statements of callers and guests gave his show a relaxed and serious atmosphere earning him much praise from those who contend the paranormal deserved a mature outlet of discussion in the media, as well as others who are simply amused by the nightly parade of the bizarre. Ed Dames, Richard C. Hoagland, Terence McKenna, Dannion Brinkley, and Robert Bigelow were all regular guests who typically discussed "fringe" topics.

Bell's interests, however, extended beyond the paranormal. Sometimes his topics venture into more 'normal' areas, such as interviewing singers Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, comedian George Carlin, writer Dean Koontz, "hard" science fiction writer Greg Bear, and frequent guests physicist Michio Kaku and SETI astronomer Seth Shostak.

There are three annual features on Bell's program: On April Fool's Day, Art always winds up having at least one gag story that's presented in such a way that the listeners are left guessing as to whether or not their legs are really being pulled hard, such as the time when Bell took a cellphone call from a pilot who was claiming to be flying his Cessna over Area 51 and winds up getting shot down while still on the line. On Halloween, his show is renamed "Ghost to Ghost A.M.", and is devoted to callers relating their allegedly real-life encounters with ghosts. Every New Year's Eve, Bell invites callers to make a prediction for the coming year; the predictions are then reviewed at the close of the next year and given a verbal "Ding" if they are deemed to have been correct, or a "Bonk" if the prediction did not come true.

Beginning in late 1996, Bell was criticized for reporting rumors that comet Hale-Bopp was being closely followed by an Unidentified Flying Object. It was speculated that members of the Heaven's Gate group committed mass suicide based on rumors Bell aired, but others discounted this, noting that the Heaven's Gate website stated that: "Whether Hale-Bopp has a 'companion' or not is irrelevant from our perspective." [3] Susan Wright notes, however, that Bell was also "one of the first to publicise expert opinions debunking the 'alien companion'" said to have been shadowing Hale-Bopp (Wright, 187).

Bell is well known in the world of amateur radio, and holds an Advanced Class License issued by the FCC. He is also well known by his callsign, W6OBB, and he and many of his fans can be heard nightly on the 80-meter amateur radio band at frequency 3840 kHz.

In 2005, the City of Las Vegas renamed a portion of 11th Street in the downtown area "Art Bell Drive".

Art has also had several amusing arguments with a regular caller who calls himself "JC Webster the 3rd", a far-right wing Christian who believes that Art is "the Devil's mouthpiece".

Recently, during a call-in show, Art Bell got into a argument with a person or entity calling itself "Oscar" who is allegedly Satan's Son.

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Previous Marriages

In chronological order, Art Bell has been married to the following women:

Unknown
- Cause of separation: Divorce
- Children: Art Bell IV
Ramona Bell
- Cause for separation was death in January 2006: acute asthma attack, Adult SIDS
Airyn Ruiz: Wed on April 8, 2006

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Retirements and comebacks

Bell has retired and returned to Coast to Coast AM several times.

Retirement: His first retirement, highly unexpected, was announced on October 13, 1998.

Return: 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.

Retirement: In April of 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 his son's rape. Unbeknownst to listeners, on May 16th, 1997 his only son (16 at the time) had been kidnapped and raped by a substitute teacher from his high school. Consequently the younger Bell suffered psychological trauma. The rapist was convicted, charged with attempting to transmit the AIDS virus to the younger Bell. Later, Bell filed a civil lawsuit against the school district on behalf of his son.

Return: Nearly a year later, in February of 2001, Bell again returned. He noted that since his departure the show had lost a number of affiliates, commercial content had risen to an unbearable level, and that Siegel had taken the program in a "different direction", one which Bell disapproved of. He retained some authority over the program as its creator, and thus felt his return was necessary.

Retirement: 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.

Return: Bell again returned in September 2003, having missed the microphone, this time replacing Barbara Simpson as host of the Saturday and Sunday evening broadcasts. In June 2005, he scaled this schedule back a bit (a 'semi-retirement'), deciding to host only the last two Sundays of every month.

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Current Involvement

On January 21, 2006, just days after the unexpected death of his wife Ramona, it was announced that Bell would host Coast to Coast AM more frequently than he had in the past year: every Saturday and Sunday evening. He also noted that former weekend host Ian Punnett would not be unemployed, instead working a new live prefeed program for four hours before Bell's slot on Saturday nights (21:00 - 01:00 ET). Punnett's new show is titled Coast to Coast Live with Ian Punnett.

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Events of 2006

Bell's life took some dramatic twists in the beginning of 2006:

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Ramona's passing

Ramona Bell, his wife of fifteen years, died unexpectedly of what appeared to be an acute asthma attack on January 5, 2006 in Laughlin, Nevada, where the couple was taking a short vacation. She was 47 years old. The events surrounding her death were described, in great detail, by Art Bell during the January 22 broadcast of Coast to Coast AM. [4]

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Remarriage, Relocation

Bell announced in early March 2006 that he would soon be taking a "huge risk" and "do something rash". On April 15, 2006, he shocked listeners by revealing that he had recently gone to the Philippines and had married Airyn Ruiz, a 21-year-old recent college graduate. Ruiz had contacted Bell through his personal e-mail address, offering condolences shortly after Ramona's death. Ruiz was given Bell's private contact information from a ham radio friend who was courting Airyn's sister. After dating via internet video conferencing for "hundreds of hours," the two married one week after Bell arrived in the Philippines to meet her in person. Bell also footed the bill for his friend to accompany him in the Philippines and marry Airyn's sister; the two couples wed in a double marriage on April 8, 2006.

At the same time, it was announced Bell would be leaving his longtime homestead in Nevada and relocating to the Philippines, near Manila, where he will continue hosting Coast to Coast AM via an ISDN connection. He expects to remain there for at least a year, and is in the process of finding new homes for some of his most well-known posessions: his trailer, ham radio equipment, and beloved cats.

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