It was a windy evening. The power was out. I was living alone, and was hungry, so I used my fireplace to make some tea, and then boiled some ramen soup with vegetables in it. It was the early 1990's, and I had just rediscovered long distance MW/AM radio listening. I think I had just got my new, black plastic GE Superadio 3, which was a good radio for hearing stations all over the Western US. Being that the radio would run for days on a set of D cells, I switched it on as I sipped my tea and boiled my soup -- the fire being the only heat, and the radio providing the only sound in the house. My cat was probably asleep on the couch nearby.
The fire was low, and I had a few candles going. The windstorm had mostly passed, but I could still hear the wind blowing in the chimney during the infrequent gusts. Sometimes a gust would cause the fire to flare up and smoke with a haunting whistle.
As I ate, and drank my tea, I had my GE Superadio on the nearby table. I was sitting, watching the flames glow on the presto-log fire, and listened to stories of UFO's, strange flying objects going in and out of Area 51, grey aliens who referred to humans as 'soul containers', and a warning about the terrors of the horrible 'black box'. It was spooky talk for a powerless, windy evening. The guy being interviewed was a man named John Lear. The interviewer? Well, he was an overnight talk host, whose show I had just discovered.
Art Bell was on the radio.
Art Bell was a famous night time radio host here in the United States. He started out on a station out of Nevada, which was audible up and down the Great Basin, and by the time I discovered his show in the early 1990's he was on a network of maybe 20-30 stations throughout the West. As the decade wore on, Art managed to become a nationwide, nighttime phenomenon -- his show adding stations by the hundreds.
He always interviewed people who were experts in the strange and the wonderful. His show was known for the paranormal, but he sometimes had other people interviewed as well. Sometimes famous musicians would call in -- guys like Willie Nelson or other similar singers, who told Art how they would listen to his show on their tour buses as they drove through the night. It was a fascinating slice of offbeat Americana -- sort of like the modern version of the storyteller bards that told haunting stories about heroes and fairies over the peat fires in the Irish countrysides at night.
That was the feeling I got that particular windy night listening to Art Bell's show on my Superadio.
His show concentrated mostly on the subject of UFO's and the bizarre, but he also hosted interviews with people like Catholic priest and exorcist Malachi Martin, reverse speech expert David Oates, and physicist Michio Kaku. One of the highlights of his show was the annual "Ghost To Ghost" segment that took place every Halloween, when people would call in with their ghost stories, many of which were quite telling. Art's show provided for some of the most fascinating listening on the radio -- always at night -- and the show spawned several imitators -- some which survived, and others which came and went rather quickly.
His show was highly listened to by people like myself, who worked overnights for several years. For millions, his show was prime entertainment -- the ghostly, often humorous, and never boring overnight companion.
Art's show lasted until the early 2000's, when certain issues arose and he had to quit broadcasting. His legacy, Coast To Coast AM, continues to this day across the US every night on several hundred stations, seven nights a week, hosted primarily by George Noory.
Art Bell died inexplicably on Friday night, April 13th. It was a shock to me, as I thought he was doing well with his young wife and child. He was only 72.
RIP Art Bell. Your stories will never be forgotten. By now you probably know the solutions to all the mysteries your show explored. May you always be at peace.
