It’s only been six weeks since famed paranormal radio host Art Bell returned to the airwaves and now his new show on SiriusXM has been abruptly terminated. Bell is widely known as the co-founder and original host of the hugely successful Coast to Coast AM radio show. He retired, allegedly for good, in 2003 to spend more time with his family but SiriusXM offered him a spot that was too good to pass up…or so it seemed.
His much anticipated return to radio was announced in July to much fanfare. SiriuxXM stated that they would be the “exclusive home to legendary radio personality Art Bell, marking the return of the trailblazing late night host to radio with a new, expanded live, nightly call-in show on which he will explore the paranormal, unexplained and more with expert guests and listeners nationwide.”
The show premiered on September 16th but the show was rife with problems from the start. Illegal streaming of the show and the 1001 errors individuals were experiencing with the SiriusXM app prompted Bell to ask the satellite radio network to stream live free from his website. “It’s a systemic problem. For a caller-driven show like this one, speaking only to people on cell phones in moving vehicles is somewhat difficult.” When Sirius came back with a firm negative answer, both parties agreed to part ways.
ArtBell.com informed fans of the cancellation but included a small glimmer of hope for his die-hard listeners:
“We are sorry that Dark Matter on SiriusXM has come to an abrupt end. We’ll examine our options and may be able to return in a different format and medium. In the mean time, ArtBell.com will still operate as long as financially possible, hoping for a workable solution to bring Art back to you, soon. Keep checking back here often.”
For now, all we can do is sit back and wait. Perhaps someone will come along to save the founding king of paranormal radio and return him to the airwaves (free of charge this time).
