Art Bell Quits Dark Matter

[For Whom the Bell Tolls]

Art,
         I can't tell you how upset I am right now. I may be even more upset than yesterday when first hearing about this. I've spent about 575 for a radio,home boombox, car port ,and year subscription to LISTEN TO ONLY YOU. I'm far from wealthy and that is a HUGE amount for me and my family,but luckily the wife gave me the green light because she knew how much enjoyment I get from your show. Anything new in life is a work in progress as is your relationship with XM. There were bound to be bumps in the road,but we don't just bail. We make an HONEST effort to make things work. You've read this a million times already so I am not going to rehash that,but PLEASE...since you brought us into this relationship with XM you should HONESTLY work with them and come to some kind of compromise that works towards the type of program you need. If this turns out to be a long term issue I would understand a bit more. But to just bail and leave us in the rearview mirror without giving it your best shot after bringing us in is not right. DO THE RIGHT THING ART. If you want this to work, YOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN there is no doubt in my mind. Collaboration as you know goes a long way. There is nothing here that can not be improved or fixed the way you need it to be to run the show you and we want. PLEASE at least try.
Thanks,
Dan

[TumbleWeed]

True, but Art has a terrible flaw too. Being 68 year old or whatever he still hasn't grown up yet.

That is a problem. But I don't give a damn if it means i have interesting stuff to listen too.

Nothing can beat listening to art while i'm in my boat, in the middle of a my favorite lake in the middle of the night.
Nothing.

[cmilviper]

Hi there, I am now on the site, I tried Yesterday but it would not take my PW, I tried to change it because I thought I might
not have remembered it correctly. Today it is taking my original PW just fine.

If it will help, I am sorry. I know many of you are angry in your usual style which I expected but there is nothing new I can say
that will make any of you feel any better. It is as I have said, I had hundreds of emails from people who tried the 30 day free
trial and were getting dropped left and right, Sirius was aware of the problem.(many of you know because you tried to
help with the error reporting)  I am sure some dropped because they did not like my show or just did not have the money, but
by far most dropped because of the drops. This was a problem that we talked to them virtually every day about and learned that
it would be a long term fix.

As I mentioned in my emails Yesterday the net effect was that my base was gone, those of you who listened to the show must
have noticed, I sure did, so I asked Sirius for a Year of free streaming or until they could fix the problem, they did offer a second
free 30 day trial but what point is there in that if people would have the same experience? Anything beyond that, they were unwilling
to do. It just did not make any sense to me that pirates were posting programs the next day and live streams were popping up all
over the place that did not even carry our commercials without anybody doing anything about it, just crazy. Why not stream until
the problem was fixed with our commercials? It was a widespread problem including here on Bell Gab, right? My thinking was and
still is that it would have drawn many more into the program, eventually becomming full subs.

I am still open to patching this up, but not without some tip of the hat to those that left because of the streaming problem, we even offered
to pay for the streaming ourselves until it could be fixed. Anyway I am here so feel free to continue to cut me up and you can be
sure I am absorbing your anger.

                                                                                                                                                         Art

                                                                                                                                                       


Again I am truly sorry to those who got caught in this and lost any money because you bought a radio or tried the NET.

ART BELL, 

YOU HAVE TO GIVE THIS MORE TIME.  YOU DO NOT WANT TO GO OUT THIS WAY.  YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, AND THIS COULD BE YOUR LAST SHOT TO AT LEAST LEAVE THE WAY YOU WANT TO.

PLEASE PATCH THINGS UP WITH SIRIUS!  WHEN IT IS TIME TO LEAVE, DO SO IN THE RIGHT WAY. 

***THIS WILL ALLOW YOUR LEGENDARY STATUS TO GROW IN THE FUTURE FOR YOUR FANS/FUTURE FANS ECT..........YOU DO NOT WANT TO LEAVE THIS AS IT IS, THAT IS FOR SURE!!!!***

[Art Bell]

 If I wanted to Retire I would have stayed Retired. I very much wanted to do the show or I simply would not
have started. I wanted to do the kind of show that you all wanted but with the base gone it really was impossible.
I love doing Radio, I really love it, but it has to be right. I had no way of knowing about the streaming problems
before starting, I do now see that there had been others:
http://siriusbuzz.com/art-bell-leaves-siriusxm.php

Maybe my heart was in it to much and I wanted it to be right. If we had done streaming until the problem was fixed
everything would have been fine. I am convinced that virtually nobody would have cancelled their vehical account
simply because we did what the Pirates were doing and streamed a legit make up WITH Sirius commercials only
until the problem was fixed for four hours on four days a Week. I think in the long run it would have increased their base.

All this said I am still open to going right back on if they will allow some make up for those who left because of the streaming
issues but this means until it is fixed.

Yes I have a NC, so either we make up or I have to stay off. It was a two Year contract and 75k was my big money. Trust me this was for love,
not money. I was only contracted for 3 Hours, I did 4 because I love it, not because I had to. Part of the reason for the last straw was
a post on here saying that Spooky matter was the weakest ever, it was and would have gotten worse. I depend on and always have
open line talk radio, some of the best shows I ever did came from all of you NOT regular Guests. I have always loved the truckers but that
just that was not going to be viable, it would not carry the show. If you listened closely I think you know I am right.

                                                                                                                                    Art

[Eddie Coyle]

        You damned dirty truckers! Art wants astrophysicists calling in.

[SixWeekTenure(tm)]

Hell, it seems like howard is getting ready to quit once his contract is up.

I suspect he'll renew even after his lawsuit failure. They're making so many changes to streamline the way his channels operate that Howard will stick around.

[Jackstar]

The quote is somewhere in this thread shithead, so why don't you go start at post #1 and work your way through it. MULTIPLE people posted Keith's quote,

Why? Is Keith Art's lawyer? No, he is not. You're an idiot.

so maybe you can go do your own digging for it.

I already did, and the reason why I was asking you (and your ilk) for links was to illuminate the fact that none of you know what the fuck any of you are talking about.

Point made.

He's as close to Art as it gets,

You're a complete idiot. Why wouldn't it be equally truthful to say that Keith is Art's disinformation agent?

so if he's not a reliable source for you, so be it, I could care less,

Well, really, demonstrably... you could post less, at any rate, if you cared less

because at this point, you're just doing everything you can to be an obtuse asshole,

You have an astonishingly narrow perception of what "doing everything (I) can" might be. I am just saying. I hope you have grander hopes for your children's potential, if anyone has indeed been so fortunate as to have become a recipient of your gametes.

Oh, I can just imagine the joy.

which is what you really need to change your name to.

Need is an illusion. I would go so far as to suggest as that your own exaggerated sense of self-importance is an illusion, as well.

The pathetic person is you, who obviously has nothing productive to do in life other than go to a message board and fuck with people.

1) I have way better things to do with my time, but in spite of how often Art Bell has called it quits... this is still a unique moment in history, so I think I'll continue to pay attention to current events, if you don't mind, thanks.

I'm not sure why a) I give a shit what you think, or b) how anyone would be benefited if I were to be taking your advice, but that's okay, thanks anyway.

2) I forgot what point two was, because: you're an idiot.

That speaks VOLUMES about you and your mentality level.

ba... baba... booey? Durkha durkha durkha jihad. Also, fuck your mother. I hope I have not failed your I.Q. test, I would be so distraught.

I made no claims about anything, I just answered your damn question, so if you don't like the answer, FUCK OFF, and make up your own mind!

Without context, your statement reads like a manifesto. Are you aware of that? I am just saying. P.S.: job openings in TSA.

[BillW50]

How does Howard and his massive audience get along just fine on SXM?

Yes, how? One would think if one couldn't get along with Sirius, it would be Howard. But you don't hear Howard acting like a child. Say, that sounds weird? How come Howard isn't acting a child anyway?

[RealCool Daddio]

I commented just the other day in another thread to the effect that the idea that "people are basically good" is a laughable conceit, and that unless constrained by early moral/religious teaching along with constant instruction and life in a society which highly values those moral/religious precepts, that humans will pretty much act just like selfish swine.

I was concerned that my opinion might have been too harsh. After all, saying that humans, unconstrained by moral or religious values, will always act in their self-interest regardless of harm to others or promises to do otherwise is a very tough pill for some to swallow; and an issue about which some might certainly disagree.

But then Art ups and pretty much conclusively proves my point.

This is the best "yo mamma" post on the Internet, ever.  Well done, Sardondi!

[malachi.martini]

Part of the reason for the last straw was a post on here saying that Spooky matter was the weakest ever, it was and would have gotten worse.

Our fault again.

[DanTSX]

The base is NOT gone Art.


You cannot tell this in 6 weeks let alone 6 months.



There are new listeners out there.  Sign ups and cancelations are nothing.  You need to capture existing subscribers.

[Jackstar]

If the quality of the callers was an issue, why not do a 2 hour show with maybe only a few callers, but do mostly interviews?

... how do you people think that media broadcasters get paid?

Truly, curious.

[BattyBrooke]

Art,
         I can't tell you how upset I am right now. I may be even more upset than yesterday when first hearing about this. I've spent about 575 for a radio,home boombox, car port ,and year subscription to LISTEN TO ONLY YOU. I'm far from wealthy and that is a HUGE amount for me and my family,but luckily the wife gave me the green light because she knew how much enjoyment I get from your show. Anything new in life is a work in progress as is your relationship with XM. There were bound to be bumps in the road,but we don't just bail. We make an HONEST effort to make things work. You've read this a million times already so I am not going to rehash that,but PLEASE...since you brought us into this relationship with XM you should HONESTLY work with them and come to some kind of compromise that works towards the type of program you need. If this turns out to be a long term issue I would understand a bit more. But to just bail and leave us in the rearview mirror without giving it your best shot after bringing us in is not right. DO THE RIGHT THING ART. If you want this to work, YOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN there is no doubt in my mind. Collaboration as you know goes a long way. There is nothing here that can not be improved or fixed the way you need it to be to run the show you and we want. PLEASE at least try.
Thanks,
Dan

For Whom the Bell Tolls? More like For Whom the Heart Breaks. I'm so sad for you, Dan! I am not being sarcastic either. Your post is the saddest, yet most well said of them all.

[IcicleTrepan]

Art,

The thing about a lot of folks on here is yes you are seeing anger, but that anger stems from hurt and disappointment.  Some of us have waited a very long time to have you come back.  To some of us, your old show was an important part of our lives before you left coast and you were like an old friend.  And we waited.. and hoped.. and after a decade or so we actually got you back.  And then you left us after 6 short weeks.

There are a lot of us who just wanted to hear Art Bell do whatever Art Bell was going to do, regardless of the guest or callers or dropped streaming problems.  We wanted to hear you. 

Can you imagine the anticipation and excitement of hearing your long lost friend is coming back, and waiting a couple of months for him to come back and then, in what seemed like a blink of an eye he's gone again.

I realize that it didn't happen this way, and you have your reasons.  But we also have our reasons.  You're 68 years old.  A lot of us started listening to you in our teens.  At some point in our lives you are going to die, and now it seems like 'this is it'.  All of that hope for a lot of us is gone now.  We've heard you have a 2 year non-compete.  If you are even alive in 2 years, I seriously doubt you will care much about being on the radio.  This was our last chance to keep you on the air as long as we could, and as it turns out that was 6 weeks.

I think a lot of people are upset because you're like the underdog we all love and we wanted to see do well.  For me, as well I imagine for many others here, your show back in the day was the only show I ever tried to follow on a regular basis.

We are all shocked, hurt, angry, to say the least.  To you it might just be a show, and a job that even though you enjoy..  it was something much more to us.  And now it's gone.  So for whatever reason, I guess really doesn't matter any more.  It's gone, and as so many have said, it's very unlikely we will hear your voice again for a multitude of reasons.

My only regret is becoming so attached to a radio show host that it actually emotionally impacts me in this way when the show is over.

So long Art.  I know you say there's still hope, but most of us already waited over a decade for that, and look what we got.  6 weeks.  it was great, and it is over.

[HorrorReporter]

I just called to cancel my service with XM, and they gave me a credit on my account but the woman gave me a one month free resubscribe him just in case the program comes back.. While the process was going on, she was speaking to me and it turns out she is from the Philippines!

See that Dave, there are no coincidences..

[DanTSX]

Our fault again.

Yeah one fucking asshole said that.

I enjoyed spooky matter.  One of the few nights my spouse stays up late with me to hear you. 

[HumanBeing]

Nah, you've got it wrong  :

Art is the hot chick you'd have done anything to score with, but in the end was always just a tease.

Noory is the butterface that you could always screw because her parents both worked, but you had no intentions of ever letting anyone know you were fucking.

Yep... Noory is used to being bent over a corporate desk. He'll jump at the opportunity to sing you an Elvis tune while you 'work' 

Meanwhile Art was that guy who walked around like he had some huge balls. Just a man with a big dick swinging in the wind. Saying no to corporate because he knew he had the backing of his most loyal listeners. But he couldn't give a shit about us loyal listeners nowadays. Which clearly can only mean one thing... he has tiny tiny balls. Little tiny ones. So tiny. You need an electron microscope people.. so that kind of tiny... Yep.

Eat a big fat dick Art.

Bullshit reason for quitting.
Yeah Art SiriusXM would never be able to fix any sort of alleged streaming issues... drips with sarcasm
I would put forth a hypothesis that the data you received is highly biased data and can not be used to accurately measure the true effects of any claimed problems with inter-connectivity.

[Eddie Coyle]

Our fault again.

   Always. I hope he knows MV doesn't allow QUITTING here.

[DontFearTheReaper]

Alot of people on here claim that all the hosts bitch and moan about the streaming problems.
I don't listen too them, but I feel it's true.
Hell, it seems like howard is getting ready to quit once his contract is up.

Stern has been threatening to quit from the moment he started at SiriusXM. I guess the only difference is that he's never followed through on it.

[DanTSX]

This is ridiculous.

The show was six weeks

The callers were fine

The guests were fine.

Art was great

The technology worked great

What the fuck.

[BillW50]

If I wanted to Retire I would have stayed Retired.                                                   Art

Come on Art! A few having stream problems isn't an excuse. Many of us haven't had any stream problems. Well duh... if it doesn't effect everybody... just maybe... maybe it isn't Sirius fault! Did you ever think of that! I serious doubt it!

[tprainbow]

Yeah one fucking asshole said that.

I enjoyed spooky matter.  One of the few nights my spouse stays up late with me to hear you.

I listened to spooky matter again lastnight to try to figure out what all the fuss was about after this explosion. Enjoyed it entirely. It just needs more time Art! Also Mr Bell, can you just tell us what you need us to do in order to get you back on the Air tonight? Who do we need to call? Whats the strategy? Heeeeeeellllllppppppppp.

[Eddie Coyle]

Stern has been threatening to quit from the moment he started at SiriusXM. I guess the only difference is that he's never followed through on it.

     Exactly. Stern was fired 28 years ago by WNBC...but he never quit.

[zeebo]

If I wanted to Retire I would have stayed Retired. I very much wanted to do the show or I simply would not
have started. I wanted to do the kind of show that you all wanted but with the base gone it really was impossible.

Art thanks for posting, and trying to explain the situation.  I hope you can find a way to work things out.  In spite of all the angry posts here, I think most of us just want to have you back on the air someway/somehow. 

[Coz]

If I wanted to Retire I would have stayed Retired. I very much wanted to do the show or I simply would not
have started. I wanted to do the kind of show that you all wanted but with the base gone it really was impossible.
I love doing Radio, I really love it, but it has to be right. I had no way of knowing about the streaming problems
before starting, I do now see that there had been others:
http://siriusbuzz.com/art-bell-leaves-siriusxm.php

Maybe my heart was in it to much and I wanted it to be right. If we had done streaming until the problem was fixed
everything would have been fine. I am convinced that virtually nobody would have cancelled their vehical account
simply because we did what the Pirates were doing and streamed a legit make up WITH Sirius commercials only
until the problem was fixed for four hours on four days a Week. I think in the long run it would have increased their base.

All this said I am still open to going right back on if they will allow some make up for those who left because of the streaming
issues but this means until it is fixed.

Yes I have a NC, so either we make up or I have to stay off. It was a two Year contract and 75k was my big money. Trust me this was for love,
not money. I was only contracted for 3 Hours, I did 4 because I love it, not because I had to. Part of the reason for the last straw was
a post on here saying that Spooky matter was the weakest ever, it was and would have gotten worse. I depend on and always have
open line talk radio, some of the best shows I ever did came from all of you NOT regular Guests. I have always loved the truckers but that
just that was not going to be viable, it would not carry the show. If you listened closely I think you know I am right.

                                                                                                                                    Art

Sorry Art,

Sounds like crap to me. I'm old guard... used to listen to you when you were only in Vegas and your show skipped into Chicago. I joined Sirius for you, and only you.

For God's sake- I'm a ham. I use radios that are tune-able. Not this new digital crap.

Finish your contract out brother. Your base is there.

[Spinner]

What many of you who were not involved behind the scenes do not understand is that all that was
done day after day without result. There wee many meetings and a lot of talking but in the end it was
still not resolved. I know it seemed all at once to you but trust me it was not.

                                                                                                                              Art

I remember several shows where you mentioned that you were talking with Sirius about the technical problems, and that Sirius was "working on it." Listeners to the stream had problems from day one ( this can be confirmed by reading the "Live Show" discussion threads). I have no idea how much effort Sirius put into fixing the problems, but the fact is that even after six weeks, the issues had not been fixed.
And then there was that mysterious "outage" of about 8~9 minutes on Tuesday night. What the hell was that?!

I want to believe that you were trying to get Sirius to fix the problems in order to give the listeners a better experience, but I wish you wouldn't have gone so far as to quit.
C'mon, Art. We want to hear your show.
Any Art Bell show is better than none.

[McPhallus]

I wonder how many people are digging up that poor bastard's username as we speak.

Yeah one fucking asshole said that.

I enjoyed spooky matter.  One of the few nights my spouse stays up late with me to hear you.

[IcicleTrepan]

C'mon, Art. We want to hear your show.
Any Art Bell show is better than none.

[fave]

If I wanted to Retire I would have stayed Retired. I very much wanted to do the show or I simply would not
have started. I wanted to do the kind of show that you all wanted but with the base gone it really was impossible.
I love doing Radio, I really love it, but it has to be right. I had no way of knowing about the streaming problems
before starting, I do now see that there had been others:
http://siriusbuzz.com/art-bell-leaves-siriusxm.php

Maybe my heart was in it to much and I wanted it to be right. If we had done streaming until the problem was fixed
everything would have been fine. I am convinced that virtually nobody would have cancelled their vehical account
simply because we did what the Pirates were doing and streamed a legit make up WITH Sirius commercials only
until the problem was fixed for four hours on four days a Week. I think in the long run it would have increased their base.

All this said I am still open to going right back on if they will allow some make up for those who left because of the streaming
issues but this means until it is fixed.

Yes I have a NC, so either we make up or I have to stay off. It was a two Year contract and 75k was my big money. Trust me this was for love,
not money. I was only contracted for 3 Hours, I did 4 because I love it, not because I had to. Part of the reason for the last straw was
a post on here saying that Spooky matter was the weakest ever, it was and would have gotten worse. I depend on and always have
open line talk radio, some of the best shows I ever did came from all of you NOT regular Guests. I have always loved the truckers but that
just that was not going to be viable, it would not carry the show. If you listened closely I think you know I am right.

                                                                                                                                    Art

Art, I think you were wrong to leave, you need to get back on the air and complete your 2 years or try to negotiate it to a lower time frame. As you said it's us who have made some of your best shows, and we have been behind you. However I think that if you wait it out for 2 years until your NC is over it will really be over.

There has and always will be other streams and pirating, it won't stop no matter where you go. Go back to Sirius and continue what you started. The pirate live streams will take care of those that can't use Sirius, other such as myself will gladly call them back up and re-subscribe.

However if it ends here so be it. It's been a long good ride, just shorter than we all had hope. Good luck in what ever you do.

[DanTSX]

Jesus Art, pull your socks up dammit! 

It's been six weeks.  30 shows.

The audience will grow.

Whatever issues you explain were dealbreakers, were transparent to 99% of your listeners.