Art's Return - Main Issues To Overcome

[Wintermute]

Like most fans I know, we are holding out hope for a few more Art Bell shows. However we also know that the landscape of what "radio" is today has changed greatly in the past 10 years. And without being too much of a jerk, Art has some major hurdles to jump.

So what are the main drawbacks / issues Art will have to overcome when he decides to broadcast on the Internet only?

1. Schedule - Anyone in broadcasting knows that regular, pre-defined schedules for your listener base is a requirement. To build an audience, the audience has to know when new content will be available. If Art wants to run a show with "open lines" as part of the show content, then a schedule is paramount or no one will know when to call. 

2. Handling Calls - Unless he will have a PBX + SIP in his home, he will have to rely on Skye-esque technology for caller interaction. According to his own comments regarding SiriusXM and using Skype-esque stuff, it is too restrictive since it is Internet-only and some of his audience are truckers.

3. Technology - If Art can build a larger fanbase, he will need to use a hosted service provider, not a local provider. Bluehost, Godaddy... that kind of thing. Odds are he will not be able to do it himself. That means hiring someone to get the service running or piggybacking on someone elses Tier-1 service. Not to mention that online streaming also plays into that restrictive issue in #2 above. Maybe Keith Rowland can pull it off? But I don't know any indies that have 5-nines uptime.

4. Video - The competition all have studio video feeds online. and in most cases, services like UStream end up being more cost effective anyway for broadcasting audio at scale. Even though Art used to post pictures, he never has had to deal with a studio cam.

5. Money - #2 and #3 above require money. Odds are that Art has the startup capital to put the pieces together. But to sustain it for a reasonable amount of time, he will have to monetize the content in some way. It will have to be more than just 30sec spots for C.Crane radios. And any advertiser will demand #1 above to guarantee ad reach. If his show is to be "free", this is a big issue.


It is really easy to take these things for granted. After all having a contract with a broadcaster takes care of the majority of the points above, which is why broadcast networks have an upper hand at any negotiation. But it is not impossible. Joe Rogan pulls it off. He has a lot more name recognition and money though. The good thing is that if Art was 100% serious, he will have had 24 months to plan and line all of this up. It is very doable in far less time.

So even though I and others hold out hope for an Art Bell show like the past, I think what we will get will be something very different. Not broadcasting live and just doing podcast saves a ton of money and production. However in Art's medium of call-in talk, it's a major content change.

Who knows?

[Miranda]

Rebuilding the trust and interest of his listeners. After last year's Sirius fiasco, there have got to be a lot of people who have simply given up on him. As for me, if he does give it a go again next year, I'll be listening, but I don't think I'll be able to muster the enthusiasm that I had this time last year looking forward to the new Dark Matter show. And he's going to need to venture out from his mainstay guests from 20 years ago. Fresh material is a must.

[malliard]

internet radio is alot different then radio of 20 years ago.

you pose alot of interesting points. and i dont see any building interest in any of them.

Yes schedule is part of it, i would think you get a host into that slot asap on dark matter going live, no matter how good the host may be.
to build people in thinking about a live internet based show with call ins at that time.

yes as a show host, handling live calls is a nightmare, inless someone knows a program or system i dont.. i guess blog talk has a good system( i have never used it) but they have horrid audio.

yes the sever demands would be huge even with the xm numbers and i havent seen anymore manage it to this date.

i wish keith, art and the rest of the team the best, but the game has changed.

[nextgen.fm]

IS His no compete over in September???

[mattjs2732]

IS His no compete over in September???

Art has stated that he will "be back in July 2015."

I am assuming he signed the NC in July 2013, 2.5 months before he started DM.

[mattjs2732]

5. Money - #2 and #3 above require money. Odds are that Art has the startup capital to put the pieces together. But to sustain it for a reasonable amount of time, he will have to monetize the content in some way. It will have to be more than just 30sec spots for C.Crane radios. And any advertiser will demand #1 above to guarantee ad reach. If his show is to be "free", this is a big issue.

You forget, that this is a man who is like many other ham operators, who is willing to throw vast amounts of money into their hobby (including me.) This is a hobby for Art. I don't see this as being a big thing.

[ks3484]

Like most fans I know, we are holding out hope for a few more Art Bell shows. However we also know that the landscape of what "radio" is today has changed greatly in the past 10 years. And without being too much of a jerk, Art has some major hurdles to jump.

So what are the main drawbacks / issues Art will have to overcome when he decides to broadcast on the Internet only?

1. Schedule - Anyone in broadcasting knows that regular, pre-defined schedules for your listener base is a requirement. To build an audience, the audience has to know when new content will be available. If Art wants to run a show with "open lines" as part of the show content, then a schedule is paramount or no one will know when to call. 

If I'm not mistaken i believe that Art addressed this issue when he posted the following...

"Art Bell
April 1 near Pahrump, NV

The Bell Family is well indeed! My new show will air from 9PM-1AM PT. If Sirius would free me from my non-compete it would have been 7-10 PT but while I understand both CC and Sirius did what they had to do, Karma is a Bitch. It will Stream for free and Podcasts will be available."

2. Handling Calls - Unless he will have a PBX + SIP in his home, he will have to rely on Skye-esque technology for caller interaction. According to his own comments regarding SiriusXM and using Skype-esque stuff, it is too restrictive since it is Internet-only and some of his audience are truckers.

Don't forget, Art is a radio Ham he and Ramona built their own radio station from the ground up.
Before Sirius/XM he always handled his own calls. It was probably a union thing at Sirius/XM so he had to use a screener.

3. Technology - If Art can build a larger fanbase, he will need to use a hosted service provider, not a local provider. Bluehost, Godaddy... that kind of thing. Odds are he will not be able to do it himself. That means hiring someone to get the service running or piggybacking on someone elses Tier-1 service. Not to mention that online streaming also plays into that restrictive issue in #2 above. Maybe Keith Rowland can pull it off? But I don't know any indies that have 5-nines uptime.

Once again, don't forget that Art has the resources to build his own radio station. He's done it before, and Keith has been in the internet/radio game with Art for 2 or 3 decades.

4. Video - The competition all have studio video feeds online. and in most cases, services like UStream end up being more cost effective anyway for broadcasting audio at scale. Even though Art used to post pictures, he never has had to deal with a studio cam.

If you get the chance you might want to stroll through some of the early c2c web pages. Art was one of the first to have a studio cam.

Congress' archives have over 277 web site snap shots of Art's and Keith's early web pages. The very top banner (not the 9-11 one), but the very top one will allow you to scroll through all 277 web snap shots::

10/03/2001 - #1

http://webarchive.loc.gov/lcwa0001/20011002203334/http://www.artbell.com/


9/16/2002 = #277

http://webarchive.loc.gov/lcwa0001/20020916123936/http://www.artbell.com/

5. Money - #2 and #3 above require money. Odds are that Art has the startup capital to put the pieces together. But to sustain it for a reasonable amount of time, he will have to monetize the content in some way. It will have to be more than just 30sec spots for C.Crane radios. And any advertiser will demand #1 above to guarantee ad reach. If his show is to be "free", this is a big issue.

When Premiere Radio bought c2c from Art and Alan they paid them $9 million or $10 million dollars for just that one show, so Art is very well off. As are many of his friends. But if he asks for more investors or donations... I'm in.....

[George Drooly]

6. Mental illness

[cweb]

4. Video - The competition all have studio video feeds online. and in most cases, services like UStream end up being more cost effective anyway for broadcasting audio at scale. Even though Art used to post pictures, he never has had to deal with a studio cam.

Color me naive, but is video really that big of a deal for a radio show? If he's going to be testing servers, he needs to start with audio-only. Once they're able to weather any storms with that bandwidth requirement, then maybe it's time to think about video. And even then, a lower-framerate studio cam is plenty.

Personally, I never end up watching any video of talk radio shows or podcasts. Unless there's going to be frequent imagery, you're wasting bandwidth in my opinion. (And if there IS going to be imagery, you have to wrestle with getting it into the system and switching it. Which isn't hard, but it's another set of plates to spin during the show.)

Just my take. I could be totally wrong, maybe people want high-quality high-framerate video of a guy talking. But my main connection to the content is listening, and if the visual gets repetitive I tend to drift.

[williedee]

3. Technology - If Art can build a larger fanbase, he will need to use a hosted service provider, not a local provider. Bluehost, Godaddy... that kind of thing. Odds are he will not be able to do it himself. That means hiring someone to get the service running or piggybacking on someone elses Tier-1 service. Not to mention that online streaming also plays into that restrictive issue in #2 above. Maybe Keith Rowland can pull it off? But I don't know any indies that have 5-nines uptime.

The only bandwidth Art needs at his home would be for the single stream he's putting out. The rest is handled by Icecast/Shoutcast servers with dedicated network access of 1000 mbps. To add capacity, all one needs to do is set up relays. Look into the way Alex Jones runs his radio program. They have dozens of servers sharing the load that could easily scale to 20,000+ concurrent listeners.

[Uncle Duke]

Rebuilding the trust and interest of his listeners. After last year's Sirius fiasco, there have got to be a lot of people who have simply given up on him. As for me, if he does give it a go again next year, I'll be listening, but I don't think I'll be able to muster the enthusiasm that I had this time last year looking forward to the new Dark Matter show. And he's going to need to venture out from his mainstay guests from 20 years ago. Fresh material is a must.

Great post, all the technology in the world is worthless if he can't get his listeners back and find some decent guests.  He's also going to have to accept both his guests and callers will be using cell phones, land lines are going/have gone the way of TV rabbit ears and telegrams.

[cweb]

The only bandwidth Art needs at his home would be for the single stream he's putting out. The rest is handled by Icecast/Shoutcast servers with dedicated network access of 1000 mbps. To add capacity, all one needs to do is set up relays. Look into the way Alex Jones runs his radio program. They have dozens of servers sharing the load that could easily scale to 20,000+ concurrent listeners.

Ah, good point. The next question is... would Art do it this way? And is this how DMRN is being run? Sounds like a good idea!

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

Apart from the technical issues, I just think Art has lost credibility with listeners as well as his own self-confidence.  It seemed like Dark Matter was his swan song, and a very sad one after a brilliant career.

[Chaim]

I think the main problem with all this esoteric/alien/ancient history stuff is - we've heard is ALL 100 times already and there's not much new things getting revealed except some made up BS from obvious conartists.
So Art Bell was exciting in the 80's 90's 2000s... but now talking about the same old is just like beating a dead horse.
I think to be relevant he has to at least cover more of government corruption and things like Alex Jones does cover.
Sure, the occasional ghosts/annunaki/nephilim/aliens stuff is always great but you can't run a show only on this ancient and mostly debunked topics.
Only exception is Hoaxland - he's always fun to listen to no matter how stupid the stuff is he says.

[malliard]

well, DMRN broadcasts at 32kbps the only network i have ever seen or been part of that uses that rate, most use 64, others 128...just sayin

[Chaim]

well, DMRN broadcasts at 32kbps the only network i have ever seen or been part of that uses that rate, most use 64, others 128...just sayin

that is good enough for talk radio - if it is free anyway. subs should get a better bitrate and access to downloads in HQ.

[Lt.Uhura]

The technical aspects of Art's new show can be worked out depending on the numbers of listeners.  As far as the old land line phone vs cell phone quality issues I think Art was pleased by the quality of the callers via Skype, which came in clear during his Sirius XM shows.  Radio will find a way to adapt to new technology, whether Internet or terrestrial.

More important I think, is content.  There are far too many talk radio shows where a paranoid host and his callers spew anger, invite fear, and encourage divisiveness.  While Art has taken on controversial topics, he has always fostered intelligent discourse, maintained his marvelous sense of humor, and held his show to a standard that invited listeners of different ages, races, cultures, religions, and political views.  My favorite of Art's shows were those where the topic explored the space between the physical & metaphysical, science & science fiction.  Many of the old regulars like Streiber, Howe, Hoagland, really strained credibility and seem better suited for the current C2C.  If Art can bring on more guests at the level of Kaku, Shostak, I'm ready to ride.

[Heather Wade]

Apart from the technical issues, I just think Art has lost credibility with listeners as well as his own self-confidence.  It seemed like Dark Matter was his swan song, and a very sad one after a brilliant career.

No way will Art let that last sour treat be the coup de grace, if you know/ listened to him at all.  But, he may very well have lost some credibility, through misunderstanding, if nothing else.

The technical aspects of Art's new show can be worked out depending on the numbers of listeners.  As far as the old land line phone vs cell phone quality issues I think Art was pleased by the quality of the callers via Skype, which came in clear during his Sirius XM shows.  Radio will find a way to adapt to new technology, whether Internet or terrestrial.

More important I think, is content.  There are far too many talk radio shows where a paranoid host and his callers spew anger, invite fear, and encourage divisiveness.  While Art has taken on controversial topics, he has always fostered intelligent discourse, maintained his marvelous sense of humor, and held his show to a standard that invited listeners of different ages, races, cultures, religions, and political views.  My favorite of Art's shows were those where the topic explored the space between the physical & metaphysical, science & science fiction.  Many of the old regulars like Streiber, Howe, Hoagland, really strained credibility and seem better suited for the current C2C.  If Art can bring on more guests at the level of Kaku, Shostak, I'm ready to ride.

Agreed.   I have a feeling the reason Keith Rowland has been Art's webmaster for so long is that he may be capable of overcoming these minor annoyances. 


And, yes, the content.  Art can bring the content like no one else can, and he knows it.  He knows full well that as soon as he returns to the air, it's a matter of time before he steals the crown of whatever time slot he chooses (hopefully late night).  I have a feeling that, in the meantime, he's lining up guests, making contacts, and honing his blade.

[nooryisawesome]

I think the main problem with all this esoteric/alien/ancient history stuff is - we've heard is ALL 100 times already and there's not much new things getting revealed except some made up BS from obvious conartists.
So Art Bell was exciting in the 80's 90's 2000s... but now talking about the same old is just like beating a dead horse.
I think to be relevant he has to at least cover more of government corruption and things like Alex Jones does cover.
Sure, the occasional ghosts/annunaki/nephilim/aliens stuff is always great but you can't run a show only on this ancient and mostly debunked topics.
Only exception is Hoaxland - he's always fun to listen to no matter how stupid the stuff is he says.

Bell will NEVER do shows like Alex Jones. If you want to listen to that stuff, listen to Jones.
There are plenty of other options too, jeff Rense, John b wells, etc.

Bell said he is done with doing politics based shows, and only mentions politics when there is a major story or  some overlap with the guest he has on. Bell has mentioned multiple times the reasons C2C sucks right now is that it is too like Alex Jones.

I think Dark Matter was great and had no issues. When Bell was on the Spec Sheet, he also stated he thought Dark Matter was a quality show. It did seem a little ill prepared though, not having a different call in number ( which art didn't know), etc.

I think Art should either handle more of the pre- show work himself, which is unlikely given his age. OR hire a more competent producer than his friend Paul. Paul is a nice enough guy, but being Art's buddy should not make him auto-qualified as Bell's right hand man.

Again, I think Art will not have the patience to build a caller base the traditional podcast way. He will need radio affiliates, to accomplish his stated goal of a caller driven show. I hope Bell will realize this.

[TheMan WhoFell ToEarth]

I just hope Art will have true patience.  If he really has an interest in building his audience back, he has to realize it's gonna take time.  Especially if he thinks he's going to get as many calls as he used to.  At some point he's going to have to accept the fact that people don't use landlines anymore, many people don't even own landlines.  He's gonna be getting a lot of calls not only from cell phones but from things like Skype that allow phone communications over the internet.

He also can't freak out over every little technical niggle that pops up.  The stream is dropping for people with shitty connections, people in Botswana say they can't get the show, I just can't do this anymore Keith, I quit. 

He should also look seriously into getting affiliates and simulcasting the show on actual radio.  I have serious doubts Art is going to really do the right things and be willing to do what he needs to do to have the show work and succeed.  I don't know, it's tough to say, I really want to believe in the man, but last fall left a sour taste in all of our mouths. 


If the show does take off and he sticks with it, the biggest thing he needs to overcome is his stale material.  Ditch the snores and scams from the 90s, stick with some new blood.  If we get another first week dominated by assholes like Reed and Greer, I'm going to be very turned off.

[Lt.Uhura]

Bell said he is done with doing politics based shows, and only mentions politics when there is a major story or  some overlap with the guest he has on. Bell has mentioned multiple times the reasons C2C sucks right now is that it is too like Alex Jones.

True that.  I recently heard a replay of an AB C2C show from the 90s where an upcoming election was the main topic.  Several of the candidate's names mentioned were names nobody would recognize today.  These type of shows might generate excitement at the time, but ultimately they're ephemeral rather than historical and don't make good replays.  Another show covered the always controversial gun issue, discussing regulation one way or another.  This is one of those incendiary subjects that triggers the lizard brain, where people always end up yelling and talking over each other, thus serving no purpose to inform or entertain whatsoever.

[b_dubb]

Art

[Disheartened]

Art

I agree.

[jazmunda]

Let me preface this by saying that I am one of Art's biggest fans. I have been listening since the mid 90s and continue to listen to his classic shows daily. I would listen to Art Bell 24/7 if it was socially acceptable. If Art returns I will be there on day one listening live, live posting and saving the replays to listen again. If he wants donations I will assist. I he charges for premium content I will fork out the cash. I may even call in once in a while.

Having said all that I firmly believe that Art will not be back and not because of Scheduling, Handling of Calls, Technology, Video, Money, Number of Listeners, yadda yadda.

I truly believe that Art will not be back because his heart just isn't in it. I will not be surprised if we see a tweet/facebook message that says something to that effect and that he doesn't want to do something half assed as we can already get that nightly.

I will be thrilled to be proven wrong.

[jazmunda]

I will add that I think it is disappointing that Art has not being active on social media during his forced hiatus as this would be the perfect way for him to build an audience. He has nearly 13,000 people following him on Facebook and he could be posting his thoughts on any topic from paranormal to political to the occasional coq pic (jk). These comments would be retweeted and shared thereby building a bigger audience. Silence does not generate any excitement. And this also leads me to believe that his heart isn't in it. Prove me wrong Art. I like the taste of humble pie.

[nooryisawesome]

I will add that I think it is disappointing that Art has not being active on social media during his forced hiatus as this would be the perfect way for him to build an audience. He has nearly 13,000 people following him on Facebook and he could be posting his thoughts on any topic from paranormal to political to the occasional coq pic (jk). These comments would be retweeted and shared thereby building a bigger audience. Silence does not generate any excitement. And this also leads me to believe that his heart isn't in it. Prove me wrong Art. I like the taste of humble pie.

The problem is Art has always been a recluse. He doesn't like speaking publicly, doing interviews, posting to social media, etc.

He has always been this way.

[Dateline]

Here is my input for topic expansion.  Use the approach that Ian did.  Include unusual topics, some true crime, modern topics with a twist.  In the midst of that include the normal UFO, paranormal and so forth, but diversify. 

If I recall Art was a reader.  Maybe if he is reading some current nonfiction, get the author on to interview about the book.  If he is reading the book anyway, no or little show prep would be involved.  The author would get increased publicity. 

I remember one of the topics that he interviewed someone on, and it might have been while he was a part-time host for Coast.  I listened with my ears transfixed.  You will not believe this, but the topic was about someone who had become Amish and their lifestyle.  It was interesting, and I learned a lot about an uncommon topic.  I still remember that show although I have only listened to it once.  That is just an example.  He could do this maybe three times a week.  Jimmy Church, yes Jimmy Church could round out the rest of the week, and you would have a satisfied listener.

[jazmunda]

The problem is Art has always been a recluse. He doesn't like speaking publicly, doing interviews, posting to social media, etc.

He has always been this way.

Recluses have few people listening to them without the power of 500 affiliates to back them up.

If he doesn't get the word out there then he'll only get calls for me and nobody including me wants that to happen.

[nooryisawesome]

Here is my input for topic expansion.  Use the approach that Ian did.  Include unusual topics, some true crime, modern topics with a twist.  In the midst of that include the normal UFO, paranormal and so forth, but diversify. 

If I recall Art was a reader.  Maybe if he is reading some current nonfiction, get the author on to interview about the book.  If he is reading the book anyway, no or little show prep would be involved.  The author would get increased publicity. 

Art did all of this on C2C , in the archive their are former FBI people, law enforcement who did the true time bit. Art frequently had on the authors of books he was reading as well. Tess (forget last name) was on a lot she wrote a lot of books, strange medical tales and things like that.
When Art comes back I think he will continue with the concept. Even on Dark Matter he had on McAfee. He also had on a spy, which he also had similar guest back in his C2C days. Had Dark matter lasted longer I think their would have been more varied guests.

Recluses have few people listening to them without the power of 500 affiliates to back them up.

If he doesn't get the word out there then he'll only get calls for me and nobody including me wants that to happen.

You're exactly right. Which is why I think radio affiliates are so vital. Even a handful in major cities would go a long way in building a caller base.

[TheMan WhoFell ToEarth]

Art

Perfectly said.

Even on Dark Matter he had on McAfee. He also had on a spy, which he also had similar guest back in his C2C days. Had Dark matter lasted longer I think their would have been more varied guests.

This is something that really needs to be emphasized.  Art had some great guests on DM, McAfee, Faddis, Shostak.  He had perfectly interesting new guests and legitimate established people.  I think the shows that let Art move forward rather than look back were incredible, and some of the DM stuff easily rivaled classic Coast shows.  I really hope Art takes that to heart if he comes back and sticks around.