BellGab.com Archive

He may try.  The Sirius fiasco was pretty much nail in the coffin for me, though.

He had an infrastructure that was supporting him, supplied him with equipment, etc.  His expectations were too high for a guy who had been off the air in a full-time capacity that long.  No matter what he does, it's likely going to be smaller at this point and require some building, and it seems like an over-reaction to draw a line in the sand asking them to change their entire business model instead of working with what you have and watering the seeds, tending the garden (no shortcut to growing, it's time + work).  Sirius was probably as good as its going to get, professionally, for a retired radio host.  He had all the momentum he was going to get in terms of his old fans, many of whom are disappointed.  I don't mind being proven wrong, but I will be very surprised if that happens.

I feel a lot better about everything having read Art's  comments over the past day.  Looking forward to listening again sometime. 

Quote from: Luna on November 05, 2013, 03:04:57 AM
It's pagan inspired.

My bad; striking coincidence!

Quote from: Luna on November 05, 2013, 02:46:04 AM
I'm not a midget. I posted this earlier.
http://imageshack.us/a/img823/2209/zv7y.jpg

The forehead crescent + handle = Sailor Moon fan, I presume?

Just introduced my daughter to SM last year, she's seven and took to it right away.  Part of growing up in '90s, not unlike Art Bell. 

Quote from: Agent : Orange on November 05, 2013, 01:52:31 AM
I'm actually a fan of Stern, I think a lot of the stuff that he does is quite funny and he makes for an interesting and articulate interview when he's into it. I'm a fan, I'll admit it.

But I'd rather have Art any day of the week.

I feel you --- I think sometimes Howard Stern fans are in a naturally defensive position because in most cases, when you acknowledge you like him, you have to explain that "he's not what you think!"

I'd like them both on Sirius, honestly!

Quote from: (Redacted) on November 05, 2013, 01:51:50 AM
Never heard of him.

Indeed.

Quote from: littlechris on November 05, 2013, 01:48:03 AM
this just posted at artbell.com:

To All Our Fans, Listeners and Web Visitors

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.

Sounds like he may possibly go back on air, who knows.

I think he may find it even more of an uphill battle than what was possible within the existing infrastructure of Sirius.

LOL I just want to defend Stern a little.  His show is deeper than some of those examples might suggest, although I won't deny that's part of it.  It's an interesting psychodrama over time, and his interviewing chops are genuinely impressive.  Art was the first talk radio guy I got into at 16, Stern I started watching on E! around the same time and only got to listen to in the Sirius era.  Each impacted me in meaningful ways, though I would understand some incredulous reactions at that statement from a distance.

Quote from: SciFiAuthor on November 05, 2013, 01:01:10 AM
From Art:

Michael,

I saw a post recently on Bell Gab that said the Spooky Matter show was the weakest ever. I agree, and it would be downhill from there under
the current situation. I thought it was entirely reasonable to ask for a Year to try and reach the users who had tried the 30 day trial and
threw up their hands and left. All I wanted was streaming that worked. The success of my original show and the new show depended
on callers, many of my best shows were as a result of open lines. Yes I could fill the lines with truckers, bless their hearts, but I could not
have made the kind of show that you and all the other callers had a right to expect. Cell phones just do not work well going down the street
at 70 MPH.

I had hundreds of email's from people who had left because of a stream that kept cutting out, that was my base and all I wanted was to
keep that group, so I asked for free streaming for a Year or until they could fix the problem, they said no, so rather than have a show go
downhill I chose to end it. Doing a quality program is very important to me. I understand some people will hate my guts for it but sometimes
that is what we buy with our decisions. I made this choice for the show, not me. I love doing the show but not in a half ass way.

Is it a 100% done deal? As it sits, yes. It is my position that if they let me stream until the problems are fixed I would be back at the mike in a second
but I think they will not do so. That is the situation in a nutshell. BTW my Producer agrees as does my friend Bob Crane who saw his sales start
well, get better, then sharply decline as people got frustrated and dropped.

                                                                                                                                                 Art

That's a lot of projection on the basis of six weeks. 

Ten years gone and shifting to a pay service --- sure, there will be an initial bump due to the excitement --- but after things settle it is ultimately a new distribution model and requires adjusting, it won't be like it was.  Can't force the old expectations into the new format.  Takes time to rebuild.  In the meantime, had freedom to experiment, a guaranteed core audience like others have pointed out.  All the tools needed to make it into something.

Feels like Art gave up and is rationalizing it.  Does someone open a restaurant, have a good opening week when the buzz is new, then shut down a month later after the inevitable drop off?

Quote from: CRM 114 on November 04, 2013, 08:56:57 PM
Bell had the sweetest deal. not big  money, but totally uncensored, complete control..and a rabid core fan base. Every performers dream scenario, if they are honest...but he wanted numbers, numbers fast, and had unrealistic expectations and so this. Its really a shame, he could have finished his broadcast career on the ultimate high note, 3 years of 'real talk'...

^^^well-said.

I think it's odd to not understand the frustration that many people feel.  Regardless of what the circumstances are behind the scenes, all we have to go on is what it looks like.  It looks disrespectful to the audience when there was no clear indication to many of us that Sirius had done a great wrong, so that's all we have to go off of.  Not everyone had problems with service reliability to the point that their listening experience was completely ruined, so it looks like something that could have been fixed with less extreme measures than threatening to quit.  Jackie Martling, a Howard Stern writer, often threatened to quit when negotiation time came around, until finally KROCK called his bluff and he was gone --- and the general consensus was that Jackie was being unnecessarily extreme and dramatic, even if they missed him. 

Art may not owe us anything, but that doesn't mean it isn't frustrating.  Whether your investment is financial, emotional, or both, as an audience member you have invested something.  Audience loyalty is predicated on that emotional investment, if nothing else, and advertising power results from said audience loyalty.  He may not be obligated to respect that audience investment, and I am not so invested that I am on the verge of hara kiri / seppuku, but it still means something to come back after all this time and then leave over what appears like a minor issue.  If a significant portion of the audience has similar feelings of betrayal, I am not so quick to disregard it.  In the past, I have been disappointed but understanding of Art's retirements and I never really felt much in the way of disrespect to the audience --- this time I feel differently.

Long-story short, one doesn't have to fall into the polar extremes of complete devotion or rejection, there is a middle ground where it's easy to understand why it looks disrespectful to the audience while giving him the benefit of the doubt (and I am cautiously doing so for the moment).  I would still listen if he came back tomorrow, but I also would understand if people were tired of the inconsistency and drama.  Knowing that this round accompanied a financial investment for many, I feel like it's asking a lot for audience members to sit tight while games are being played.  Many radio hosts with large bases are able to handle negotiations in a less extreme manner and thrive.  Again, this is what it looks like, and that's all I have to go off of.

Hi

I've now-and-then wandered into coastgab / bellgab over the years and started lurking a little more frequently after the news of Art's new show started building.  I couldn't always listen live but it was nice to read other reactions when I could listen.  I appreciate the board being here.

I've been listening to Art since about '96 and so was pretty excited like most of you about the show on Sirius.  I already subscribed for Stern but what a nice bonus that Art was coming back.  I just use the internet apps through home speakers so wasn't out anything, but I still feel as though this particular move was disrespectful to his audience. 

I understand his personality is the type to say "I'll do it my way or not at all," and my default position is anti-authority so I understand those feelings --- but all things considered I don't understand what was so bad as to initiate self-destruct.  Especially considering they appeared to go to great lengths to work this out for him.  He very consciously stoked up his fan-base in anticipation of the new show, and even though I personally wasn't out an investment, I do not blame people for being angry.  This seems like taking advantage of that audience as a bargaining chip, more so considering the financial investment.  There was no harm in his asking Sirius, but it was clearly such an extreme request given Sirius' model that making it an "all or nothing" proposition can't help but appear self-destructive.  I like Art and his show over the years but man this feels like taking the audience for granted.   There's a point where the fans want the show, not just to be used in negotiating.  My life doesn't come to a halt because of it, but frustration is understandable.  It was a nice retirement gig:  moderate audience, income, doing what you purport to love.  WTF?!