Art Bell

[brewerjy]

Predictions for Art's first guest(s)?

Gotta think Whitley and maybe Hoagland (if Dave gives him the night off from his 'Science Advisor' or whatever-the-fuck made-up title he's given him)??

[Needle woman]

Keith is good!  Wow, this is so cool!

[Sardondi]

... Everyone is going to want to listen to Art. You might have a small percentage who are Dave fans, but overall most of C2C's audience is going to want to hear Art. They'll listen to Art's show for 3 hours and then C2C will come on. Dave will do his impersonation of an intelligent person when he reads, but then look like the moron he is when he goes of script. I find it hard to believe people are going to sit in front of their radio for 4 hours of subpar entertainment right after they just listened to Art for 3. They might hang in there for a little while, but I would bet there is a significant drop off after C2C's first hour.

If you do a google search for Art right now, you get hundreds of hits from today alone talking about his return. It's a huge deal, and people are going to find ways to listen to him.

I dunno. We have to guard against the echo chamber syndrome, where we think the whole world shares our opinions. Yes, Art will hurt C2C, maybe to the point of a complete format change down the road. But I think you've badly overestimated Art's appeal and likely ultimate affect on what is left of C2C.

First, we have to remember Art has been off the air for over a decade. A whole new generation of listeners have come of age who have no idea who he is and little inclination to find out. But these newer C2C listeners are at least likely to experiment with Art, and could easily be persuaded to change their listening habits..

But there's one group which is much less likely to check Art out. That is what appears to be George's core constituency: the over-50 group. My take is that what loyalty among listeners George has developed has been among older listeners for whom the mood of the show and the friendly attitude of the host is more important than the show's content...even if the host is a certified moron. They're not likely to jump ship for Art, because they like what they hear in George. Older listeners don't like change anyway. Besides, these older listeners have 50, 60, 70 years or more of listening to terrestrial radio; and they are are the least likely to change the habits of a lifetime and pay to hear one radio show. Sure older folks listen to sat radio. It's just that of George's audience, the older fans are the last ones who will want to leave free George to pay for Art.

There's no doubt that Art will cut into C2C some, maybe a lot...but perhaps not as much as might be imagined. Yes, many of Art's listeners will be former George Noory listeners, but now that I think about it I suspect most will have already left Noory in disgust, like many of us here. So it won't be a new loss to George: he had already driven them away. Art won't be pulling them from C2C because they left it years ago, and now they simply have someplace to go with the return of Art.

Finally, I think folks are underestimating how much market resistance there is to paying a subscription to listen to radio. We have Howard Stern as the model, who jumped to Sirius in 2006 IIRC, about . At his peak on free air Stern was a monster, with something like 20 million listeners* at his peak on terrestrial radio. SiriusXM holds onto its numbers far better than the US does its closest secrets, so we have no solid figures for recent ratings. But in 2007-08, a year after the Sirius-XM merger, we do have Arbitron numbers which showed that Stern had "cume" (weekly) numbers of some 1.7 million listeners. Let's say Stern had a massive, unprecedented audience growth of almost 250% in 5 years, and now draws 4 million listeners, which I think is far more generous than most analysts would give him. But giving him the benefit of the doubt that his terrestrial numbers of 20 million were weekly and not daily (if they were daily, his current numbers would look worse by comparison, right?), it means he now pulls only 1/4 of the audience he did when he was at his height on free air. It's probably significantly less. There's just still stiff resistance to paying for radio. So I don't think we should be disappointed if Art's numbers don't come close to those of his C2C days. They'll still be healthy, but I think it's unrealistic to expect some kind of stampede of new subscribers to Sirius XM because of Art.




*This is reported as daily listeners in a 2005 MSNBC article. http://www.today.com/id/10454035#.UfiWm23qw_x 
But I'm not confident they're right. Stern pulled a ton, but audience size is usually reported per week is it not? Could MSNBC have gotten this wrong?

[onan]

Briefly, lonevoice contacted a local talk radio program manager prior the announcement to try to get the scoop.  But, Jorch is so vital to the industry that said PM mistakenly called him Dave Noorie. 

It was funny for a minute there.

I think Dave will be the inside joke at Bellgab for some time to come... I am still snickering.

[Ravenna]

From Art on Facebook:

Oh, wow.  More fun!  And I guess this confirms that Art and Keith Rowland have not had a falling out.

[KnyeGuy]

Alright, everybody fastblast noory with "Art is Coming Back, Art is Coming Back!" Inundate the asshat as a final farewell to his suckage.

[Needle woman]

Just another viewpoint:  I am over 60 (egads!), and am planning on signing up with Sirius because I can't wait to hear Art again, I think GN and his shows are boring. 

[popple]

Just another viewpoint:  I am over 60 (egads!), and am planning on signing up with Sirius because I can't wait to hear Art again, I think GN and his shows are boring.

I'm also getting my 82 year old grandpa a subscription.

[Dave Noorie]

Done.

Alright, everybody fastblast noory with "Art is Coming Back, Art is Coming Back!" Inundate the asshat as a final farewell to his suckage.

[jazmunda]

Some guy asked Art on Facebook

I guess you will need a new intro instead of the old standard from the high desert and what not..

and Art replied

Why?

[Ravenna]

I'm also getting my 82 year old grandpa a subscription.

My 95 year old grandmother listens to Art.  She is currently quibbling over whether to get Sirius or not; she doesn't do high tech.  (She listened to Larry King when he was ON RADIO).

[Dave Noorie]

Yeah just saw that... lol.

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

Some guy asked Art on Facebook

and Art replied

Can we infer from this that everything will be as it was?

[MV/Liberace!]

Quality sucks and you will hear commercials.

no, the quality won't suck.  i have no idea where you're getting that.  and i didn't say you won't hear commercials.  i only said you won't hear shitty local commercials, which, to me, is a plus.

[popple]

OOOOOOOOOOOOH MY 

So Art could be using his intro.

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

no, the quality won't suck.  i have no idea where you're getting that.  and i didn't say you won't hear commercials.  i only said you won't hear shitty local commercials, which, to me, is a plus.

But I want to hear why Crazy Earl's deals on used cars are so crazy.

[jazmunda]

OOOOOOOOOOOOH MY 

So Art could be using his intro.

I actually think that Art thought the guy was referring to "From the High Desert in the great American South West ......" yadda yadda but I think that the guy might have been referring to The Chase.

He can't do the same intro as before because he'll have to cut out the "and world wide on ye old internet".

[onan]

no, the quality won't suck.  i have no idea where you're getting that.  and i didn't say you won't hear commercials.  i only said you won't hear shitty local commercials, which, to me, is a plus.

My only complaint with SiriusXM is when listening in my car. I have an hour commute and at times the signal fades... and sometimes the radio goes silent for a few seconds. That is tolerable with songs I know. But when listening to a comedy bit and the punch line is lost... its not funny, even if its not funny.

[jazmunda]

So was it Keith the whole time when we thought it was Art?  He probably got a chuckle out of that

I don't think that there was any doubt that it was Keith behind the wheel.

[Ravenna]

I am just so happy, I can't stop thinking that we will really hear Art soon!!  He got me through a couple years dark period when I felt so alone. 

For me, too.  A lot of us here have heart-rending stories of how and why we got into Art, and how the seriousness of the circumstances made us feel so strongly about Art --- that voice in the night that took our minds off our problems.  I feel (almost) like a long lost best friend has moved back to the area and I get to hang out with him again.  It's lightened my spirit to know I'll have that again, and Art's timing for me, personally, is absolutely perfect, once again (I was in the need of some lightening).

[onan]

For me, too.  A lot of us here have heart-rending stories of how and why we got into Art, and how the seriousness of the circumstances made us feel so strongly about Art --- that voice in the night that took our minds off our problems.  I feel (almost) like a long lost best friend has moved back to the area and I get to hang out with him again.  It's lightened my spirit to know I'll have that again, and Art's timing for me, personally, is absolutely perfect, once again (I was in the need of some lightening).

I'm expecting the next iteration of "I superglued my lips."

[Ravenna]

I actually think that Art thought the guy was referring to "From the High Desert in the great American South West ......" yadda yadda but I think that the guy might have been referring to The Chase.

He can't do the same intro as before because he'll have to cut out the "and world wide on ye old internet".

Neat that Art is answering people on his Facebook page.  I wonder if Art was confused over what that guy meant.  Do you think that Art would be able, or dare to, use The Chase as his opening music?

[onan]

Neat that Art is answering people on his Facebook page.  I wonder if Art was confused over what that guy meant.  Do you think that Art would be able, or dare to, use The Chase as his opening music?

Why couldn't he? I don't know where the idea started that The Chase was owned by PR. Maybe I have it wrong.

[jazmunda]

Why couldn't he? I don't know where the idea started that The Chase was owned by PR. Maybe I have it wrong.

It would be great if Art did use it just to see how long it takes Dave to change his.

[jazmunda]

Neat that Art is answering people on his Facebook page.

It is very rare and then very succinct.

[Ravenna]

Why couldn't he? I don't know where the idea started that The Chase was owned by PR. Maybe I have it wrong.

I guess he could.  I don't understand the legal issues.  However, even if it's legal for him to use 'The Chase,' will he want to since it's c2c's intro song?  I sort of doubt it.

[popple]

I think Art is entitled to use The Chase if he wants.  Dave can suck his socks.

[Ravenna]

I'm expecting the next iteration of "I superglued my lips."

I'm looking forward to hearing about what his cats have gotten up to.

[Pablo Smash]

I think Art is entitled to use The Chase if he wants.  Dave can suck his socks.

Dave can use the UFO Phil song for his Intro
It's perfect
Sucky song for sucky Dave

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

I'm looking forward to hearing about what his cats have gotten up to.

Me too.