Art Bell Quits Dark Matter

[malachi.martini]

Is a web stream going to happen Paul? Can it?

Come now, let's not waste his time with questions we already know the answers to.

[tertiaryimam]

Trying to think what I would say if I was Art... I can't think of a damn thing!

I'd tell him his excuse is obviously crap. He was thinking about leaving ever since he mentioned he might head to the Phillipines because of the big bad government shut down default. Think about it. That is his mentality. I've probably spent two years out of my life with art bell on, all tallied, and it all adds up now. A lot of things I never undersood make sense in light of this recent crapfest.

Or Noory cursed him with an ancient Lebanese magickspell. That would explain the spider bite. Never underestimate a malevolent nutball.

[jblank]

Wow you're tough. Trying to think what I would say if I was Art... I can't think of a damn thing!

What's the saying, how does it go?

"The truth will stand while the world burns".....or something like that. He's someone that continually needs his ego stroked, hence the repeated demands, and the "do what I want or I take my ball and go home" mentality. It's a childish way of behaving, for anyone, let alone a 68 year old man who is supposed to be a professional in his field. He wants to be the center of attention and he's a little bit in love with himself, either as Art Bell the man, or more likely, as Art Bell the famous radio host. When he isn't coddled, or catered to, this is how he acts, it's the end result. It just is how I see him, how I envision him.

[Jackstar]

pretending re-feeded streams do not exist is one thing, but openly supporting re-broadcasted content is quite another

okay, you get one more.

[SaucyRossy]

Paul

Why quit the show instead of continuing on and trying to fix the issues. Six weeks seems like such a short and small amount time to base this off of.

[shell88]

Paul. the Gabcast is running and on now.  Are you able to call in and answer some questions there> That would be awesome.  The link is at the top of the page.
Please!!!

[Producer-Paul]

Hey Paul!

I just have one relevant question. Are you and Art in active communication with Sirius to work on a compromise that gets Art back on the air?

I don't know if they are in direct communications.
However,....
I'm doing all I can.
Not only do I like the program,
Art is my good friend,
I really like the folks at SiriusXM

And lastly...
I like my gig... 

[Luna]

No sorry, I meant to quote what coaster said. Not you. You're not being negative at all.

Ah, okay. Just misunderstanding.°π°

[jblank]

Is a web stream going to happen Paul? Can it?

[McPhallus]

Is there anything the fans can do to help?  Or should they just wait and see?

I don't know if they are in direct communications.
However,....
I'm doing all I can.
Not only do I like the program,
Art is my good friend,
I really like the folks at SiriusXM

And lastly...
I like my gig...

[shell88]

I don't know if they are in direct communications.
However,....
I'm doing all I can.
Not only do I like the program,
Art is my good friend,
I really like the folks at SiriusXM

And lastly...
I like my gig...

What's the best way we could help with getting this back up and running.

[jblank]

What's the best way we could help with getting this back up and running.

[alleyrulez]

I don't know if they are in direct communications.
However,....
I'm doing all I can.
Not only do I like the program,
Art is my good friend,
I really like the folks at SiriusXM

And lastly...
I like my gig...

have you told Art any of this?

[Jackstar]

I like this show now!

[Luna]

Producer Paul
What if say, in 3 weeks from now, SiriusXM says that if Art continues his show he can go ahead with the live stream, do you think he might continue?

[HumanBeing]

I don't know if they are in direct communications.
However,....
I'm doing all I can.
Not only do I like the program,
Art is my good friend,
I really like the folks at SiriusXM

And lastly...
I like my gig...

I don't blame any of this on you Paul.
Ultimately Art has the final say on his career.
He would rather be an asshole than just an ass.
He will regret this decision once he thinks about it for a couple days.
You are being screwed as well. We are all just pawns in his game to get some sort of revenge on Premiere.
I wish he would drop this personal vendetta against Premiere and just do his own thing.

[Producer-Paul]

Now that Paul is here, everyone is doing a 180. I have criticized Art, but god forbid a lifelong fan criticize. Everything he does is wonderful, and you are in the wrong if you say otherwise..

Don't change your opinion just because I'm here.
I totally understand about feeling bummed out,
ticked off,  lost even...

-Paul

[Zoxo]

Paul..... PLEASE GET ART BACK ON THE AIR!!!!!!!

[Falkie2013]

I had a problem with the Sirius streaming, on both my Kindle and on my PC, about 3-4 times (and this out of many hours and SIX WEEKS of listening to the show).  It wasn't a huge deal.  The audio would stop, I would click out of the Sirius player, click back into it and the audio would stream again.  Maybe 20 seconds, max, to do all that and correct thd drop-out.  So I just don't understand about all these reports of people complaining about the audio dropping out all the time.  Maybe it was much less stable on the kind of reception that a cell phone gets?  Since I don't  have a smart phone, I never did listen to it that way.

I'm wondering if the listenership to the show was just lower than expected, and in order to save face Art is saying it was due to problems with the audio stream dropping out too often, and people getting frustrated in their listening, and quitting listening to the show (due to that), rather than the truth of the matter:  people just weren't listening to the show, period.  I would have still listened to the show if the audio had dropped out five times a night:  a 20 second, two-clicks remedy to fix it:  no big deal at all.  That being said, I felt Art was only on his game part of the time.  Sometimes, he sounded disengaged to me and would let the guest ramble on for far too long before interjecting.  It would depend on the night though, coz other nights he was brilliant and just like the old Art Bell that I loved.

I also wonder if Art just found the demands of doing all that reading of guests' books, the prep-work, and all the other business involved with being the host of a national radio show, more demanding than he really wanted to deal with.  He may be using this whole "Sirius won't let me live stream the show on my website" thing as an excuse to back out altogether coz he found it wasn't as fun or fulfilling as it had once been for him. 

Altogether, though, I am disappointed in Art, and I think going out this way, if this is his final exit, tarnishes his legacy rather badly.  He got a lot of people's hopes up that he was "really back," and people invested some sums of money in buying radios and paying for subscriptions that they will now have to hope they can easily cancel.  Once again, he leaves us all in the lurch, for a somewhat dubious reason.  I know that Art did not like being referred to as a "serial retirerer," but at this point it's sort of looking like he is one:  this latest drama is just another excuse to back out of dealing, and retire.  Not impressed.

Maybe we should go on Ebay and send him boxes of cereal brands that have been retired.

But I digress. I got my money back relatively easily from Sirius this morning and I am going to send a letter to Sirius' Chairman thanking him for bringing Art back on in the first place ( which few have said ). But given the streaming problems, not only with Art's channel but other channels as well, I'm also going to tell him that I'm disinclined to ever use their service again unless they straighten out the problems of content delivery.
I feel that what Art AND Sirius should have done was beta tested the channel first and loaded it up so they could see if it would have problems if a large number of people logged on all at once. The crashes, interruptions and repeating content ( as also happens on the Siriusly Sinatra channel ) was ridiculous. I did not see that happening on the horrible TMZ channel, Pete Dominick or other channels I listened to.
We see companies beta test software and there should have been some way to test out that channel as well.
But then I am speculating without knowing precisely how Sirius delivers content.
Finally, now I ask the question of what in the hell do we do at 7 pm from now on.
Can't watch the Thursday night edition of Monday Night Football on my Iphone on Tuesday because it too doesn't work very well on Monday Night.
Like it didn't work last night.

[alleyrulez]

Paul..... PLEASE GET ART BACK ON THE AIR!!!!!!!

Paul, when was the last time you actually SPOKE with Art?

[BillW50]

What's the saying, how does it go?

"The truth will stand while the world burns".....or something like that. He's someone that continually needs his ego stroked, hence the repeated demands, and the "do what I want or I take my ball and go home" mentality. It's a childish way of behaving, for anyone, let alone a 68 year old man who is supposed to be a professional in his field. He wants to be the center of attention and he's a little bit in love with himself, either as Art Bell the man, or more likely, as Art Bell the famous radio host. When he isn't coddled, or catered to, this is how he acts, it's the end result. It just is how I see him, how I envision him.

Yeah well... wait till I put on my Art Parts hat on and think like Art. Wait...

Ok ready! Oh yeah! Well I am out of here.

... ok I toke off the hat, what did he say?

Btw, no your avaratar is ok as long as those nightmares doesn't start again. 

[Producer-Paul]

is he? still?

Hello?

I'm here.....

I just can't read, post and answer the flipping phone all at once like I used to.

[cmotors]

Ok I am going to leave for now. I wanted to come on to at least try and explain what I could, there
is much I am unable to say because it was said to me in confidence and I must respect that.

Perhaps there is a point where Sirius and I can work things out, as I have said I am open to that
but people are angry and I understand that. Again I am sorry. Feel free to continue to slice and dice.

Art, your biggest challenge is the paid for model. Those free trials ended because of that. It may seem that a lot of it was because of the disconnects.  However, that is only because you had verifiable complaints from some people. It can be measured. What can't be measured, is how many dropped because they found a way to get it free. Or, really couldn't justify it when there is a free option, or simply couldn't afford it period. For the most part, no one is going to say anything when this happens. You are not going to get that same feedback you are getting from the paying guests about disconnects.

The reason you have a large trucker audience is because the paid for model works for them. It is an expense that they can justify given the nature of their job. They are also unlikely to pirate the show because of that. Not just because they won't run into the disconnect problem via the internet.

If the issue is indeed not having a full blown audience, then the compromise on your part is to tailor the show to accommodate for that.  It may not be the perfection you expect, but perfection is never attained, and is only ever worked toward. That can be changed, along with your view on it. Even at your age, there is still plenty to work towards.

[jblank]

Yeah well... wait till I put on my Art Parts hat on and think like Art. Wait...

Ok ready! Oh yeah! Well I am out of here.

... ok I toke off the hat, what did he say?

Btw, no your avaratar is ok as long as those nightmares doesn't start again. 

LOL, well be sure to let me know, I can change it in an instant.

[jblank]

Is there anything the fans can do to help?  Or should they just wait and see?

[shell88]

Don't change your opinion just because I'm here.
I totally understand about feeling bummed out,
ticked off,  lost even...

-Paul

Please call the gabcast Paul.  There's nothing but respect for you there. There's lots listening.

[dortmunder]

Hi,

I've been planning on getting on here to try and answer some of the questions posted
but the thread has been growing faster than I could manage and the level of hostility,
anger and plain meanness has kept me from answering anything other than a few PMs.

All that being said,  I'm here, not to be insulted or to listen to Art be bashed, but
to answer any questions as best I can.

At your service,

-Paul

Hi Paul,

A lot of people are over at UFOship.com right now listening to MV's podcast. There's a chat room there too. Maybe you can drop by. We're discussing Art and the show.

[Luna]

What's the best way we could help with getting this back up and running.

Send SiriusXM a written letter. Email to all of their email addresses saying what a benefit he is. Call them. Sign my petition.

[SciFiAuthor]

Hey Paul,

I hope everyone calms down a bit and treats you better. Anyone that isn't a troll that signed up today knows you were in the threads trying to fix the stream problems and interacting with us all the time. I'd like to see the radio producer that will go above and beyond the call of duty like you do.

I just have one question. If you put a percentage on the situation, what percent likely is it that the problem will be resolved and the show continues? I mean, is it likely that this really is a dead horse, or is it realistically possible that things might work out?

[dortmunder]

Hello?

I'm here.....

I just can't read, post and answer the flipping phone all at once like I used to.

Or call into the show :-) 573-837-4948