Art Bell Quits Dark Matter

[tertiaryimam]

Perhaps they plan to let Art (and all us fans) stew for a while. I would think if the answer was "no" they would have told him by now.

I was thinking the same thing.

Art, here's a question I think we'd all really like to know:

If you had to do it over, would you have done it differently?

[McPhallus]

But if they were considering this, don't you think they'd be in touch w/Art and tell him "hang on -- the legal department is chewing this over" or something like that?  I think they'd keep the lines of communication open if they wanted to pursue this, don't you?

Exactly.  And they would want clarification on certain things, since the decision would likely involve several people.  There would, I think, be at least some communication. 

[Marc.Knight]

Ok today again we heard nothing from Sirius. It is strange that we get no communication at all.

Just so you know, not any of this was done on the fly, before leaving on Monday I consulted with Paul
and Bob Crane my sponsor and they both agreed it was the right course of action.

On Wed we proposed becoming a Independent Broadcaster, which as with others at Sirius/XM would
have meant we could stream ourself, that was the goal. They said they were activley considering it and
we have not heard from them since. I told them I was willing to be on air the next day.

I wish I had more to report but for now that is it as of the close of business Friday on the East Coast.

                                                                                                            Art

Jesus, Art, SiriusXM is a big, politically and legally-minded corporation.  Silence like this means you no longer exist to them.  The fact that you think this is strange behavior on the part of a corporation is strange to me.  Time to look for another way around this.

[ItsOver]

But if they were considering this, don't you think they'd be in touch w/Art and tell him "hang on -- the legal department is chewing this over" or something like that?  I think they'd keep the lines of communication open if they wanted to pursue this, don't you?

That's bothersome.  You'd think, at this point, Sirius would have done something like that.  I'm afraid it's more like "don't call us, we'll call you."  Yeah, right. 

[maren]

Perhaps they plan to let Art (and all us fans) stew for a while. I would think if the answer was "no" they would have told him by now.

And I think just the opposite -- if the answer was "yes" or "we're working on it" they would have told him by now.

One of us is right -- and I hope it's you.

[McPhallus]

You consulted with your producer and a guy who sells radios about your contract and career moves???  Seriously?

Good point.  He should've gone about this in a measured fashion rather than just quitting suddenly (sorry for the armchair quarterbacking, Art).

[tertiaryimam]

If Scott Greenstein can stand up to Fifty Cents, I'm sure he'd have no trouble updating Art on the situation.

Some people.

[attachimg=1]

[shell88]

I was thinking the same thing.

Art, here's a question I think we'd all really like to know:

If you had to do it over, would you have done it differently?

Fuck, you're a hoot

[maren]

Time to look for another way around this.

Yes!

[DesertFox]

Ok today again we heard nothing from Sirius. It is strange that we get no communication at all.

Just so you know, not any of this was done on the fly, before leaving on Monday I consulted with Paul
and Bob Crane my sponsor and they both agreed it was the right course of action.

On Wed we proposed becoming a Independent Broadcaster, which as with others at Sirius/XM would
have meant we could stream ourself, that was the goal. They said they were activley considering it and
we have not heard from them since. I told them I was willing to be on air the next day.

I wish I had more to report but for now that is it as of the close of business Friday on the East Coast.

                                                                                                            Art

Hell Art--if you guys don't hear early Monday...just call them.  That's what I would do--at the very least get the feel of the "room". 

[PathoJen]

[attachimg=1]

Random...and funny.

[Marc.Knight]

Fuck, your a hoot

Fuck, you're a hoot

[The General]

I held out until today, but I just got off the phone with Sirius XM.
Account cancelled.  Bummer.  I'll be overjoyed to sign back up if Dark Matter returns.

[IcicleTrepan]

Time to start harassing them via Twitter to encourage them to call Art.

[Jackstar]

They can afford to wait.

[Derpspiracy]

Hell Art--if you guys don't hear early Monday...just call them.

Art, this is calls for drastic action. I now know what you need to do:
1. Go to Jonathan Reed's house
2. Knock him unconscious (you can improvise)
3. Grab the alien out of his freezer
4. Run
5. Run all the way to D.C.
6. Slam the frozen alien onto the CEO's desk
7. Don't say a single word

I can only see this working out in the best possible way, all things considered.

[dortmunder]

Ok today again we heard nothing from Sirius. It is strange that we get no communication at all.

Just so you know, not any of this was done on the fly, before leaving on Monday I consulted with Paul
and Bob Crane my sponsor and they both agreed it was the right course of action.

On Wed we proposed becoming a Independent Broadcaster, which as with others at Sirius/XM would
have meant we could stream ourself, that was the goal. They said they were activley considering it and
we have not heard from them since. I told them I was willing to be on air the next day.

I wish I had more to report but for now that is it as of the close of business Friday on the East Coast.

                                                                                                            Art

Maybe they're waiting for the 15th so they can charge people for another month? ;-) well, we know how fast DC in general operates, so no surprise there.

[Marc.Knight]

They can afford to wait.

Yes, and they can't afford to bring him back in and risk another black eye for the company.  It is done.

[tertiaryimam]

Art, this is calls for drastic action. I now know what you need to do:
1. Go to Jonathan Reed's house
2. Knock him unconscious (you can improvise)
3. Grab the alien out of his freezer
4. Run
5. Run all the way to D.C.
6. Slam the frozen alien onto the CEO's desk
7. Don't say a single word

I can only see this working out in the best possible way, all things considered.

Oh gawd that's great! 

[PathoJen]

Jesus, Art, SiriusXM is a big, politically and legally-minded corporation.  Silence like this means you no longer exist to them.  The fact that you think this is strange behavior on the part of a corporation is strange to me.  Time to look for another way around this.

I really don't think Art is dead to them. art is a huge name in broadcasting, not a little peon that can easily be replaced. They will come back with some sort of answer I'm sure of it. Unless of course the things that took place in "confidence" as art says were completely unreasonable, and not legit, in which case Sirius thinks Art is too much trouble to work with...and they are glad he's gone. Ugh, 3 sides to every story. We've only got 1!

[Snowdoggie]

Hell Art--if you guys don't hear early Monday...just call them.  That's what I would do--at the very least get the feel of the "room".

Sounds like your typical corporate dance. Somebody has to call the lawyers and have them chew on it for a while. Then send it to accounting to run the numbers. Then to marketing to see if they could sell the idea to the customer. The execs have to collect enough data to where they can point and blame somebody else if things go south.

Maybe the middle of next week.  :

[PathoJen]

I was thinking the same thing.

Art, here's a question I think we'd all really like to know:

If you had to do it over, would you have done it differently?

Maybe they are in the process of writing up a new contract for Art....they really don't have to let him know the status of their decision until it's made. They aren't obligated to anyone at this point.

[Marc.Knight]

I really don't think Art is dead to them. 1. art is a huge name in broadcasting, not a little peon that can easily be replaced. They will come back with some sort of answer I'm sure of it. Unless of course the things that took place in "confidence" as art says were completely unreasonable, and not legit, in which case 2. Sirius thinks Art is too much trouble to work with...and they are glad he's gone. Ugh, 3 sides to every story. We've only got 1!

1. Not anymore (10 years out of the business)
2. Nail on the head.

[tertiaryimam]

I just want to go back to how it used to be.


[attachimg=1]

[AppealPlay]

Ok today again we heard nothing from Sirius. It is strange that we get no communication at all.

Just so you know, not any of this was done on the fly, before leaving on Monday I consulted with Paul
and Bob Crane my sponsor and they both agreed it was the right course of action.

On Wed we proposed becoming a Independent Broadcaster, which as with others at Sirius/XM would
have meant we could stream ourself, that was the goal. They said they were activley considering it and
we have not heard from them since. I told them I was willing to be on air the next day.

I wish I had more to report but for now that is it as of the close of business Friday on the East Coast.

                                                                                                            Art

Thanks for the update!  Fingers crossed that you'll be able to figure something out soon.

[Morgus]

Ok today again we heard nothing from Sirius. It is strange that we get no communication at all.

Just so you know, not any of this was done on the fly, before leaving on Monday I consulted with Paul
and Bob Crane my sponsor and they both agreed it was the right course of action.

On Wed we proposed becoming a Independent Broadcaster, which as with others at Sirius/XM would
have meant we could stream ourself, that was the goal. They said they were activley considering it and
we have not heard from them since. I told them I was willing to be on air the next day.

I wish I had more to report but for now that is it as of the close of business Friday on the East Coast.
                                                                                                          Art

Thanks for the update, Art.
Looks to me like Sirius has made their decision however, since Sirius shows your show gone from their schedule starting Monday. Also the Dark Matter On-Demand shows will expire after this weekend too.
They have repeats of other Sirius shows scheduled to fill the Dark Matter time slot after this weekend...

[maren]

I held out until today, but I just got off the phone with Sirius XM.
Account cancelled.  Bummer.  I'll be overjoyed to sign back up if Dark Matter returns.

Ditto.  I wish I'd made it clear that I would happily re-up if Art returned, but I didn't.  I DID stress that Art's show was the ONLY reason I'd subscribed in the first place.

It would be interesting to know how many Art Bell Cancellations there were.  Apparently not enough to make them rethink.

[jazmunda]

Thanks for the update Art.

I'm a little worried about the no communication thing. I would have thought that there would be some negotiation going on meaning that there would be open lines of communication going on between Art and his contacts at Sirius.

Hopefully they are giving serious thought to this and not just ignoring Art.

I think the schedule changes, Art's erasure from the Indie web page, On Demand episodes all of sudden expiring and Paul's termination are big worries and not a sign of them considering a positive outcome for us all.

I remain cautiously pessimistic with a small dash of optimism.

[ItsOver]

Thanks for the update, Art.
Looks to me like Sirius has made their decision however, since Sirius shows your show gone from their schedule starting Monday. Also the Dark Matter On-Demand shows will expire after this weekend too.
They have repeats of other Sirius shows scheduled to fill the Dark Matter time slot after this weekend...

I'm afraid the train has left the station.  Without us. 

[JayDee543]

Time to start harassing them via Twitter to encourage them to call Art.

Art should call back, apologize like crazy, and agree to a paycut w/o streaming if he wants to be back on SiriusXM.

The fact that he's surprised by the lack of communication on their behalf shows just how little he knew what he was doing, and how little skill he has in negotiating.

Look at it from SiriusXM's point of view:  they are a business driven by subscribers, not by rating - that means they only care about how many people have paid subscriptions.  This means that they don't care how many people listen to Art's show - they only care how many people he can bring in to pay for a subscription. 
So then after a month, Art goes "hey, with your current set up and with the way you run things, I don't think I can bring in any new subscribers nor do I think I can keep the ones that had 30 days for free - and it's all your fault!...I quit (after talking to my sponsor and producer w/o going to a lawyer and w/o actually negotiating w/ management of the show about my terms)".

Now, if I'm SiriusXM I think to myself:  "So this new employee who has been here for 6 weeks who used to have a lot of listeners just told me that 1) he can't give us new subscriptions 2) he can't hold on to the free trial subscriptions 3) he can't do a show we are paying him to do 4) he has zero ability to negotiate professionally...and he says it's our fault...and he says that the only way for him to maaaaybe get new subscribers is to give away his content for free making it even less likely that we get new subscribers.

Now 3 days later, Art goes "wait wait, ok ill work for free, just let me use ure bandwith'
Me as SiriusXM:  "you are f-ing kidding me?"

..and he's surprised he heard nothing back?