Art Bell is going from terrestrial coast to coast to, now, the stars and satellites.Announced today, the radio personality will be launching Art Bell's Dark Matter exclusively on SiriusXM Sept. 16. The Dark Matter show marks Bell's return to broadcasting with an expanded call-in show where he'll be exploring the paranormal and unexplained.
According to a press release, Bell will "open the phone lines and listeners’ minds to debunk and declassify conventional wisdom in an uncensored, unscripted forum" on Indie, SiriusXM channel 104. The show will air nightly from 10:00 pm – 1:00 am ET (7:00 – 10:00 pm PT), and Bell will host the show from his home studio in Pahrump, Nevada (near Area 51).
Bell was a 2008 inductee to the National Radio Hall of Fame and one of the top five most listened-to talk hosts in America when he was syndicated weeknights from 1993-2003. According to the press release, he shared the top rankings with Howard Stern, Dr. Laura and Rush Limbaugh, with as many as 15 million listeners on 500 radio stations.
Said Bell, "SiriusXM is the perfect fit for me and my new show Art Bell’s Dark Matter ... Though invisible, dark matter accounts for gravitational forces observed in the universe—expect these forces to be at work in the uncensored, unrestricted creative arena of satellite radio, a medium with truly extraterrestrial reach."
"Art Bell left terrestrial radio after the biggest possible successes," said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, SiriusXM. :We are honored that Art now wants to work with SiriusXM to write his next chapter; his vision takes advantage of our best strengths and his new show will be uncensored, unrestricted, uncluttered and utterly unique."
As a bit of background, the release states that Bell started in radio at age 13 "when he became a licensed amateur radio operator, a license and interest that he holds to this day."
"He hosted radio shows while serving in the Air Force in Vietnam, became an engineer when he returned to the U.S., and returned to the airwaves with a late night show on a Las Vegas radio station that ultimately became his nationally syndicated show Coast to Coast AM." And of course, Coast to Coast nows airs with host George Noory.
-Aaron Sagers