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Jan. 9, 2001 - Art Bell
28:19
Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell - Art Bell - Keith Rowland Interview
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From the high desert and the great American Southwest, I bid you good morning, afternoon, or evening, or whenever you've been listening to this on streaming, whatever it is you're streaming.
This is Art Bell, and with me is Keith Roland, my esteemed webmaster, providing the ability for you to listen to this right now.
And he's here in Pahrump, right next to me.
He's going to ask me some questions, questions presumably that many of you would ask if you could.
And I will try and answer as best I can.
Keith!
Good to see you, Art.
Good to see you, Keith.
Good to see you in the chair and raring to go again.
Good being in the chair.
Yeah.
Hey, a lot of things have happened since you've been gone and a lot of people have been wondering and worrying and need to get caught up to date, I think, on what's been transpiring.
And so I thought I'd ask you a few questions and do that.
Okay.
I know there was a lot of things that happened in your personal life that you did talk about on the air before you retired and made you go off the air.
You want to talk a little bit about some of those things?
Not really, but I will say that as most of my audience is pretty well aware now, I had a really major family crisis and that required my tending to it.
And much as I love this job, family does come first.
And I think most people recognize that, would feel the same way.
And then I had a legal situation as well that I had to pursue to its conclusion.
And did.
And so both of these things now are alleviated.
And if people want to read about the legal resolution, I think there's a statement on the website.
So I'll leave it at that.
Well, I know when you did want to leave the air and tend to those matters, you really wanted to pull out of the public and get away from that and take care of these things.
But your fans weren't going to let you leave the public limelight.
They consider you the immortal in talk radio, and they've You've been a great talk radio host for many, many years, and I don't think you have ever been forgotten.
Well, I don't think that I'm as much as people make me out to be, and I can tell you for sure I'm not immortal.
I broke my little finger, and it still isn't right.
So I'm not immortal, and I don't think I'm as much of a big public figure as people would have me be, or at least I don't feel that way.
I thank them for the way they feel, but I think some of it is misplaced.
Well, they listen to the show very religiously and are committed to it because you make it sound so easy.
The show just excels and I think it's something you really like to do and they're not going to forget you for it.
Well, it is easy.
You know, if you're doing something you love, it is easy.
Well, I know that the last few days of the show before you did leave the air were pretty traumatic and emotional and what were things like that last day that When you were on the air and signing off, I know it was really tough for us listening to it.
It must have been tough for you, too.
Almost impossible, actually.
The last several months were very difficult, and I don't know that I did the show as I could have or would have if I'd not known what was coming.
And last day was nearly impossible, and I was very emotional.
I cried, you know, when it was all over.
Well, a lot of us did too.
So, you got off the air and Mike took over and you attended to the things you needed to take care of.
That's right.
And as we all saw on the website, the court case got resolved and things are coming back around.
So, what did you do?
I mean, what does a hardcore radio guy who doesn't have a show do in his spare time?
Well, he goes where the tough go when the going gets tough.
He goes to his ham radio set.
He spends more time watching television and reading and taking it easy and then, of course, pursuing these things that I was really pursuing as the main goal.
And, oh, I don't know.
Gee, we traveled a bit.
We went to a Raiders game.
We're big Raiders fans.
We bought an RV.
Oh, yeah.
Tell us about this big thing.
A big old 37-foot diesel pusher RV.
And put all my goodies into it, you know, satellite systems that'll track while you're driving, and all kinds of electronic goodies are in it, and it's kind of a home away from home for me.
Yep, I saw a lot of the goodies in there.
Mr. Gadget!
You got it, huh?
Well, that's great.
I also know you've been working on a radio station.
You talked a little bit about it before you left the air, but it works for some time.
What's the update on that?
Well, we've been working on that for five years, actually.
Five years.
And we finally have the CP, which is a construction permit.
We are applying to raise the tower higher than it is right now.
That'll be resolved very shortly.
And Then we're going to put it on the air.
It's 95.1 KNYE here in Pahrump, and it will be an all-talk station.
And one of the things that my contract provides for is that I will receive premier product.
That means Rush and Laura and, oh, I don't know, Mike Reagan and that guy who does all those parodies of me, Phil Henry.
Phil Henry.
And, of course, my program.
So we're going to bring talk radio to the Pahrump Valley.
Well, there was a lot of speculation before an announcement that you were coming back that people thought the KNYE was your way to get back on the air, and everybody thought that that was your way back in.
Tell us a little bit about that.
No, that really wasn't.
For some reason, the audience out there, when they heard that we were about to get the license, grasped that and suggested to themselves that it would be a way I'd be back on the air.
But no, we simply allowed that rumor to live.
We didn't reach out and squash it because it served to mask what was really going on, which was negotiation to return the Coast to Coast Band.
Well, prior to that happening, were you listening to the show at all?
Did you listen much to the radio?
No, I hardly ever listened.
In fact, even when I was on the air and had the opportunity to listen to my own program in repeat on the weekends or in repeat, you know, after the show, I never listened.
I couldn't handle listening.
And listening to it when I was gone was painful as well.
So now I didn't.
That's the honest answer.
So, well, what started convincing you that you should or would or could come back after all this?
About two months ago, Premier came to me and asked me if I'd be willing to come back.
They obviously had been following what had been going on with what took me off the air, and they knew that some of those things had been alleviated.
And the program, to be honest with you, had lost a considerable amount of audience and certainly a considerable number of very important affiliates, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and so forth.
Uh, they wanted me back and we sat down and we negotiated.
Uh, there's a little statement up on the website about my return, which refers to the negotiation as bloody.
Well, it really wasn't bloody, but they came in and they sat down.
Premier came and sat down and said, well, what's it going to take?
And I said, well, I don't want any more money.
No, I don't want any more money.
What I do want, however, is fewer commercials and I want the inventory of commercials cut down.
those rumors that you were holding out.
No, that's right.
I said, no, I don't want any more money.
What I do want, however, is fewer commercials.
I want the inventory of commercials cut down.
I thought the show was being smothered to a degree by the number of commercial minutes
in it.
So that was my demand one.
They readily, I guess, gulped once hard and said, okay.
And so when we do come back, there will be far less of a commercial load.
And I think it'll be easier to listen to.
And it's kind of back to basics.
And I wanted to go back from four hours to five hours, because from my point of view, when you've got the kind of adrenaline going it takes to do four or five is nothing.
So it shall be.
So it is written, so it shall be.
We'll go back to five hours, and it'll be, I hope, easier to listen to.
More show.
Great.
Well, that'll be great, because we all appreciate the time that you invest in these interviews with the guests, and it takes time to really delve into the topics in which you take the time to do, and we don't hear it anywhere else.
And so you have a unique show, and you have fun with it, and everybody out there enjoys it, wherever you may take us.
And it's quite the radio theater.
Well, there's another change.
I don't... During the last, I don't know, couple of months of the show, I didn't want the audience, much as I appreciate the sentiments, I didn't want the last two months to turn into, oh, please don't go, please don't retire, and all the rest of that.
I just didn't want that to happen.
It's not good radio.
And so, I was guest heavy, and intentionally so, so that I wouldn't be suffering that on the telephone, and the audience as a whole wouldn't be suffering that.
A guest and topic, that's right.
And the only way I could do that was with a guest, and so I made it guest heavy.
But when we come back, we're going to turn again to a lot of unscreened, underline that, unscreened open line calls.
Yes, I don't see a call screener being brought into the studio.
No, I don't have a call screener.
No.
No.
Well, that's great because everybody liked the impromptus of the show.
It was just really great.
Including me.
Yeah, including you.
That's what makes it fun.
If you don't know what's coming, it's really more fun.
That's right, that's right.
Well, what are you thinking of doing different this time with the show to try to prevent outside factors and things from affecting your ability to do the show and try to prevent some of the drastic things that might cause us to lose you again?
Is there anything you could do?
Well, I really don't think there is.
In other words, outside factors are exactly that.
They're outside factors.
In other words, beyond my control.
And I'm a public figure and I really don't care what people say about me.
Uh, nor can I care legally unless they walk past a certain line.
I mean, for example, you cannot call a person a murderer unless they are in fact a convicted murderer.
And you better be damn careful if you, if you, if you endeavor, if you start down that road.
And so if somebody is going to do that to me, there's very little I can do to prevent it.
But I think I've clearly shown what I can do should it occur again, and will do.
And I think anybody should do that.
If they don't, then we invite these things to occur again and again.
Well, I know Ramona's been a big part of your life and part of the show, as we all know a lot about her from listening to you talk about her on the air.
How does she feel about this, now you're coming back after being away?
Well, I think most wives are the same way, and she is certainly this way.
She supports me fully.
She walks by my side in everything I do.
She knows that I've decided to come back and the reasons for it, and so she's with me all the way.
If she had her druthers, perhaps not.
She'd have me off fishing, but I don't know.
Duty calls, as they say.
Well, you've certainly made a point on the air of how important it is to have a supportive wife in the things that you do, and you talk constantly about her being your soul mate, and it's really assuring to know that when you have your Your life's partner behind you that really makes all the difference in the world.
Couldn't do it without her, Keith, and I wouldn't even try.
Wouldn't even try.
Well, so is the setup the same here in the studio?
You're still going to run your own board, do your own commercials, everything?
How's it going to be?
Any different?
Well, all my... Oh, absolutely.
I've dusted... Knocked the dust off most of this stuff.
We're going to use it all and we're going to come back and do it just exactly the way we did it.
I'll run my own commercials.
I'll run my own bumper music.
I'll run my own telephone calls.
Unscreened.
Yeah, all the same.
Well, I see a little upgrades in here, though.
You got, what, a new CD player here for the fantastic bumper music we're going to be hearing?
That's it.
I've got a new CD player.
I see a new computer over here for the webcam.
Yes.
Great.
So, we'll be continuing with that.
Yes.
And a little bit of extra hardware down here to keep the signal on the air.
So, a couple of new things.
Yep.
All spiffied up.
So, well, that's great.
So, what do you have planned for any bumper music?
That's one of the famous things that you're known for, and people miss it.
Well, it's not going to be, well, a couple of new tunes.
The way I've always done it is that when I find a really good piece of bumper music that I love, I add it to the pile.
I see the pile right there.
That's right.
The pile's been growing for years, so basically it's going to be mostly the same bumper music with a couple of additions, and I'll keep adding, you know, for as long as I'm around.
Great, great.
Any particular guests that you're anxious to have on?
I mean, it's been a while since you've been able to interview them.
You've got some guests that are favorites of yours that you want to bring up the first few weeks.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
I haven't thought a lot about it.
I'm going to have Peter Davenport on, probably the first night.
Well, people have been missing Peter.
He was a very important part of the show.
Back he will be, and that'll probably be on the first night.
And then who knows from there?
I mean, as I said, we're going to mix it up.
I'll have new guests, guests I've not had before.
I'll have a lot more open lines and... I don't know.
That's a hard question, Keith.
We'll take it as it comes.
tuning into our time frame here? Absolutely.
Absolutely. Love time travel. Well hey, can you tell us about any of the affiliates that might be coming back on
board and so on and what the story is on the coverage around the country?
Well, as I think I may have mentioned or if I didn't, we lost New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Now I can tell you that in Los Angeles, for example, we will move from KVC to KFI.
Ah, big powerhouse!
That's right, big station in Los Angeles.
And they'll carry the show 10 to 3.
I can tell you that we will, in fact, be on the day I come back in Chicago.
Very good.
And I believe, knock on pressed wood, I think, that we'll be on WABC in New York, or in New York one way or the other.
So I think pretty much we'll come back to where we were.
Well, you've talked a little bit about our mix of guests and open lines, so we're all going to anticipate that very much.
It's quite the show.
And we all know that Mike's done a pretty good job here in trying to keep things in order for us.
I mean, he came in with a tough situation.
I mean, it was a big show to fill and this wasn't something that he was necessarily totally knowledgeable and had to do a lot of learning to get in there.
And so, you know, The odds were against him when he came in here, but he did it, and he got in there, and he was a professional about it, and he kept it going.
Anything you want to say to Mike in regards to that?
He's been very gracious, and I want to be very gracious, and I think that Mike Siegel did take on a very, very tough task.
I know I don't look at it that way.
I just look at it as what I did, and it was easy for me, and I don't think it was tough, and I don't think the shoes are big to fill.
That those shoes grew over, you know, many, many years.
And so, yes, thank you, Mike Siegel, for holding things together because I couldn't be here.
And if he hadn't held it together, I wouldn't be here now.
Well, you know, Mike's had a good career before he came to us and he stepped up to the plate and did the job for us and we all thank him for doing that.
He's a pro and he'll land on his feet with mana.
I'm sure.
It's still good to have you back though.
Thank you.
Well, let's clear up a few other things that questions have come up along the way as part of your leaving the airwaves.
There were a few things that happened that we just kind of need to clear up about.
When you left, it was like all of a sudden you disappeared entirely off the internet.
We had to take all of the content about you off of the website and now it became coast-to-coastam.com.
Tell people a little bit about whose decision that was.
People think the network just, you know, yanked you right off.
Yeah, that's right.
People think that was Premier and that's not true.
That was me.
I immediately requested, when I was off the air, that my material come down, all my material come down from the website.
And I did that for a number of reasons.
One, of course, I was striving to be as non-public as I could, but also, you know, it was Mike Siegel, and Mike Siegel does not need to live with the images of Art Bell and all his personal doings and all the rest of that on the website.
So no, I felt that should come down, and I called you and asked you to take it down and talk to Premier about it, and they agreed, and so down it came.
So even though there was a lot of other fan sites out there that had stuff about you out there, we pretty much had to Well, in addition to that, as you recall, there was many hours and hours of archives of old programs over on Broadcast.com.
And a few months before you left the air, there was a change in our streaming service, such that when we went to the new service, we lost access to all of those old files over there at Broadcast.com.
Which is the number one reason, folks, that they're not there now.
That there was a contractual change And so all of those files were suddenly gone.
They were really still there, but I guess they couldn't be played without the permission of Premiere.
I really don't know.
Right.
Premiere owned the rights to play those shows, but Broadcast.com had the files on their servers, and we couldn't get to them.
And the only way we could have ever brought the show back was to re-encode all those hours and hours back into files.
Which would have taken somebody thousands of hours.
Right.
And then since you left the air, it was then... A moot point.
Yeah.
I think.
So in other words, they felt, well, the contract changed, they're not there, it's not easy to get them, it'd be very expensive to put them back up again, so I guess they decided not to.
And everybody should remember, I don't own those, Premier owns those.
And so to clarify, just the fact that you're coming back on the air doesn't mean those files are going to magically appear now.
No.
We're not going to have access to those.
No, they may not magically appear, or perhaps They will appear somewhere down the line.
I mean, I have no idea.
That's up to me.
Well, I know the network still has all the shows on tape, I mean, from day one.
They're there somewhere, and they're available in cassette form, which brings me to an interesting situation where you were off the air, and you didn't want anything about you on the air anymore, off the internet, and off the streaming audio, etc.
But, you know, the network came up with the top 100 Art Bell shows, and it was a good top 100, and they were actively selling them on the show.
And questions were concerning whether this was something that you agreed with or approved or disapproved.
No, I had no voice in that, and I made no money from it.
Again, that is the property of Premier, and they decided to sell them to whoever would buy them and make money doing it, and I guess they did.
So what do you say to those that think that this was all a publicity stunt, you leaving and then coming back?
No, it was not a publicity stunt, not at all.
Actually, Through the travails, everybody has always said that I was pulling a publicity stunt, and the answer to that is absolutely not.
As a matter of fact, actually, in coming back under the conditions I'm coming back under, and this is my own choice, bear in mind, I'm not only not making more money, but I'm actually making less, which is okay.
You know, I'm not here for money in the first place, so there you are.
That kind of brings us up to date on what's been happening during this time off.
Let's get caught up in some more of the current events and get your take on some of these things, if you don't mind.
As you know, the UFO research still goes on and there's a lot of people out there and a lot of groups out there still doing the work, but we haven't heard a lot of it.
You have been there to bring us up to date and we've been missing Peter's reports and so on.
What do you think the status of the UFO research area is and how are you going to Well, I think the incoming information is as hot as ever.
Now, there's internecine warfare, and always has been, in the UFO community, and I expect that to continue, much as the Israelis and Palestinians continue to kill each other on a regular basis.
The ufologists continue to do that.
But that's not really a lot different than any other area Like it, where there are researchers with very differing opinions on very controversial subjects.
So, this kind of warfare will continue.
Well, how do you position yourself with these groups that are out there as far as how much activity do you get in, how much involvement do you get in their actual activity versus just sitting back and reporting it or being the talk show host?
Well, I'm a talk show host, not a referee, and so I don't get involved in the wars.
I just try and I guess I try and walk a middle ground and seek information rather than become involved in the warfare.
And speaking of warfare, there's still a lot of religious warfare going on out there.
What's your feelings on that?
The way the world is conducting itself lately.
Well, for long before I was born, people were killing other people in the name of their God, and they will continue to do that.
Well, I know that you've separated very well spirituality and the afterlife and people's beliefs from the organized religion part of the world, and you've done it very well on the show.
Is it a line that you're going to continue on with the show?
Well, I've only done that because I cannot firmly attach a line between those.
I don't know that there is a line.
There may well be and it may be when you know we get up there and we knock on the doors up there why we'll find out that some little religious sect in the northwest part of the country had it right and everybody else was wrong and so they're the only ones who are going to get in you know but I somehow don't think that's the way it's going to work and I do I am a very spiritual person although not necessarily a deeply Religious point of view, you know, Catholicism.
I know you've been criticized in that they've labeled you as a New Age type of person, but my experience is that you've covered topics in the spirituality and religious series.
I'm just an aged person, not a New Age.
Not a New Age.
Just aged.
I see.
All right.
Well, the big question everybody wants to know recently is, should the dimpled ballots have counted?
What do you think about this crazy election we had this last year?
I followed every minute of it.
I thought it was the great soap opera of the, you know, it was the O.J.
trial of this year.
I think, though, now that it's over, it's kind of like Christmas.
Thank God it's over.
Something like that.
Yeah.
I just, it was interesting to watch, and then it became a little too protracted.
I suppose if they'd gone ahead and counted all the little marks, why then?
Mr. Gore would be our president soon, but they didn't, and Mr. Bush is our president, so be it.
So, what's your take on kind of the hottest issues, the things that people in this world should be concerned with now that we have these religious matters and we have these political matters, but what is it we should really be concerned about?
I think the big questions in life are whether there's anything after life, because life after all is a very, very, very short affair.
Cosmic plan of things.
So that's the biggest question for me at that.
And so you explore many areas and you look for evidence of a life after this life.
And then, of course, there are all sorts of paranormal phenomena, many of which are absolutely real, in my opinion, because I've experienced many myself.
So these are really important questions.
And that's, I guess, the center of what the show pursues and will continue to.
Well, that has been a characteristic of your show, is you'll pursue things that nobody else will, and that's the surprise of the show.
And you can't really put a label on the show and say, well, it's just this or it's just that, because you just never know what might come out of it.
People do that, though.
They assign labels.
And with me, it is paranormal.
But, you know, I've interviewed mafia wives, I've interviewed People who are in phone booths in the desert.
I've interviewed, you know, show type people and actors and actresses and gosh, all kinds of people.
So, you know, those who have listened for a long time know that is true.
Expect that of me in the future and more.
I mean, basically, who the hell knows?
Yeah.
Well, speaking of weird, interesting things that you just showed me today, you've got a picture that's come in from some Anomaly out in the desert.
Well, you were here, I think, when my friend came.
And my friend, another ham operator here in town, found a circle out in the desert among probably hundreds of square miles of shrubbery, an area, a perfect circle nearly, about 200 feet in diameter, with nothing in it, nothing growing.
I mean, the growth everywhere else, but in this circle, nothing grows.
And so he brought back a soil sample.
He tested it for alkaline content, and it was okay for that.
He brought it over to me.
I happen to have a device to test for radiation, and we did, and it was far above background.
And so today, he came over and borrowed the device, went back, measured the circle, and I'll be damned if it's not radioactive.
Something out there.
And we have a satellite picture.
We actually went back to the Terra server and looked at a satellite picture about 15 years old.
And that circle was there.
It's been there for 15 years and nothing grows.
Nothing grows.
So something was there, Keith.
And the background radiation above the background level is very apparent.
Well, I hope it's something we'll pursue and bring on the air and talk about.
And we'll have some pictures on the website, huh?
There you are.
How are we going to get the website back into the program here?
Oh, it'll be easy.
It'll be simple.
And we can begin right now.
I always was very, very involved with the website, and I felt that that was very important because photographs are available of a lot of the phenomena we talk about.
And I always broke my neck to get them up on the website, to get them to you, to get them up on the website.
And so let's do it again.
I mean, my email addresses are Artbell, A-R-T-B-E-L-L, lowercase, at mindspring.com or artbell at A-O-L.com.
So, if you have a photograph of interest, send it to me and give us permission to put it on the website.
It'll be up there and we're going to bring the website back alive again!
Great, great.
Well, it's good to hear your voice again and see you're ready to go again.
Just to finalize things here, do we have any more books to expect from you, maybe?
Well, I have either authored or co-authored now four books, which is three more than anybody should do in their lifetime.
I see.
So I have no plans, but as I said, and some will recall, some will not, on my last night on the air, never say never.
So I will not say I will not write another book, but I have no current plans.
Okay.
Any TV appearances coming up that we might know about?
Yes.
This one just confirmed yesterday.
On the day that I go back on the air, the morning of February 5th, NBC will be here with their satellite truck, and I guess I'm going to be interviewed on the Today Show, and by Katie Couric, I'm led to believe, as opposed to Matt Lauer.
And so, you might watch for me on the Today Show on the day of my return, the 5th of February, early in the morning.
I'll be doing that about 4.30 in the morning out here, out west, if all goes as planned.
Other than that, there are other People have requested I do TV, but I have not said yes to anything else.
You look very comfortable in your environment here.
I think it's going to be a great show.
I look forward to working with you again and being at the helm of the website.
So thank you very much for coming back and welcome back and let's go on.
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