Off the Air and Into the Ether? The Strange Case Of Art Bell

Off the Air and Into the Ether? The Strange Case Of Art Bell

By Frank Ahrens and Joel Achenbach Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 14, 1998

Consider it a real-life "X-Files" on radio.

The nation's conspiracy theorists got a seismic shock in yesterday's early morning hours when spooky overnight talk host Art Bell -- one of the nation's most popular radio broadcasters and a touchstone for ufologists, paranormalists and the thought-tormented -- abruptly, mysteriously signed off the air.

"You may recall about a year ago . . . I told you that there was an event, a threatening, terrible event, occurred to my family, which I could not tell you about," Bell told his listeners at 2:55 a.m. Nevada time, at the end of an otherwise "normal" show. "Because of that event, and a succession of other events, what you're listening to right now is my final broadcast on the air."

Bell, 52, broadcast his show, "Coast to Coast," via satellite to more than 400 stations nationwide. His home was his studio: a large trailer surrounded by satellite dishes in the Nevada desert about 80 miles east of Las Vegas. Locally, it was heard on WWRC (570 AM) from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. during the week and from midnight to 6 a.m. on weekends. Talkers, a radio industry trade magazine, estimates Bell's audience at about 6.5 million, ranking the show as America's fourth most listened to, following Rush Limbaugh, Laura Schlessinger and Howard Stern.

Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates the show, released a statement yesterday saying it was "surprised" by Bell's announcement, adding that it had been in contact with Bell and hoped that he could return to broadcasting. For the remainder of the week, Premiere said, it would run "best of" Bell shows.

Adding to Bell's mystique was his geographical proximity to Area 51, the supersecret military facility north of Las Vegas that is the ultimate destination for alien hunters, many of whom believe it houses the remains of aliens killed in crash landings of flying saucers. Further, noted one listener, Bell quit on Oct. 13. "10-13 Productions" is (coincidentally?) the name of the company that produces the Fox television show "The X-Files," which deals with paranormal and extraterrestrial activity.

Adding to the mystery, Bell's home telephone has been disconnected.

Bell's true followers believed that he trod dangerous ground in his attempts to expose government coverups about aliens and dark conspiracies. It was only a matter of time, they believed, until some government black-op crept into Bell's desert bunker and pulled his plug, literally and figuratively.

His many listeners, however, can take solace in the fact that Bell is fine, reports Nye County Sheriff Wade Lieseke Jr. "He is not in danger," Lieseke said. "This is a personal event with him that occurred a year ago. It is not an immediate law-enforcement issue."

Bell told the sheriff what the "threatening terrible event" was, but Lieseke said he is not at liberty to disclose it. The sheriff did say, however, that the event was the cause of Tuesday's sign-off.

The theories on Bell's disappearance ranged from the prosaic to the fantastical. Steve Chaconas, program director at WWRC, said he spoke yesterday with officials at Chancellor Broadcasting, which owns the station, who said that Bell was "totally exhausted" and "just needed some time off."

Other speculation was more colorful. Was a deranged listener stalking him? Was it a stunt? Or has Bell been muted by a coverup-minded government?

"I cannot believe this is trivial. I cannot believe it's a hoax or hype. I think it's something very serious," said Richard Hoagland, a frequent guest on Bell's show who has specialized in research on the "Face on Mars," the notorious mesa on the Martian surface that some people think resembles a human face (a resemblance that has not born up well with sharper images from the latest NASA spacecraft).

Hoagland said that he suspected that Bell faced some kind of pressure to quit because of the subjects he put on the air -- UFO sightings, government coverups and time travel among them.

Millions of people "are depending on him to be at the helm of a ship that's going somewhere," Hoagland said.

"I'm inclined to think it's some nutty person who's maybe jealous of him," said Frances Barwood, a candidate for Arizona secretary of state who has pushed for further government investigation of what she believes may have been a giant UFO about 1.5 miles in diameter that flew over the state last year.

Steve Bassett, a lobbyist for UFO groups who has been a guest on the show, said he had spoken with Bell about what he saw as the mysterious deaths and illnesses of people associated with the extraterrestrial issue. "There's a lot of people in this field who seem to have a very short life expectancy. There's a lot of people who are coming down with cancer. We're concerned about it, we're tracking it," Bassett said.

The creepiness of Bell's announcement seemed a bit too perfect to some observers.

"It's some exquisite timing in that it's right on the eve of the National Association of Broadcasters convention," said Jim Bohannon, whose nighttime talk show is heard on about 400 stations. The annual convention begins today in Seattle and runs through Saturday. "This will be Topic One for the whole next week."

"To the best of my knowledge, this is not a publicity stunt," said Amir Henrickson, Premiere spokeswoman.

Regardless of the explanation, worried listeners began sending e-mails to Bell's Web site at www.artbell.com minutes after his show went silent.

"I am in disbelief!!," wrote Kentucky listener Johnda Webb. "I can only ponder the MANY scenarios and possibilities. . . . Doesn't this make one think, 'how safe and free are we?' "