Day: November 5, 2013

He took to the now famed pages of BELLGAB to explain–and apologize–for his rapid exit from Sirius XM radio..

The full text here:

Hi there, I am now on the site, I tried Yesterday but it would not take my PW, I tried to change it because I thought I might
not have remembered it correctly. Today it is taking my original PW just fine.

If it will help, I am sorry. I know many of you are angry in your usual style which I expected but there is nothing new I can say
that will make any of you feel any better. It is as I have said, I had hundreds of emails from people who tried the 30 day free
trial and were getting dropped left and right, Sirius was aware of the problem.(many of you know because you tried to
help with the error reporting) I am sure some dropped because they did not like my show or just did not have the money, but
by far most dropped because of the drops. This was a problem that we talked to them virtually every day about and learned that
it would be a long term fix.

As I mentioned in my emails Yesterday the net effect was that my base was gone, those of you who listened to the show must
have noticed, I sure did, so I asked Sirius for a Year of free streaming or until they could fix the problem, they did offer a second
free 30 day trial but what point is there in that if people would have the same experience? Anything beyond that, they were unwilling
to do. It just did not make any sense to me that pirates were posting programs the next day and live streams were popping up all
over the place that did not even carry our commercials without anybody doing anything about it, just crazy. Why not stream until
the problem was fixed with our commercials? It was a widespread problem including here on Bell Gab, right? My thinking was and
still is that it would have drawn many more into the program, eventually becomming full subs.

I am still open to patching this up, but not without some tip of the hat to those that left because of the streaming problem, we even offered
to pay for the streaming ourselves until it could be fixed. Anyway I am here so feel free to continue to cut me up and you can be
sure I am absorbing your anger.

Art

Again I am truly sorry to those who got caught in this and lost any money because you bought a radio or tried the NET.

What followed that post late this afternoon was a long back and forth between BELLGAB posters and Bell himself. Several users were expressing anger, if not rage, at Bell’s sudden departure. Art Bell took time to respond to several issues, saying he would return if the argument over streaming issues is worked out between his camp and Sirius XM. Also, Bell alluded to another non compete clause, which in effect would keep him off any form of radio for the foreseeable future–a strange place for him to be since he was so happy to have emerged from the long Premiere clause he was stuck with after quitting Coast to Coast AM.

Calls to Sirius XM management have gone unreturned. However, contact made to the customer service line has revealed that the operators have been told to say that Bell decided to pull the plug on DARK MATTER, and that the satellite company wishes him ‘luck’ in the future. At least a few users said when they attempted to cancel, they were lured into another month of ‘free’ membership just in case DARK MATTER reinvents itself and returns.  But with Sirius saying Bell has decided to cancel the show himself, it would appear that both sides have found their talking point.

And while the world is still confused by this entire event, the always laughable “Hitler reacts” video has already been posted.. 

Two years to the day my mother in law died, my wife captured a photograph of ducks.. Just ducks, or something more?

GRAHAM From the movie SIGNS (2002):

People break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them. Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I’m sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they’re on their own. And that fills them with fear. Yeah, there are those people. But there’s a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they’re looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever’s going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope. See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?

It’s been two years since the death of a very important person..

Do they leave signs for you to keep hope, even after they have left this reality?

Sometimes when you are “all in” you win, sometimes lose. By mutual agreement, Dark Matter will no longer air as of tonight.

According to the post, as relayed by the now famed ‘Bateman’:

I started the show with the expectation that my listener’s would be able to stream the show since most were coming from AM. They started the thirty day trial and found that it was dropping out on them every few minutes. After the 30 day trial most did not renew, why would they? Faced with paying about $180 bucks a Year for something that was not working right, what would you do? So I lost my base. My show is based on call in, if all I am left with is Truck drivers with cell phones going down the road at 70 MPH, well you get the idea. So I asked Sirius to allow free streaming for a Year until they could fix their problems and they said no. The show was simply not viable under these conditions.

Wonder how many calls Sirius will field in the next few days of people asking for partial fees back.. Perhaps that topic is summed up best with this post on Bellgab: 

Being stuck with worthless Sirius accessories is the worst part. It’s like an STD, it never leaves. I still have a shitty plug and play unit and boombox laying around somewhere in my closet taking up space.

The very short ride is over–OR IS IT?

It won’t be live tonight.. Artbell.com has just announced that they will be replaying the show with Richard Hoagland again..

As for live programming in the future, there is lots of speculation and rumor..

But as one user on BELLGAB.com wrote, perhaps this situation is best to let the dust settle…

The only place to turn is BELLGAB.com

And it’s quite the story indeed.
Wow…

Plus he appears to have deleted his Facebook page too…?

All a mystery.. But not reassuring.

Yesterday Artbell.com issued its demand to Sirius XM..

At this moment, no official word anywhere as to what will occur tonight when Art Bell would be live on satellite radio..

Twitter is buzzing.. BELLGAB is angry.

A lot of are looking at their SIRIUS radio now, asking ‘now what should I do with this thing?’

Could this be a poker move? A
Chess move? Another ‘habitual retirement’?

Developing..