If you don’t already follow and subscribe to the Why Files, you really should. A new video put out by the channel this weekend is showcasing some cool old Art Bell Coast to Coast AM phone calls and adding some context and some more fun to them for a new generation!
The alien in the freezer.. the Mohave phone booth.. and the famous Area 51 call to Art when the show’s transmission was cut ..
The video submitted for your enjoyment:
From Alex’s description:
On The Air: The Silenced Caller, The Mojave Phone Booth and The Alien In The Freezer Gather round for three campfire stories from the golden era of late-night radio, when Art Bell kept the lights on for millions of people who couldn’t sleep and couldn’t stop listening.
A psychologist in the Cascade Mountains encounters something in the woods—and brings it home. A frantic caller reaches Art Bell with a warning, and the satellite goes dark before he can finish.
A phone booth stands alone in the Mojave Desert for decades, and the calls that come through aren’t always from strangers. These aren’t ghost stories passed around a fire.
They’re documented, recorded, and still unresolved. Pull up a chair. The night is long, and some questions don’t have clean answers.
The passage of time is strange and painful. Art Bell died in April 2018.. it’s already been years. For those of us who cherished his voice in the dark, it still hurts not having those late-night updates about the “AB’s”—as he used to call them. The silence left in his absence has been deafening.
But tonight, there’s actually a flicker of Art Bell news—and it’s something truly special for long time fans.
The new but old info will bring pages back online under the current Art Bell Legacy website run by Rowland. For longtime fans, this will be like cracking open a time capsule buried deep in the digital sands of the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Fans of the radio host George Noory may have noticed some changes in recent years. Listeners of Coast to Coast AM, many of whom have tuned in faithfully for decades, are well aware that Noory is now well into his 70s.
He has officially hosted the show for 23 years after Art Bell’s retirement *one of them* .. though there were brief periods where other hosts– such as Art Bell as well—took the reins on weekends. Other familiar voices, like the late Ian Punnett and great George Knapp, who still occasionally fills in, have also contributed to the show over the years.
Other newer hosts include Richard Syrett, Rich Berra, Lisa Garr, and Connie Willis.
However, lately, Noory’s voice has noticeably aged. His style has also become slower–you can hear and feel it as you listen. The show is filled with mostly ads that take up the hour, and product placement voice spots between breaks that seemingly are taking over the show.
Niche fans and critics have long debated Noory’s role on Coast to Coast AM, with some arguing he never quite matched the presence or talent of Art Bell. Bell, after all, set a nearly impossible standard to follow. Despite this, Noory has shown remarkable staying power, defying predictions that he would be canceled or replaced by Premiere Radio Networks. Yet, as time passes, some fans have become less inclined to tune in nightly, and Noory’s shaky voice has become harder to ignore.
After listening to the show a show this week, there’s a distinct change in George Noory’s delivery. Words often blur together, sentences lack clarity, and his voice no longer carries the strength it once did. Noory’s broadcasting from St. Louis, rather than Los Angeles, due to the fires in California, but even this shift doesn’t fully explain the noticeable decline. It almost feels as though he’s phoning in the show—and forgetting he’s made the call.
It’s difficult to listen to, and despite past criticisms, it’s sad to hearing the declining vitality of a host who has been the cornerstone of the program for so long. This raises a significant question: What happens when Noory can no longer host the show?
Premiere Radio Networks has seemingly tested potential successors over the years, but none have truly resonated with audiences. At one point, deep-voiced John B. Wells gained traction in the early 2010s, but his tenure was short-lived for reasons never specified publicly by Coast.
As Coast to Coast AM faces this uncertain future, Premiere will soon need to decide how to preserve the show’s legacy.
Art Bell, who passed away in 2018, remains a legendary figure among fans, and his old broadcasts from the 1990s and early 2000s continue to attract a younger audience discovering his work for the first time. Yet, with the current state of the program and the inevitable decline of Noory’s tenure, Coast to Coast AM finds itself at a crossroads.
A decision will have to be made to ensure the dynasty continues, or the show may face an uncertain and diminished future.
Art Bell was an iconic figure in the realm of paranormal and unexplained phenomena broadcasting. His deep, resonant voice and open-minded approach to the mysteries of the night made his show, ‘Coast to Coast AM,’ a beacon for those seeking to explore the unknown. Bell’s legacy continues to influence the world of paranormal media, inspiring countless individuals to look beyond the veil of ordinary reality. This article pays homage to the man who captivated the airwaves with tales of the strange and supernatural, inviting us to ponder the endless possibilities that exist just beyond the edge of our understanding.
All that was good..
But the images presented showcasing the Coast to Coast AM host were .. questionable.
AI at its finest–or worst..
As the story opens, the image used showcases Art to be in a Stephen Hawking-like position overlooking the planet from space..
But it gets weirder..
Meet Art as a strange elderly mall cop … we’ve all seen this guy at the local dive bar at 1am..
And if you don’t like that, why not trying to buy a car from this version, he’ll take good care of you and get you into something nice..
Grandpa Art is coming over later with his hard candies..
And finally.. the closest we get to something that sorta somewhat looks like Art Bell showcases Art hotwiring his radio sound board like he’s stealing it, and his broken middle finger on the right hand makes it look like things went horribly wrong.
AI when used properly can be fine. AI when used like this–when there are tons of real images of people–get weird. And these? These were even weirder than Art’s show itself..
Ian Punnett, who co-hosted the “Ian and Margery Show” with his wife on myTalk 107.1 for a decade, died on Thursday, according to Coast to Coast AM, where he was a podcast host.
His last show on myTalk was Dec. 21, 2012 — 11 years to the day before his death. He left myTalk so he could recover from tinnitus.
At least one X account re-published a video of Ian’s departure in 12/21/12.. And it give you that weird feeling. That creepy feeling..
PLEASE WATCH ENTIRE VIDEO! So is this Predictive Programming? This video was from 2012 of #IanPunnett and it was uploaded 11 years to the day of his death. The song and words overlayed within the video are creepy. Not saying there is anything nefarious… just bizarre. Rest easy… pic.twitter.com/nnm53m7gPs
This one hits hard. Ian Punnett was a friend through the darkness of the night. A radio host, deacon, and professor.. he is dead at a the age of 63.
The Coast to Coast family, both near and extended, have been rocked by news tonight that host, professor, and Deacon, Ian Punnett has left this planet right before Christmas.
From the Coast website, as written by Lisa Lyon:
It is with deep sadness that we share the news that Ian Punnett passed away from a brief illness yesterday. His keen intellect and delightful sense of humor will be deeply missed. Since 2000, Ian has, in various incarnations, been a valued host of Coast to Coast AM, including regular weekend hosting duties, his own spin-off show Coast to Coast LIVE with Ian Punnett, a podcast entitled Vaudeville for the Frightened, and most recently twice a month hosting duties.
I’ve had the privilege of producing for Ian these past 24 years, and I will miss our friendship and the professional collaboration. Every conversation behind the scenes was as lively and entertaining and everything we strive for on the air. Ian was great radio personified.
Since Art Bell’s demise in 2018, Punnett was the last connection to the “old days“. He gave us memorable programs, great radio. And the horse guy! And for those who knew him personally, he was a friend and mentor along with a professor and someone who had a deep religious conviction. I was lucky enough to be able to say I talked to him briefly on a few occasions and he was a class act.
Coast to Coast just got a whole lot less interesting. And the world a much less interesting place.
It is with deep sadness that we share the news that Ian Punnett passed away from a brief illness yesterday. His keen intellect and delightful sense of humor will be deeply missed. Since 2000, Ian has been a valued host of C2C. https://t.co/BhcVkw7ISm
In honor of a life well lived, we share with sadness and grief that our Chief Operator Dr. Ian Punnett passed away early this morning. After fighting an illness for the last few months Ian passed peacefully surrounded by his wife and son. Words cannot capture the essence of Ian’s… pic.twitter.com/USjLlO5yEQ
Longtime radio personality Ian Punnett has died. Ian has been part of the Coast to Coast AM broadcast family for many years. C2C staff was informed earlier today.
I just learned that #IanPunnett, the @coasttocoastam Saturday host that I replaced for a couple of years, has passed away after a short illness. Many people will miss him. Including me. May he rest in the house of our Heavenly Father.#GoodByeIan@deaconpunnett…
If Art Bell was alive today he would absolutely love the idea of artificial intelligence creating artwork. It deserves a lot of attention and a lot of questions as well.
What is this art? Why is it so dark? We may explore more about this ..
In the meantime enjoy what Coast to Coast a.m.’s website showcased: a listener to the program asked AI to come up with what it perceived Art Bell as being ..
A Coast listener going back nearly 25 years, James writes, “What I have found is AI art can be very realistic…to prophetic…to simply creepy. I feel the spirit of Art coming through in some of these AI-prompted creations.” “The AI images I create are done through the AI program Midjourney. To create an image, you need to input a prompt into the AI. This can be as simple as, “Create an image of a wolf”…or, you can get more complicated and give the AI exact details such as; style, influence, lens/camera used, rendering style etc.”
Perhaps our favorite image of all from the collection presented:
During the Facebook live, Schrader mentioned that his longtime friend Tim Dennis and he are not as friendly as they once were. Well they have a professional relationship and Dennis will be taking over the hosting duties on the radio program, Schrader said he is stepping back from it at this point.
Schrader left open the door for a potential podcasting or radio hosting in the future. It also seems that he is amped up to continue his work in the paranormal world in some way..
There is one thing that Schrader has bragging rights to. He has been with Darkness Radio for 16 years, but beyond that he is the only radio host to have this under his belt: Art Bell and Schrader are the only two people to be able to say that they hosted both Coast to Coast AM and Midnight in the Desert!
As for the future, it seems that it’s all just always developing..
