Normally this website and many others wait patiently for Art Bell to make comments on Facebook or BELLGAB, but this night
the HORROR REPORT can relay information that Keith Rowland, Bell’s famed webmaster and curator of THE DARK MATTER RADIO NETWORK, is the one doing the speaking.
Rowland published a post tonight regarding the controversial exit of Jimmy Church from the radio network. Church made appearances as a guest host on Coast to Coast AM–you may remember that after the original hosting Bell had Rowland actually take down ARTBELL.COM until the situation was settled between them personally..
Rowland tonight offered up his explanation as to why Church left and how the entire situation went down.. the statement in full:
It seems the right time to set the record straight regarding Jimmy Church leaving Dark Matter Radio Network.
First of all, while Fade to Black was the most popular show on the network, Jimmy was not a “sit-in” for Art Bell. In fact Art Bell never heard of Jimmy, never asked him to sit in, nor ever contacted or talked to Jimmy in his entire tenure on DMRN, except for one conference call discussing Jimmy’s appearance on C2C. Art has never listened to Jimmy Church and has no idea what kind of show he does.
It appears to us, that ever since Jimmy’s one-time “DMRN Promoting” appearance on C2C and was asked to decide between continuing on DMRN or going over to C2C, he was planning to leave DMRN, and never discussed this with me. Jimmy just called up one Sunday night and told me he wanted to move to Spreaker, eventually iHeart and Coast 2 Coast. He felt that was a way for him to further his career. I agreed it would be good for him, but wished he gave me a chance to fill the large void he would leave in the schedule.
We talked about a 2-4 week transition period. Which if the move was kept secret, would work, but since Jimmy wanted to use our station to promote his move, and would be announcing his upcoming change to iHeart / Clear Channel and eventual appearance on Coast to Coast, there was no way I could ethically continue his show on DMRN. I left it up to him to decide. He could wait until he had more prepared for his move and continue on DMRN, while I too prepare for replacement shows. Jimmy decided to announce his move on his website that night. So he decided to leave us in a predicament, we did not boot him off.
If you hear any other statements that you may question the validity of (and there are), regarding this matter, please don’t hesitate to contact us, so we can set the record straight.
Keith Rowland
darkmatter@rowlandnet.com
The JIMMY CHURCH thread on BELLGAB has been busy lately..
The Church appearance as a host on Coast originally divided fans of Art Bell as much as Bell and Rowland seemed be distant during the situation. While it may have been worked out, the ongoing Church ‘bells’ ringing. Art Bell himself made vague references to Church’s COAST hosting, but never elaborated in full on how he and Rowland worked out the divide.
Now with the statement from Rowland, there appears to be a ‘setting the record straight’ attempt before the upcoming months that he and Bell will be preparing for a potential new ride podcasting. Bell said on Bellgab that there will be a confirmation of something coming within days as to whether he will be able play music during his podcast if he returns in July. With fans awaiting that news, Rowland’s words tonight seem to be coming at the opportune time to close the Church door once and for all.
