Horror Report

Tag: media

  • PR038: Podcasting and the Law: A good article for anyone who is thinking about adding your voice to the messy mixture of podcasts from the world at large.

    PR038: Podcasting and the Law: A good article for anyone who is thinking about adding your voice to the messy mixture of podcasts from the world at large.

    PR038: Podcasting and the Law: A good article for anyone who is thinking about adding your voice to the messy mixture of podcasts from the world at large.

  • We now spend more than eight hours a day consuming media

    We now spend more than eight hours a day consuming media

    We now spend more than eight hours a day consuming media

    MORE..

    On average, people spend more than 490 minutes of their day with some sort of media, according to a new report by ZenithOptimedia. Television remains dominant, accounting for three hours of daily consumption—an hour more than the internet, in second place.

    But do we know anything more than we did before those eight hours?
    Have we learned anything?
    Have we consumed anything and devoured it, or just consumed and treated it as excrement?

    By 2017, half of our waking lives will consist of some sort of media.

    Meanwhile we will forget everything and get closer to a grave sacrificing sanity..

    And that is media.
    That is reality.
    That is now.

  • MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT SET; ROWLAND AND BELL CONFIRM SUMMER RETURN

    MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT SET; ROWLAND AND BELL CONFIRM SUMMER RETURN

    Art Bell and Keith Rowland have made it official: There will be July fireworks in 2015 .. the talk show legend is going to go his own way.. A podcasting style as opposed to the terrestrial or even satellite radio he did previously. This time he is greeting the 21st century with open arms, working out private deals to play music, hoping that fans sign up in big numbers to help his return, and beaming himself to every smart phone that wants him.

    The show will be called MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT.

    Bell posted two messages on Facebook tonight:

    Midnight in the Desert is on the way! It is official now, Starting in late July we will begin streaming a full show from Mon-Fri 9PM- 12AM P.T. It will come to you Worldwide on the Internet in 64Kbps Stereo on Tune In which has a free app available for download right now.
    Keith and myself have come to a agreement and the main Studio gear has been ordered. There is a great deal of work ahead and all of you who are friends and fans will have to help out when the time comes by spreading the word far and wide.
    Wanna Take a Ride?
    Art Bell

    And the next:

    From Keith: The Final Results, Art Bell IS Coming Back!
    POSTED ON APRIL 14, 2015 IN BUMPER MUSIC, RADIO SHOW | 1 VIEW | LEAVE A RESPONSE
    After extensive analysis and elongated negotiations with several suiters, we have decided that we can go ahead on the planned launch of “Midnight in the Desert” in late July, using a business model that will allow us to manage the entire operation on our own.
    As was hinted by Art via his Facebook feed, we thought about it, compared the numbers and decided we could pay for bandwidth, pay the commercial licensing fees, pay our own overhead and still be financially viable, assuming the following conditions:

    1. We have a considerable number of fans subscribe to a membership service that allows you to access the archived shows anytime via the website for a reasonable $5 / month.
    2. We can sell advertising to be played during the breaks during the show. Not a lot, but enough to help pay for the music licensing during the LIVE FREE stream.
    3. We can successfully curb pirated posts of our content to the Internet.
    We’ll be operating under a certain specific licensing model that will allow us to ramp up from a “small webcaster” status into a large broadcaster in the future. It is imperitive that we earn enough through subscribers and ads sales to pay the bandwidth costs and music licensing fees. We believe that we can ramp up successfully using the current models in place at this time.
    However, this happens to be the year (2015) that music industry participants are negotiating the next 5 years (2016-2020) rates for music licensing on the Internet. It is a wide open arena, and some license models may not survive. But we believe that we can operate under the current 2015 model for 6 months, and eventually fit into a 2016 model that is still cost effective.
    We hope to recoup all of our investments within the first 6 months, so we can better endure the cost increases that will inevitably happen in 2016. If the fans support us with memberships and the advertisers are satisfied, we should be good for a long while.
    Keep watching here for the launch date announcement and further updates as we can pass along. We’ll let you know when it’s time to promote the show.
    — Keith and Art

     

    A copy of the text was also placed on ARTBELL.COM to inform readers there of the return..
    I do have a few critical thoughts regarding this. While on one hand I am celebrating the return, there’s a little part of the 20th century boy in me that will miss the radio aspect. There are only about 2 shows I still actually listen to on radio. I have accepted the podcast world. I love it, as a matter of fact.. I think Art will be best, only though, on live radio. I am happy he is giving a free live stream with downloadable content afterwards…
    As for the pirates? I don’t know if there will be an efficient way to stop them. Recently Art Bell has posted on BELLGAB asking for users there to become his deputies around the NET this summer, scouring the sites of the hinterlands of HTML for any and all pirate streams. And then threatening legal action. But that is plugging a leaky hole in a flooding dam.. it’s not just that easy.
    As for the six month window, that is going to be a risky gamble.
    And there are some, even on the ART BELL website, who are shaky on the return. After the quick SIRIUS XM quit–when fans were left trying to return hundreds of dollars in merchandise to the satellite company after DARK MATTER suddenly ended after Halloween–some fans have expressed hesitation to sign up for a monthly fee in return to hear Bell.  The other side of that coin, however, presents a much different picture of the situation at Sirius. Coast to Coast AM quickly showed up on the INDIE station after Bell left. Along with that, there seemingly were other things happening behind the scenes that perhaps even Bell will address this summer on MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT..
    I think I’ll make a prediction: Those fans that are hesitant today will be signing up tomorrow. The talent that Bell has will be hard to pass up, especially when compared to the monotone moronfest that Coast to Coast AM has turned into over the past several years since Bell’s 2010 final departure from the ‘hot air’ of that show.
    Summer is set.
    Barbecues.
    Fourth of July fireworks.
    As the long and hot summer nights fill the air with heat and murky humidity, Art Bell will once again be broadcasting from the high desert for the world to hear. This time in a new century style..
  • Art Bell and Keith Rowland plan to go it alone, will broadcast independently this summer

    Art Bell and Keith Rowland plan to go it alone, will broadcast independently this summer

    Art Bell, back in his time, had a different take. He did politics for some time. But changing the format equaled a success that has been unparalleled by any in comparison.
    Art Bell is coming back to radio. But will people back to him?

    There are lots of people happy about–including me, to be honest. I have been a proud card carrying member of the BELLGAB.COM forum for several years, joining in a strange arena of general disgust with George Noory and the state of modern radio..
    And speaking of modern radio..
    It’s a cesspool of politics. Constant banter about material items that have useless end results for those who debate them. Issues that really don’t matter. Gay wedding cakes, for one.. And many other things to divide a nation that is already divided into small divisions of divisions that don’t have a chance of ever getting along with each other..
    I think it’s fair to say that Coast to Coast AM, the 1990s and early 2000s version, inspired a nation to accept the paranormal or at least question it. It led to countless ghost hunter shows, added to the aura of creepiness of the X-FILES, and make lots of night shifters and night owls hear something few others did: A bizarre four to five hours of overnight programming focusing on the absurd, the bizarre..the science.. and the shadow creatures. That may or may not exist.
    And Richard C. Hoagland. Who does exist. As does his hair..

     

    But a return of Art Bell?
    In a market saturated by fools and frauds, it is a little difficult for me to see where Bell fits in the new scheme of things..
    Radio is mean and cruel now. Some may say it always was, but regardless of history, it certainly is now. It seems that everyone who has a chip on their shoulders when they call and opine. It would appear that everything–from religion to science–has someone who backs it without prejudice or many times even logic.
    Art Bell did not.
    He created a new category of media that did not exist before his venture into the strange activity late in the night.

     

    When Art Bell returned to SIRIUS XM radio in 2013, something seemed off. The opening intro, the guests.. the format. SIRIUS XM did not seem to be the rightful home for Art Bell. The satellite company’s chief talent, Howard Stern, certainly did not welcome him with open air.. Lots of others poked fun at Bell for disallowing cursing no his unregulated program. And then when Bell chose to ask Sirius to be permitted to broadcast his show on his own website, he seemed to have an inability to grasp the notion of the contract he signed.
    Little did anyone know at the time, of course, was that Coast to Coast AM was working behind the scenes to secure Art Bell’s spot on the INDIE station–the home that Coast still has today on XM..
    Art Bell has been toying with fans in various places for months. On BELLGAB, he has become a regular contributor to the message board site. On Facebook, he drops messages from time to time about his plans.
    Tonight, he posted what seems to be a near-maybe-soon to be decision on his future program, MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT. Bell said,

    Midnight in the Desert

    Here is what I can tell you, Keith and I are going to think about this over this Weekend but it looks like instead of making a deal with anybody else we will do it ourselves. We will be on the Internet and everybody will be able to hear the show on Tune In (free app) Worldwide.
    If we decide to move forward I will be ordering the gear by Tuesday. The music is taken care of and the time of the show will be 9PM-12AM PT M-F.
    The live show will be free, but because we are doing it ourselves we will be depending on people buying membership for 5 bucks a Month which gives you the Podcast and Wormhole and so forth. If they don’t we won’t get very far because we pay music, Bandwidth, Producer Etc.
    We could have signed with a Partner BUT they wanted to put us in a pay wall with other stuff and the price would have been at least double with all kinds of restrictions so we think we will put up the money ourselves and roll the dice. It’s a gamble but so is life.
    Art
    The gamble..
    Keith Rowland and Art Bell will undoubtedly have a tough choice on their hands this weekend. Art Bell said on BELLGAB that Rowland doesn’t have much money for the game. Bell himself even said he wanted to try to save the money has put away for his family, and at the same time hinted about how expensive it will be to buy equipment to broadcast himself and how much money it was going to take to be able to play bumper music.
    Five dollars a month will help him.
    But will it be enough.
    There are two schools of thought in my own head on the return of Art Bell to radio. On one hand, I want him back. I am a little dismayed by most of the ‘paranormal’ talk that is out there–those who fall victim to believing everything or others who simply pretend to understand the paranormal as a means of pretending to be the next Art. And with a return to the radio, there’s a good chance that real talk will return. Questions that matter, speculation based on common sense, a fun spirit of tin-foil-hat wearing paranoia without being too paranoid. And truthseeking with critical thinking instead of gullibility.
    On the other hand.. if a failure occurs, and yet another quick retirement happens, the Art Bell stock will be utterly washed up. Gone. Finished. And a mighty career and industry-changing life will be forced into the background without respect.
    I am biased. As  fan, I hope scenario two never happens. I certainly don’t think it will, but say it only for the purposes of possibility.
    The podcasting world is saturated.
    I have a very tough time keeping up with message boards and blogs that I love. I have an equally difficult time, as of late, finding the time to write as much as I crave doing so. But the podasting world? With a blog or website, you can quickly skim for the best parts. You can see the bold type and read, quickly, what may matter more than the rest of the verbiage. But with podcasting, you can’t really do such things.. it’s much tougher to find a batch of podcasts you really love and find the time to actually listen to them all.
    And that is why Art Bell has to be good.
    He will be successful, I predict, in gaining back the fans who have become weary with Coast to Coast AM. He may even build his audience a bit, based on the fact that so many newcomers to the Coast show have grown equally tired of cue-card questions and borderline stupidity displayed by George Noory. But will Art Bell be able to gather enough of the new generation to listen?
    It’s interesting to think that all of the things popular today, the ghost tales and stories of alien encounters, UFO sightings, and conspiracy, all have a bloodline dating back directly to Art Bell. And few in the new generation of social media or internet broadcasting have a clue as to how their world and subject matter popularity was based off of the hard work of someone who went against the grain in a time when ‘paranormal’ was marginalized and mocked.
    In that sense, Art Bell deserves the respect of the people who buy into the ideas he promoted.
    But we know that what should happen doesn’t always occur.
    I will not be making any predictions on whether there will be success found on MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT. Of course, I will be working 5 bucks a month into my budget. Heck, if I subscribed (for three months) to Sirius, 5 bucks is a bargain.
    Art Bell will need a lot of people like me, however.
    Time will tell to see if he gets them.
    553
  • ART BELL: WE HAVE A CONTRACT…but…

    ART BELL: WE HAVE A CONTRACT…but…

    For weeks, Art Bell has been telling fans on BELLGAB that a contract to return to the air was forthcoming. Today he posted a brief sort-of announcement on site here:

    Ok, we have a contract but as expected there are some things in there that require some re-wording and one item that would be a deal breaker if left as is. We also have possibly another way to go if
    need be.

    Because we are at a sensitive part of all this you may not hear from me till we come to some conclusion on Monday or we hope no later then Tuesday (my estimates)

    I did have a email exchange with Dave which he started and which will reamain private, even the exchange itself should have remained private, oh well.

    Art

    Bell’s comment referring to ‘Dave’ is about a George Noory hosted open lines Coast to Coast AM last night. A caller asked if Bell was returning to Coast, Noory responded no, but elaborated that an email exchange, or several of them, has recently taken place between the two hosts. Noory wouldn’t say anything else regarding the conversation, but the buzz of it lit up the BELLGAB exchange today. Bell seemingly thinks the conversation between them should have stayed private–even the fact they had one.

    The HORROR REPORT will follow this story as it develops and relay any pertinent information as it becomes available..

    DEVELOPING..

  • Let’s do the ART BELL dance

    Let’s do the ART BELL dance

    For those who don’t know, radio great Art Bell is planning a return this summer. Either online, or perhaps a little online and a little AM. Undisclosed information at this time.. But my son, age four now, is happy. Perhaps by force.. He has been a captive audience member since infancy when he’d hear Art’s reruns on the FINE ART STREAM and U7 Radio .. Now he fully endorses the return with his own version of a celebratory dance. I suspect if Art can muster up another ten years, Ayden will be 14 years of age. And he will have a full experience of what Art Bell was .. Amazing.

    And just for a perspective, here’s AYDEN at age 1..

  • So who owns Art Bell?

    So who owns Art Bell?

    THE COLLECTIVE COPYRIGHT CLAIM

    U7 Radio is broadcasting Art Bell DREAMLAND reruns again tonight–at least for now.  The war between U7 and executives for Premiere and iHeartRadio is continuing after the initial shot across the bow when the empire struck back.

    But eyebrows were raising tonight after attorneys for iHeartRadio expanded their copyright claim over Coast to Coast programs to include DARK MATTER shows that Bell broadcast on Sirius radio in 2013 during his brief stint.

    The full text of the newest message U7 received was printed in full.. And re-printed here:

    Dear Sir:
    I, the undersigned, CERTIFY UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY that I am the owner or an agent authorized to act on behalf of the owner of certain intellectual property rights, said owner being named Premiere Radio Networks, Inc. (“IP Owner”). I have a good faith belief that the listings or materials identified in the addendum attached hereto are not authorized by the above IP Owner, its agent, or the law and therefore infringe the IP Owner’s rights according to state, federal, or United States law. Please act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the material or items claimed to be infringing.

    I may be contacted at:
    Printed Name: Ellen Lockwood
    Title & Company: Senior Paralegal, iHeartMedia, Inc.
    Street Address: 200 East Basse Road
    City and State and Zip: San Antonio, Texas 78209
    Email (correspondence): ellenlockwood@iheartmedia.com
    Email (for infringing parties): infringerissues@iheartmedia.com
    Telephone: 210.822.2828
    Fax: 210.832.3149
    Truthfully,
    /Ellen Lockwood/
    Ellen Lockwood, ACP, RP
    Senior Paralegal
    Certified Paralegal – Intellectual Property Specialist
    Addendum to Notice of Infringement
    Name of Intellectual Property Owner: Premiere Networks, Inc., a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, Inc.
    Work infringed: Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell radio programs
    Type of Infringement: Copyright infringement – unauthorized copies of copyrighted works made available for performance
    URL of Infringing Items: http://u7radio.org/
    Ellen Lockwood, ACP, RP
    Senior Paralegal
    Certified Paralegal – Intellectual Property Specialist
    iHeartMedia, Inc.
    o 210.832.3382 | m 210.863.4884
    200 East Basse Road, San Antonio, TX 78209
    EllenLockwood@iHeartMedia.com
    – ksb

    And more: The assertion was made that Premiere owns not only Coast programs but also DARK MATTER episodes!

    Premiere owns all Coast to Coast, Art Bell, and Dark Matter programs on the list at the link below

    The immediate outcry on BELLGAB was one of confusion mixed with consternation.  Even Art Bell weighed in, writing

    Wow, They must have a much bigger reach then I thought. Perhaps they made a bigger deal with Sirius/XM
    then even I thought…..goodness that’s some claim!! Dave is really something. Hard to believe they would make
    a Legal claim like that if not true.

    Art

    Meanwhile, DREAMLAND programs air on the U7 stream–and plenty of other running streams are still online broadcasting Coast programs.

    The fascinating aspect has now become: Just who owns ART BELL?

  • PUFFY CLOUDS BEGIN TO FILL THE AIR AT BELLGAB

    PUFFY CLOUDS BEGIN TO FILL THE AIR AT BELLGAB

    For weeks, speculation has been rampant on BELLGAB.COM.. The social site where Art Bell fans go to surmise the latest ordeals, the latest rumors, and the most recent George Noory memes, has also been home to a gush of emotion with each Art Bell message to the squadron of loyal listeners.. They are the base. Sometimes organized. Sometimes apathetic.. sometimes stuck in a mental rut.. and as Bell would say, vaguely lovable.

    But today, they may have just cracked the code.

    Several days ago, Art Bell made a dramatic announcement on both Bellgab and Facebook that, due to problems being able to play bumper music on his scheduled upcoming July podcast, he may just scrap the whole thing. Intense debate was immediate.. a rush of ideas filled the pages of the site with pleas from some for Bell to just come back, even if music would be absent his podcast. Others mentioned free places, and some wanted to donate their own original songs. But Bell wasn’t playing with any new ideas: He clearly wants the music he had always played on Coast to Coast AM, he said to set the atmosphere as the program continued through the night.

    Emotions suddenly turned positive as Bell began posting more hopeful words. A deal, he said, was being worked out with a ‘major player.’ After much speculation, Bell last night wrote about the inability for Bellgabbers to guess who that ‘big’ player was.

    Until today when a user named ‘Somewhere in Time’ guessed CUMULUS.. Speculation took off from there..

    As for me, I did my own part, contacted a source with Cumulus Media that I have used previously.. A brief friendly phone conversation changed to an even more brief and less kind talk when I asked if Art Bell could potentially be a major player coming to the Cumulus brand.. A deal, I was told, would be announced ‘if a deal was even being worked on’ when both parties decided it should be.. If ‘both parties’ were even talking about it.  The classic no confirmation.. no denial.. military style.

    Bell himself added to the vast array of speculation with a few coy comments and lively jokes, even humoring users who were openly talking about placing money bets on him signing with Cumulus vs not.. Finally tonight, Bell entertained the idea of announcing early but said he didn’t want to say a word until the documents were signed:

    What clues? I can not say a word till the date to announce. It is hard for me not to just blurt it out now because we have been told it’s a go but I want to wait for the signed final deal first but boy it is exciting. I will be depending on the PROVEN ability of this murky and semi civilized group to hit Social Media with a brick for me when we are ready.

    Art

    The clues were dropped.. the hints were made.
    There is not clear confirmation of CUMULUS being the new brand of Bell, but it is certainly raising eyebrows when the comments are taking into consideration.

    But at the same time, Bell is having fun with it all, as well.
    He posted on Facebook tonight:

    For those of you who can read between the lines and do not mind adult language and are not easily offended plus have a good sense of humor you may wish to check out http://www.bellgab.com remember, I warned you, it’s not the underbelly of the Internet..but you can see it from there.

    The underbelly.
    And as a card carrying member of BELLGAB, I think I can see the underbelly from my house.

     

  • Bumper music continues to be sticking point in potential Art Bell return

    Bumper music continues to be sticking point in potential Art Bell return

    From Bell’s own Facebook account tonight, the news is not yet conclusive as far as his return. He writes, in full:

    Ok here is a update that I am afraid will not tell you much. We are in talks with a big player and the rub is the music, for me a must have, as is the live show aspect and the time slot 9PM-12AM P.T. for the show.

    The only sticking point is the music and we should have that worked out by the end of the Week, or not. All I can tell you is we are going at this as hard as we can. If we pull it off it will have some commercial content but it will be a free live stream and be Worldwide, then I feel I will have kept my promise. Nobody wants me back on the air more then me.

    You will all know the moment I do.

    Art

    The return to the airwaves, or podcasting, has been thrown off the ‘midnight express’ tracks after the blunt fact of high costs for the use of music reared its head. While some people have offered advice, and even offered their own music for free to Bell for his show, he has refused. Instead he wants to use music from his personal collection for his own program, many songs most likely that were also used when he hosted Coast to Coast AM and DARK MATTER on Sirirus XM.

    The newest news isn’t much, but it’s a message advising situational awareness for fans resolute in their hope that Bell returns this July..

    This is an obvious developing story.. as usual, the HORROR REPORT will continue to go for the ride with everyone else.

    Who could the big player be..?

  • An update from Art Bell and a new trailer for the potential DARK MATTER podcast

    An update from Art Bell and a new trailer for the potential DARK MATTER podcast

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgXuur7XngQ?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=http://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque]

    Unless insanity prevails and Art Bell changes his mind, DARK MATTER is going to be coming this July. And here, thanks to a fine YOUTUBE user named ḰIḒṔṴJẶ PRODUCTIONS, we have a trailer for the much anticipated return to the airwaves. Via a podcast.

    Sometime in July.
    From somewhere in a dark room in Pahrump Nevada..

    Meanwhile, Art Bell posted a new message on BELLGAB with a bit of an update:

    No news yet. The deal is actively being worked on by both sides, I will let you all know the moment we have a deal because until that time THOSE PEOPLE would screw with it. For all I know they have already tried to steal Falkie away for their bumpers.
    I love this board, never change.
    Art

    I love BELLGAB, too. That’s why I am not only a reader but an active member