Remembering The King Of Overnight Talk Radio

I’m not exactly sure when I first heard Art Bell’s overnight radio show.

It was sometime in the 1990s when I stumbled upon Bell’s program which aired from 1-5 a.m. on the east coast. As the show centered all kinds of mysterious and spooky subjects, I was immediately hooked.

This was a radio talk show unlike any I had ever listened to. The subjects ranged from UFOs to bigfoot to ghosts to strange happenings and unsolved mysteries.

Of course the only down part was the time it aired. I often tried to wake up during the night to at least hear what that morning’s show subject was. Many times they were so intriguing I would lay awake in my bed and listen for an hour, two hours or longer.

“I know I am going to pay for this tomorrow,” I kept telling myself as a new work day creeped closer.

Somehow I just couldn’t turn the radio off in order to go to sleep. Bell’s “Coast to Coast A.M.” show had gained another fan already known among the insomniacs, overnight truck drivers and those who were up at that hour for whatever reason.

It was on Bell’s show that I enjoyed frequent guest John Lear of the well-known Lear aviation family. Lear was the one who introduced UFO buffs to Bob Lazar and his fascinating stories of working at Area 51 and how our government for years back-engineered technology from various vehicles from other worlds.

A few years later it was Lear, who lent credibility because of his storied career as an airline pilot, who was one of the first to cast doubts on the official 9-11 story as told by the government. Lear said it was impossible for someone to receive that small amount of training to fly a major airliner into the twin towers.

Lear said even with his thousands upon thousands of hours of flight time he doubted he could have flown the planes into the buildings at the rate of speed they were traveling. Lear broke it down in more technical terms I don’t understand since I have no aviation training but it was certainly eye-opening to hear his thoughts and theories on 9-11.

One of my favorite shows was Bell’s annual “Ghost to Ghost A.M.” which he did each Halloween. People would call in with ghost stories, often personal things they had experienced. While some of the stories were a little silly some were downright spooky, no doubt made more so by the late hour of the show.

Eventually Bell stepped away from the show for reasons which were as mysterious as one of his broadcasts. Reports indicated that Bell was receiving death threats although he never actually said what happened.

Later Bell would return to the show as a weekend host but the itch was there for him to return full time. He would later launch his own overnight show (in two versions) and became a competitor of the show he created.

Bell, in typical conspiracy fashion, stepped away from those shows as well after someone allegedly came onto his private property and threatened his family.

The death of the unique radio talk show host in recent days caused his still loyal legion of fans to remember his greatness. Many of his shows are still available on Youtube and it’s common for me to listen to them at night as I drift away.

And while the original “Coast to Coast A.M.” show continues to air it simply hasn’t been the same without Art Bell. He was truly the first, an original and someone who made it worth it to try and stay up well past my bedtime.

Monticello native Chris Bridges is a long-time newspaper columnist. He welcomes feedback about the column at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.