"From the Southeast Capitol of The Philippines, Manila......."

With those words Art Bell began broadcasting from his 19th floor condo which you can see below in this realistic picture (scroll down the page):

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page1499.html

During the first hour, Art talked about his life in The Philippines, with callers added to the mix in the last half hour.

One revelation was revealed for the first time. Art announced he is going to become a Catholic. He said before Ramona died he had thought about this. Ramona was Catholic. His current wife Airyn, is very Catholic and he just attended his first Mass. It will be interesting to see if Art's conversion will effect his future shows.

Art said he has three months of medication for his back and might have to travel back to the States for more. For those who are new. Art has suffered terrible back problems for years and even forced him to retire from broadcasting for a time, after falling from a tower many years earlier.

Art mentioned he has his Ham equipment stored next to where he's broadcasting. He hasn't made any head way wet, getting on the air but said when he does he'll be broadcasting on 2015kHz.

About midway through the 2nd half of the first hour, the signal was lost for about 5 minutes. Premiere automatically switched to an old program. Art came back on, knowning what had happened and blamed it on to many people using phone lines for Fathers Day.

The Saturday night debut from Manila was also Art's 61st birthday.

This is fun radio! When one moves across the planet, jury rigs some wires and comrexes together and conjures up a national radio show to another shore!

This is why his show, along with his personality is so fun. Always something.

I think he said "20, 15 and 10 Meters" (Ham bands).

There were 2 or 3 different interruptions during first hour. The 2nd one was longer, with the replay of taped program. Interruption music = Summer Place

My impression was it was not "automatic", but rather somebody was pushing buttons.

Here is the Internet link. About the telephony equipment being used.

http://www.comrex.com/products/couplers.htm

62kgw: Yes! Art did mention the 20-15 on 10 meters. That didn't make any sense to me on shortwave with 120 meters as the closest to 20-15. I know he's broadcasting as a Ham so it must be different than shortwave, right?

I've never understood why I can pick him up on my shortwave radio if he's broadcasting on Ham frequencies with different frequency measurements. Maybe you or someone else can explain the difference and why I can here Art on shortwave.

"Art did mention the 20-15 on 10 meters."
I don't know what he said because I didn't hear it. However, he is an avid ham radio operator. He speaks that lingo to his followers that are also hams. I don't know what a 20-15 on 10 meters is that you refer to. However, I believe 62kgw is correct in that probably Art said he would be on 20 meters, 15 meters, and 10 meters. Those are specific ham bands.

It is not 2015 kHz.

The 20 meter band is around 14MHz
The 15 meter band is around 21MHz
The 10 meter band is around 29MHz

120 Meter band is around 2300-2500 kHz but is not a ham band. It is an international broadcasting band. The closest ham band to this is the 160 meter band which is just above the AM broadcast band. 160 meters is 1800 - 2000 kHz.

And that is probably more info than most care to know.

Art Bell Problems Last Night. This from the Coast To Coast AM website:

Sunday Recap

Because of technical problems, Art Bell, broadcasting from The Philippines, was heard live for just the first hour with guest Richard C. Hoagland of Enterprise Mission. The 10/5/03 show with Hoagland and Mike Heiser was replayed for the rest of the program.
__________________________________________________________

Jimbo:

I've heard Hams around the 75 meter band for years. This morning I heard talk between 6am & 6:40am on the following frequencies on the lower side band: 3770, 3820, 3825, 3890, 3949, 3990. If anyone is interested in hearing these Hams tomorrow morning, tune to these frequencies and chances are you'll hear some of them and maybe ones I didn't hear. They seem to group themselves in the same area of the band.

I thought Art was moving to the Phillipians?

Can you live among the Phillistines and be a catholic..........

enough levity.

Listened this weekend first hour and last...

seemed rusty...Is the fire still there, or is he just going thru the motions.....

George Noory doesn't have the same wink wink playfulness that Art had... with George, I expect anyday for the government to shed their human forms and reveal their alien reptillian persona..
Even on a serious topic, George manages to work in some Alien reference!

BTW is that massive underwater alien base still at the bottom of Crater Lake? and what really goes on at Mel's hole except for military exercises, (and native american alcohol consumption.)

Yeah! These are questions people almost everywhere don't want to know the answer to, unlike me!

Art got a little light in recent years, I think with all the behind the scenes problems it softened the hard x files style feel that the show had up until the late 90s. Too bad.

Craig, he said "20, 15 AND 10 Meters", which I interperted as meaning "20 meters, 15 meters, and 10 meters".
[He did not say "20 15 on 10 Meters". That would not have made any sense.]

The ham bands are on shortwave! Thats why you can hear them on a shortwave receiver! I think they refer to the wavelength of the band because of tradition, and because often you cant be real specific about the frequency because nobody owns a frequency.

62kgw: Ok! That makes sense. I was writing notes at the time about his previous comments, for posting later, while listening and probably thought Art said "on 10 meters." Thanks!

I have a shortwave question? Do HAM's still used the 10 meter band. Every time I tune in the band with my shortwave radio in SSB. I heard nothing. Be it day or night.

I wonder how Art is going about getting the proper licensing for Amateur Radio operating privileges and a station license in the Phillippines?

This link describes some of the Redtape/Radio Law mine fields Art may have to traverse to get operating privileges and a station license over there:

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/io/faq.html

-------------------------------------------------

FCC Frequency Allocations Grouped by Wavelength and License Type for Amateur Radio, along with types of emission/modulation method:

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/allocate.html
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/Hambands_color.pdf

I wonder if Art gave any specific frequency he would normally be using on 20, 15, and 10-meters? Did anyone hear him mention this?

Obviously he would need new call letters as well.

Looks like they are not going to try again this weekend.

What! Not another Philippine phone holiday!

Yesterday the c2c website showed that Bell was going to be the host Thurs and Friday, but now it shows 2 other guest hosts.

Here is more info from the Phillipians:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page1513.html?theme=light

Is that near Philemon or Corinth?

Tee hee.

On a related subject former "Coast To Coast AM" host Mike Siegel was in radio news today:

All Access reports Mike Siegel returns to the Seattle airwaves with a one hour daily show 6-7pm on Talk simulcast KITZ-A/Silverdale WA and KGTK-A/Olympia WA. The show is being added on a trial basis.

Siegel was heard in Portland before Coast on KBNP in 1997 and on KXL starting in 2001. He was the host of Coast from April 2000 to January 2001 when Art Bell returned.

KXL?
Siegel was on 620 (KTLK?) [Morning and Afternoon at first, then just Mornings]. I remember griping that his microphone sounded like he was in the kitchen.

Reworked title of this thread....

Taco Bell begins serving Vanilla in the Philippines..........

I just can't imagine him staying there for the rest of his life tho he is quite enamored with Asia in general....Who knows...C2C is not half the show without his outlook. Not anyplace else for the overnight crowd to turn.......

62kgw: KLTK does not come up when doing a google search on Mike Seigel.

No Art Bell his weekend or next. What is this problem they're having?

"I have a shortwave question? Do HAM's still used the 10 meter band. Every time I tune in the band with my shortwave radio in SSB. I heard nothing. Be it day or night."

Washnotore2 - Yes, we do use 10 meters. There just isn't much there right now because we are at the bottom of the solar cycle and the band seldom opens. Watch out in the next few years, as the solar cycle heads upwards, you'll hear more.

you mean ART BELL actually has time to do his show, with a young bride?

CON-CEN-TRAY-SHUN

Evidently not! Art hasn't been on in weeks! She's killin' him! But what a way to go!

With Art Bell still unable to broadcast from The Philippines, an interesting change of hosts this weekend. "Coast To Coast AM" big voice Announcer Ross Mitchell filled in as Host. But who announced Ross? It was Coast weekend host Ian Punnett. It sure sounded strange!

On a side note, Ross Mitchell who has been morning man at KKOH Reno for over 20 years has also been Art Bell's announcer back to when Coast was syndicated by the American CBC Network. Here's a picture of Ross Mitchell:

http://www.kkoh.com/default.asp?area=fullshow&showID=5

Can't a redundant dialup connection be easily set up with off the shelf equipment? For instance, Bell would dial up from his end to here using the first comrex and get the primary connection established, then Premier network operations would dial up from US to Bell's condo on a second line with another comrex. Bell's microphone would be connected to both. The Audio engineer at this end would select the best sounding line but have his finger on the switch to go to the other line if/when the signal goes away.
Perhap the comrex box's have a red led that flashes if the link goes down, alerting Bell to push another button to re-dial.
What makes them think a dial-up ISDN will be more reliable than a analog line?
There are probably other solutions that involve the internet or leased channels of T1. Perhaps the bureaucracy for those is big issue.
On the other hand, maybe they aren't really trying very hard to make it work?

Art Bell returns to Coast tonight & Sunday. George says the lines are the same as his lines to The Cave.

Art Bell returned to Coast last night. What's new? Well he's down to one tenth of the amount of cigarettes he used to smoke when he was a chain smoker. His two kitty cats are now with him in Manila.

It's time for an Art Bell trivia quiz question: Name the call letters of the Portland area radio station "Coast To Coast AM" with Art Bell was first heard on.

I listened to the show last night. Good to hear Art back on the air. Ross Mitchell's a great announcer, but as a host--not so much.

Aside from Art's voice sounding unusually loud, the show was great.

One question: Does anyone know how Art is able to speak with stateside guests and callers without any annoying delay in conversation?

Art said, he answers the phones in Manila. They must be screened at Premiere in Los Angeles and sent to him over the same set up he uses.

He has a data connection that allows calls, studio audio, other data, etc to be shared 2 way just like a high speed internet connection.

So the calls are controlled by him, he gets the audio over there, and then ships the resulting show back stateside via the same connection by which they came.

I am certain of this since I work on another Premiere show with a similar remote studio system.

I remember hearing Art (W6OBB) around 3885 kHz last summer, when he still lived in Nevada. He had a very strong signal up here, though it took a little getting used to what his voice sounded like on SSB. This is not a "broadcast" but 2-way radio. I remember that when Art came on, a bunch of people crawled out of the woodwork to talk to him!!

It kind of makes sense that if he is living in a condo tower, he would be limited to 20 meters and shorter wavelengths. I have seen 20 meter antennas mounted on apartment towers and commercial buildings.

Without getting too far off topic, the 27-28 MHz region of the spectrum--where 10 meters and CB are--seems to vary a lot in its propagation with solar activity. A few years ago, I was hearing a lot of "Asian" sounding languages on 10 meters with very strong signals. I remember that back in early 1990s, all of the CB channels were filled with heterodynes during the day because the signals reflected off the ionosphere so well. Today, if you use those bands, it's almost like being on VHF.

I'll guess that Art Bell's show started while Larry King was still doing nights and KEX was running that. I'll say KUIK or KKGR.

Wrong! But you're on track Semoochie. I'll give you a hint: Who was doing overnight talk radio in 1994?

K-News or KOTK?

Guess Again.

1410?

Higher.

We're running out, kids. It must be KVAN.

1520? I didn't live in Portland at the time, so this is just a guess.

Yes! KVAN carried Coast late night in 1994 but only in one hour segments. Art's show was picked up by either "Major Talk Network" or "Talk America" to fill overnight gaps in their schedule. I caught a few of these one hour segments. I knew of Art Bell from listening to him on KDWN Las Vegas. Art must have known about his program being cut up but was willing for air time on other stations. This was also when Art's show was a politically liberal talk show.

In 1995 Art joined with Chancellor Broadcasting Co. in Central Point, Oregon and created what he called on air "The American CBC Network". Coast at that time was syndicated by "Talk Radio Networks". These companies were bought by Clear Channel in 1998 primarily to add Coast to CC's new syndication division, "Premiere Radio Networks". At the time Coast was heard on over 400 stations.

KEX was Portland area's first station to carry the entire Coast program in 1995. But at the time Coast was a politically liberal show and would change slowly with the beginning of Art's weekend "Dreamland" show in 1996 where Art first tested subjects such as UFO's etc. This proved successful in ratings and was slowly introduced on more of his Coast shows until you couldn't tell any difference between the two programs.

That's when Art wanted to leave as host of "Dreamland". There was already an audience built in for the program. That's when Whitley Streiber took over as host.

So politcal liberal Art Bell morphs into flying saucer freak Art Bell. Why do I not find this at all strange.

I don't remember Art ever being a liberal. When I first heard his show in the early '90's on KOMO he was conservative/libertarian. I remember him saying in 1992 that the election of Ross Perot could be the last chance to save freedom in America. One of the reasons I find Art's show fun sometimes is that it's not political. So much of political talk radio today is just too predictable to hold my interest for long.

I also remember a dude named Stan Major doing a syndicated overnight show in the late 80's/early 90's. He was (I think) on KVI here in Seattle. Was he picked up in Portland? I think the show came from Miami.

Brade said:

"So much of political talk radio today is just too predictable to hold my interest for long."

This is true. Be it Lars or Big Eddie, Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes or Sean Hannity. Listen to any of these yahoos for awhile and you can not only predict the gist of what they'll say, you can predict it word for word. There is only one way for these clowns' ratings to go and that is down. I'll give 'em a couple three more years before they are deader than dead.

I think that "Dreamland" must have started almost immediately after Art Bell signed on with Chancellor because I remember listening to this show in the summer of 1995 on KFON 1490 in Austin.

Brade: I agree. I was writing more for the Neo-CON's, thinking that's what they'd label him (liberal).

Alfredo t: You might be right about Dreamland's start. Found the information on the web which said late 1996. That might have been when the show started in the writer's market.

Long before Art Bell, there was another talk show that dealt with UFO's and such. In the early 80's Ed Bush did a similar program on KNBR San Francisco. I remember Ed also tried to start a network of stations carrying his program "The Ed Bush Talk Show".

Did Art bell program replace overnight DJ program on KEX? or were they doing Larry King/JimBo at that time? I dont remember it as being liberal either but there were fewer guests and more open lines.
I think I remember initially he said it was "This is CBC", then later it was "Chancellor Broadcasting and Talk Radio Network".

I thought Dreamland came a couple years later?

Which Guest has been on the most times?
Richard Hoagland? Linda Molden whatever?

I'm thinking KEX went with Jim Bohanon for awhile after Larry King went to daytime and started working with me.

Brade: After thinking more about this, I remember Art polling callers, asking them who they were going to vote for President. Art was convinced that the poles were wrong about Ross Perot and that he had a chance at the Presidency. We know that was 1992 but I can't remember if I was listening to KEX or KDWN. Brade, if you remember Art talking about the Ross Perot, Presidency on KOMO, I remember KEX & KOMO starting Coast about the same time.

I went back to my KVAN 1550 history to see if there was an earlier time when K-Van was Talk. Turns out there was! Right after Fairmont filed for bankruptcy, KVAN went Talk between September 20 & 27, 1992.

I put both "Art Bell" "Ross Perot" into google at the same time to see if I could find a reference date, but before 1995 the web is only talking about what happened back when, with little in the way of dating. However I did see another site that stated Art Bell went into syndication in 1993 which would support my KVAN 1992 theory. This still doesn't solve the Ross Perot 1992 election we both heard. You'd think someone on the web would have written these dates down by know!

Art Bell voted for Reagan twice. I've listened to him for over 20 years and with his positions on gun control, lower taxes, etc., I would hardly call him liberal, no matter from whose perspective you're speaking from.

KEX played Coast to Coast on the weekends in January of 1994. They replayed Art's shows that aired during the previous week. At some point soon after that they started carrying the show live. Craig Adams... I know you're the history guy on here, but your dates dealing with this are wrong. Art didn't leave Dreamland until around 2000.

I never posted the year Art left Dreamland.

I guess you said 1996 was the year it started on KEX, which is false. I was listening to Dreamland on KEX in 1994. I wonder how much of your other history is wrong?

As I stated earlier, the years posted above were culled from website mentions only. Newspapers were not utilized as in my radio station histories which take months to complete.

You seem to recall a lot about the Art Bell programs. I would invite you to write the history as you remember in a post.

I remember back in the late 1980s when I was visiting my parents who lived in Las Vegas, I use to listen to Art Bell when he was only on KDWN 720. Now that was one interesting show!

"During Saturday night's program, Art Bell announced that he and his wife Airyn are expecting their first child. "

Looks like Art has become a life member. Of the Phillppine Amateur Radio Association. 73's and QSL.