Why Did Art Bell Retire?
Art Bell, an American broadcaster and host of the paranormal-themed radio show Coast to Coast AM has retired from his job four times within a nine year span! Let us look at the reasons why Art Bell retired on various occasions.
Art Bell has retired more than once. In fact, he has retired four times. Here's why:
Retirement 1: October 13, 1998
This first retirement of Art Bell's lasted only 15 days. Bell announced the following words as reason for his retirement:
"I told you that there was an event, a threatening terrible event that occurred to my family, which I could not tell you about. Because of that event, and a succession of other events, what you're listening to right now is my final broadcast on the air."
Although he initially said that he retired because of threats made against his family, on May 29, 1999, Bell said that the real reason that he retired was because hosts of the WWCR showcase were saying that Bell had covered up some criminal activity in which the other show claimed that he had participated. We have to wonder which is the true story.
Retirement 2: April 1, 2000
Bell's return to the show lasted only about a year and a half or so before he decided to retire again. He did not really give a reason this time, except that he had to "resolve a family crisis."
Mike Siegel took Bell's spot on the show, which eventually caused him to return to the show. Bell was the creator of the show and he did not like the direction that Siegel was going. Bell felt an obligation to return to the show and correct what he saw as mistakes that were happening. His return to the show occurred at the beginning of the following year, on January 24, 2001.
Retirement 3: October 23, 2002
When Bell was younger, he had fallen from a telephone phone. He said that he was experiencing severe back pains due to that accident; therefore, he would have to retire again. At this point, George Noory permanent replaced him as a weekday host, and Barbara Simpson replaced him as a weekend host.
Less than a year later, on September 23, 2003, Bell decided to return to the show yet again. However, he did not take over his weekday spot. He just took over the weekend spot. At one point, he went into semi-retirement and decided to only do two Sundays a month. However, after his wife Ramona passed away on January 5, 2006, he went back to doing the entire weekends.
Retirement 4: July 1, 2007
Bell's final stretch with the show was a long one, considering how many times he had retired in a short time span. However, on July 1, 2007, he said that he was officially retiring so that he could spend more time with his new wife and daughter. Yet he still did not leave the show completely. He said that he was going to remain with the show and do some shows, which came out to be 15 shows per year.