I realize this subject is not one normally discussed on this blog, but I am taking a point of personal privilege to write about a man named Art Bell, who died late last week at the age of 72.  Why write about Art Bell, a man I never met?  Allow me to explain.

I worked at radio stations in the mid 1970s while attending college.  I happen to be working at one station that was 24-hours-a-day, which didn’t happen all the time in those days.  The owner was petrified that someone would file a competing application and take his station away during license renewal.  So, the station staged an overnight talk show five nights a week, ostensibly to discuss public affairs…that meant newsy-type issues and such.

But you can’t easily fill 4-5 hours a night with serious stuff. You need to have some fun, especially at those hours of the late night and early morning.  You had to talk about strange subjects.

While working away during my college days, the station manager, a great guy and former Green Berets, asked me to take over the overnight talk show.  I thought about it.  It fit my class schedule and guaranteed me more hours than I was getting at the time.

So, in the mid-1970s, I spent two years staying up all night and talking about serious, and some not so serious, issues.

I had serious guests to talk about the economy, foreign affairs and politics.  But most of the 4-5 hours featured me answering the phone and talking about whatever that caller wanted to talk about.  and that could be anything.

I had some fun guests.  I had people claiming to be psychics, I had self-proclaimed “experts” on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and lots of other goofy subjects.  I remember one guest claimed there were thousands of aliens among us that look and talk just like humans, poised to take over the world.  I cut that interview short.

I mention all this because the late Art Bell was a syndicated overnight “talk jock” that only talked about the fun stuff.  Conspiracy theories were high on his list and his callers talked about plenty of them.

Art Bell lived in the small town of Pahrump, Nevada, not far from Las Vegas.  He lived in a remote home with satellite communications allowing him to produce the program from his home.  It’s a great gig if you can get it.

Art Bell was the darling of insomniacs and all-night over-the-road truck drivers.  He had a huge fan base for a show on at such odd hours.

I guess I am just a little jealous of Art Bell.  He lived the dream for a long time.  He started in radio broadcasting in 1945, syndicated his talk show in 1988 and retired for good in 2007.  He enjoyed plenty of good years having fun with his audience.

I only had two short years to enjoy the all-night talk show genre as host at the local level, but I had to be serious enough of the time to calm down the radio station ownership about anyone successfully challenging their license to broadcast.   Art Bell had fun ever single night.

I hope Art Bell is remembered as someone that knew how to entertain his audience, one of the real characters of radio.  My sympathies go to his surviving family members.