Late-Night Host Art Bell Stuns Listeners in Sign-Off

In a stunning announcement Tuesday, syndicated late-night radio host Art Bell told listeners at the end of his “Coast to Coast” program that he was delivering “my final broadcast” because of fear for the safety of his family.

Bell, who has been airing locally on KABC-AM (790) for the last three years, didn’t specify his concerns but alluded to something that happened about a year ago, calling it “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. This is it, folks; I’m going off the air and will not return.”

The 51-year-old host, who gained popularity talking in the wee hours about “the dark forces” and sinister conspiracies and was heard on more than 400 stations across the nation, made the announcement from his home and broadcast studio in remote Pahrump, Nev., at 2:55 a.m., shortly before signing off.

“It’s not that I want to hold anything back from my audience,” Bell told listeners. “However, for the protection of my family, until it is otherwise revealed, I can’t discuss it, I won’t discuss it. And if you were in my position, you would do the same thing.”

Officials at both KABC and Bell’s syndicator, Premiere Radio Networks, said they were taken by surprise and could shed no light on his decision. KABC only two weeks ago had expanded Bell’s air time by two hours, starting him at 10 p.m. instead of midnight and running until 3 a.m.

Bell’s home telephone was disconnected Tuesday.

In a statement Tuesday, Kraig T. Kitchin, president and chief operating officer of Premiere Radio Networks, said: “We at Premiere were surprised by Art’s announcement. We have been in contact with Art to let him know of our support for him and his family. We will work with Art in every way to see to it that he can return to what he does so well.”

For the rest of the week, Premiere said it will run “Best of Art Bell” shows.

Bell put a transcript of his sign-off on his Web site, and within hours dozens of fans posted messages, mostly saying that they would miss him.

Bell got interested in radio as a child and ran an on-base pirate station while in the Air Force. After the military, he worked as a rock deejay at 25 stations, then got involved in talk radio at a Las Vegas station in the mid-1980s. He liked to chat about the paranormal but also talked about politics and conspiracies.