''Art Bell's Dark Matter'' was an American

radio talk show Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews wi ...

hosted by broadcaster and author

Art Bell Arthur William Bell III (June 17, 1945 – April 13, 2018) was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program '' Coast to Coast AM'', which is syndicated on hundreds ...

. ''Dark Matter'' primarily focused on

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

and

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

topics. The program was exclusive to

Sirius XM Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merger ...

, a subscription-based

satellite radio Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a '' broadcasting-satellite service''. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than te ...

service. ''Dark Matter'' debuted on September 16, 2013, and aired live Monday through Thursday from 10 p.m. ET to 2 a.m. ET on Sirius XM Radio's Indie Talk Channel 104. ''Dark Matter'' was the first program hosted by Art Bell full-time since his departure from regularly hosting ''

Coast to Coast AM ''Coast to Coast AM'' is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 198 ...

'' in 2003. On November 4, 2013, Bell announced that he was abruptly ceasing the production and airing of ''Dark Matter'' following a dispute with Sirius XM Radio regarding Sirius XM customers experiencing technical difficulties

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

his show live via the Internet.

Background and development

Art Bell was the creator and former host of the late night

''; he ceased being its regularly scheduled host in 2003, and subsequently continued to host occasional shows of ''Coast to Coast AM'', although due to events in his family and conflicts with

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks, Inc. (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It is th ...

and the show's management team, he undertook a series of hiatuses from the show. Bell's final appearance on ''Coast to Coast AM'' was in 2010 when he hosted the program's annual

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

show, "Ghost to Ghost." Despite his departure, Premiere Networks continues to rebroadcast archival shows of ''Coast to Coast AM'' hosted by Bell entitled ''Somewhere in Time with Art Bell'', albeit against Bell's wishes. In early 2013, after nearly a decade since Bell's departure from hosting ''Coast to Coast AM'' full-time, Bell was contacted through social media by a

representative about developing a new

talk show, which was later entitled ''Art Bell's Dark Matter''. Following the show's formal announcement on July 30, 2013, Sirius XM Radio president and chief content officer

Scott Greenstein Scott Greenstein (born 1959)Ross Johnson''New York Times'', October 11, 2004. is president and chief content officer of Sirius XM Radio. Scott leads the programming and advertising sales for a radio company and a subscription media company. Under ...

remarked that Bell's ''Dark Matter'' program would be "uncensored, unrestricted, uncluttered and utterly unique." ''Dark Matter'' premiered on September 16, 2013, with

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

Michio Kaku Michio Kaku (; ; born January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist, Science communication, science communicator, futurologist, and writer of popular-science. He is a professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York and ...

as the show's first guest. Kaku had been a frequent guest of Bell's on his previous radio programs, including ''Coast to Coast AM''. On November 4, 2013, Bell announced that he was abruptly ceasing the production and airing of ''Dark Matter'' following a dispute with Sirius XM Radio regarding Sirius XM customers experiencing technical difficulties

his show live via the Internet. According to Bell, Sirius XM Radio subscribers experienced problems streaming ''Dark Matter'' live, thus negatively impacting the program's caller-driven format. Bell also stated that the ''Dark Matter'' program was being

pirated Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

and streamed live via third party websites. To remedy these issues, Bell sought to have ''Dark Matter'' stream live from his artbell.com website for free, a suggestion which Sirius XM Radio refused. Following a breakdown in negotiations between Bell and Sirius XM Radio, Bell stated on his Facebook page: "Sometimes when you are 'all in' you win, sometimes lose. By mutual agreement, ''Dark Matter'' will no longer air as of tonight."

Format and subject matter

''Dark Matter'' aired live Monday through Thursday from 10 p.m. ET to 2 am. ET on Sirius XM Radio's Indie Talk Channel 104. It was rerun immediately following its live broadcasts, and was rerun during its regularly schedule hours on Friday through Sunday. Bell requested that Sirius XM Radio not replay the program's show during the daytime and restrict its re-airings to nighttime when "the mood is right." As was customary during his tenure on ''Coast to Coast AM'', Bell opened the program's phone lines for listeners to call in to ''Dark Matter''. According to Sirius XM Radio, ''Dark Matter'' primarily focused on topics including: "the

near-death experience A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death, which researchers describe as having similar characteristics. When positive, which the great majority are, such experiences may encompa ...

quantum physics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life, or alien life (colloquially, aliens), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms ...

and the unusual." Bell hosted ''Dark Matter'' from a new studio built by Sirius XM Radio in a guest house at his rural residence in Pahrump, Nevada. Bell enlisted former ''Coast to Coast AM'' announcer Ross Mitchell to create the program's introduction and

bumper Bumper or Bumpers may refer to: People * Betty Bumpers (1925-2018), American activist, First Lady of Arkansas, wife of Dale Bumpers * Dale Bumpers (1925–2016), American politician, governor of Arkansas and senator * Bumper Robinson (born 1974) ...

announcements. The radio producer for ''Dark Matter'' was Paul Bowman. The program's associate producer Evan Winkofsky operated the boards from Washington, D.C. ''Dark Matters closing theme song was "Midnight in the Desert," which was written and performed by

Crystal Gayle Brenda Gail Webb (born January 9, 1951), known professionally as Crystal Gayle, is an American country music singer widely known for her 1977 hit " Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". Initially, Gayle's management and record label were the same ...

for Art Bell.

Guests

Following its premiere on September 16, 2013, Bell interviewed several notable guests on ''Dark Matter'':

Planned return to production

In the spring of 2015 Art Bell announced that his program would return to production on July 20, 2015, reborn as ''Midnight in the Desert.'' It would not be broadcast by

; instead it would be streamed live from midnight to 3:00 a.m.

Eastern Time Zone The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 U.S. states, states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five ...

, Monday through Friday, via a link on his website or via the

TuneIn TuneIn is a global audio streaming service providing news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the privately held company TuneIn Inc. based in San Francisco, California. The comp ...

app on a smartphone or tablet. The program would also be broadcast live by AM, FM, and shortwave terrestrial radio stations agreeing to his terms for relaying the Internet stream. On December 11, 2015, Bell announced that he had permanently stepped down as host of Midnight in the Desert due to concerns about his family's safety (Bell had reported multiple instances of someone shooting firearms at and near his property in the fall of 2015, according to an interview with the Gabcast). The show was then taken over by Bell's producer Heather Wade (Bell made occasional guest host appearances until 2016) for about two and a half years until she was replaced by former ''Coast to Coast'' guest host Dave Schraeder in May 2018. Wade went on to start the competing ''Kingdom of Nye'' late-night show from the Pahrump studio Bell had used. On October 8, 2022, Dark Matter Digital Network and Dark Matter News announced plans to relaunch the network together.

References

External links