Art Bell says he’ll return to the air

Robert Macy

Saturday, Oct. 24, 1998 | 12:24 p.m.

Radio talk show host Art Bell, who surprised his vast audience by signing off Oct. 13, announced Friday night that he will be returning to the air next Wednesday night.

Bell, in a brief statement, said the the difficulties that caused him to quit his show "have not been resolved yet."

He declined to explain the problem, saying "I will not exacerbate the situation by making public what should be private."

"This was not any kind of hoax or stunt," Bell said. "It was not a contract ploy. This was and is a family crisis."

"I am very happy to report I will return to "Coast to Coast" and "Dreamland" Wednesday night, Oct. 28," Bell said, wrapping up his brief statement before leaving the air Friday night.

Bell signed off earlier this month with an announcement that he was quitting broadcasting, citing a "threatening terrible event" that occurred to his family.

But on Monday, Bell announced that he hoped the problem could be resolved and he could return to his show. He refused to say what the event was, only describing it as something that "absolutely requires my full-time attention."

Bell, 51, said he quit the country's most popular overnight radio show, because of the event that occurred one year ago as well as subsequent events.

He said he and his family are in no immediate danger.

"To disclose details of what did occur would have a rather immediate, negative effect on my family, and I will not do that," he said in Monday's broadcast.

Bell, who broadcasts from the small town of Pahrump, Nev., 60 miles west of Las Vegas, had cultivated a worldwide audience of insomniacs who offered an earful on theories ranging from space aliens to conspiracies involving the FBI or CIA.

His show reached more than 400 stations nationwide and had 15 million listeners.