Not quite sure what the talk radio environment is like in Austin but up here in Chi town, just about every radio station has to have some witty banter to compliment the drive time commute. Heck, even the 'More Music, Less Talk' radio station brought in some goober and his cult of listeners to tie up the air waves. The stations that do emphasize music have to have their DJ's in 'morning goof' mode for yuk's I guess. Needless to say, my commute consists of polka's, industrial, techno, or some indie bands on the sterio. Thank goodness for tape/cd players in vehicles.... Now, Im sure by this point, most readers have written me off as anti-talk radio. Not so. I like talk radio if there is an interesting slant to it - no just trying to shock or cater to the lowest forms of trash humor or wind bag ego stroking. There used to be an interesting radio station that was listener brokered radio - folks bought their air time and put on their own shows. Usually low budget, sometimes kinda rude, crude, and amateurish but there was that spark that made the shows fun to listen to. Not just some overpaid windbags trying to see how close they can push the limits of FCC tolerance. Of course, this station was bought out and some of the shows did propagate to another 'burb station. Of course, this new radio station also had the home shopping radio show, get rich infomercials, and 50 ways to clean your colon. Im serious! One thing I do remember during the last few weeks of the above mentioned original listener suppored radio station, some cat bought up some air time and did the 'Shatupon - The Anti Clown' show. That was probably the most surreal stuff Ive ever heard on the radio. (The last time I heard a SubGenius show was so far back I cant do a comparison...) Suffice to say that this stuff was so weird that I could not even begin to describe it. I wish other stations would take a stab at that kind of programming. Maybe not that extreme because they have to keep their sponsors, but close to that edge. The Shat show lasted maybe a week and a half before it was yanked. Too extreme? Too intense? Too close to suburban guerilla radio? Dude, Weird Soda.... Anyway, so what the hell is this rant leading up to? Well, my fave ideas for a good talk show would be: * Home grown banter with intellectual topics (i.e. alterna bands, music, exploring drain pipes under major universites, ufos, urban culture, urban legends.) * Occasional call in shows where yer mates can get on the air and just blab - no time limit as long as the conversation does not lag. * Occasional high weirdness and surreal content - and not just on programs after midnight! Some of us have to get up for work in the morning.... * Coffee house live mic nite... * Cutting edge tech talk with the occasional forray into hacking * Simulcast a rave! (not necessarily a talk show, but would be fun...) * Community topics relevant to the community Anyway, just some thoughts.... Mike aka _cosmo_

Art Bell rules the night. Amazing stuff he has on there...the paranoid need not tune in - they already know this stuff ...

What was the deal with his son? Wasn't there some big flap and he went off the air recently?

Ah yes! A talk show guest on short wave claimed that Art (senior) had been indited of child molestation and bribing people to cover it up. Problem one. Problem two was that Art's son (junior) was coerced into homosexual acts with a substitute teacher. The two problems are unrelated other than involving child molestation.

Art's web site is crammed with goodies and more information on the law suit concerning the above allegations. http://artbell.com/

This is the original story from the Las Vegas Newspaper: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1999/May-28-Fri-1999/news/bell1.html