Art Bell, Creator of Coast to Coast Radio, Dies

The man who literally changed late night radio listening died Friday at his home in Pahrump, Nevada. Art Bell was 72 and his death was announced by Nye County sheriff/coroner Sharon Wehrly. The initial cause of death was COPD, a disease which Bell mentioned in 2016, when he was hospitalized for a time with pneumonia.

Bell was host of Coast to Coast AM, which grew out of an earlier Bell-hosted show, and began its broadcasting from Pahrump, Nevada, in 1988. Bell built the audience with reports on the unexplained, UFOs and other extraordinary topics during the late night hours. His telephone interviews were with experts and listeners became an overnight addiction for many and the audience grew into the millions. In 2003, he began to host only on weekends and pared the hosting duties even more in 2007 before leaving the show in 2010. Re-runs of many of his programs have been running regularly in early Saturday evenings nationwide, including KLYQ 1240 AM and KGVO 1290.

Art was involved in other radio and social media programs until 2015. George Noory, current host of Coast to Coast AM is honoring Art Bell's legacy all this week with special audio clips on their website and on the overnight show, which airs from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on KLYQ and KGVO.