Rowland with the punches: Keith calls it quits, Art Bell may too

If it’s not a website being hacked, it’s a quitting. Tonight, Art Bell announced to fans that his friend for years and webmaster, Keith Rowland, is calling it quits. With his absence, Bell hints, there is a less of a chance he will return to the air this summer for the planned July MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT.

In full, Bell writes,

Announcement

I am sorry to announce that Keith Rowland has informed me tonight that he no
longer wants to move forward (he quit). This follows a conversation I had with him in which I asked him to not snap at people. I was concerned because he was in charge of the Business side of the deal which is a lot of work and involves dealing with people. Business is built on relationships. He said the stress of all this was to much for him which is understandable because there is a great deal to do on his side. He further told me that he will turn his Network over to somebody else. All this was as much a shock to me as I am sure it is to you.

As a result of this, it is less likely that I will move forward because I can not handle both The Talk Host part of the job as well as the Music License matters, the Streaming deals that have to be made, the Website, the Producer he had lined up and much more.

Since I have already bought all the Studio gear I will go ahead and build the Studio with the hope of finding a way forward. This is not me saying I quit, it is me saying that right now I don’t see a way to get it all done. If I can find a way, I will do so, but this is kind of a stopper for the moment. I will keep you all informed.

Art

The incident Bell is hinting to occurred this weekend when BELLGAB was hacked and taken down, Rowland wrote a Tweet critical of the webmaster. Rowland took the tweet down and also apologized.

The latest development is a surprise to Bell fans. He and Rowland have long been a team. Rowland even hosted a site ArtBell.net for years while Bell was incognito and absent from radio.

The HORROR REPORT has reached out to Rowland for commentary on tonight’s development.  We will update accordingly should any further information abound. We additionally are interested if Rowland will continue as Bell’s webmaster, as the site was updated tonight with this information: http://artbell.com/art-puts-comeback-on-hold/

Meanwhile, this strange news comes hours after George Noory Tweeted this:

GN: Soon something wonderful and BIG is about to happen…can't say yet.

— Coast to Coast AM (@coasttocoastam) April 27, 2015

While it would be a bit wild to speculate that Noory knew anything of this, it surely is interesting timing. He mentioned ‘war’ before BELLGAB was hacked, and now  promised something ‘big’ before Keith Rowland quit Art Bell’s DARK MATTER and MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT..

DEVELOPING..