Episode Details
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May 30, 1997: Keith Rowland
Published 2 years, 5 months ago
Description
Keith Rowland, the webmaster behind artbell.com, joins Art Bell to pull back the curtain on the rapidly growing website and its notorious run-in with the FBI. On April 1st, 1997, Rowland posted a fake FBI seizure notice on the site as a joke, complete with a doctored Bureau seal and references to the Heaven's Gate investigation. The prank fooled thousands of visitors, and roughly 30 days later, a real letter arrived from the FBI demanding its removal and warning of legal consequences from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The conversation shifts to the nuts and bolts of running one of the internet's most popular talk radio websites in the late 1990s. Keith explains the partnership with AudioNet in Dallas for live streaming, the challenges of printing from dark-background web pages, and the new registration system for chat rooms designed to keep out disruptive users. Art and Keith also discuss the explosive growth of the Art Bell Chat Clubs forming across the country, with a new toll-free number for inquiries.
The episode offers a fascinating time capsule of the early web era, when 2.6 million visitors was a staggering number, real audio streaming was cutting-edge technology, and a simple April Fool's joke could draw the attention of federal law enforcement.
The conversation shifts to the nuts and bolts of running one of the internet's most popular talk radio websites in the late 1990s. Keith explains the partnership with AudioNet in Dallas for live streaming, the challenges of printing from dark-background web pages, and the new registration system for chat rooms designed to keep out disruptive users. Art and Keith also discuss the explosive growth of the Art Bell Chat Clubs forming across the country, with a new toll-free number for inquiries.
The episode offers a fascinating time capsule of the early web era, when 2.6 million visitors was a staggering number, real audio streaming was cutting-edge technology, and a simple April Fool's joke could draw the attention of federal law enforcement.