The TL:DR Postmortem of the Kingdom of Nye.
Today I am sad, but its not for the reasons one might think. Its the end of an era throughout the paranormal "radio" world and I think it was brought on by the rot or the dark side in social media and a series of mistakes. The mechanics of putting on a quality show is almost trivial and easy now in comparison to not fomenting a cult-like audience and getting glued to questionable business associates in the wilderness. Watching the Heather Wade story vicariously can teach any prospective broadcaster or podcaster a lot of nuanced lessons. Its the end of the semester.
HW's default solution to interpret "What Would Art Do?" did not work. Art was successful for his era. He was an Analog Man that adopted the digital. While could still blow the doors off his competition qualitatively, all his best efforts were going to fall short of doing the 500-station affiliate thing all over again. Likely Art could have never really defeated him, just dented him in 2016 if he had stayed on. George Noory is only "successful" because he was in the right place at the right time and he has the backing of the carcass of Art's media machine hitched to Big Media. A 45-year-old Nighthawk today would need to pursue a different route.
Painted rocks and trinkets? That ain't workin'. The trend of unboxing videos don't translate to radio, because video is not radio. One member of the audience would be enjoying the show while the others would be dragged along. The same wisdom of not having psychics doing readings for callers would apply.
Heather's attachment to all things Art contributed to both her brief spotlight in fame and her radio demise. He was an eternal flame catalyst, a protective egrigore and 50-pound rusty anchor all at once.
To separate any feeling we have about Art's legacy lets point out another star in a different field. Lets bring out Elvis*. We could have an Elvis impersonator that is musically just as talented and sings clearer than the King and might even be a tad more handsome. Such an individual with that shtick may be able to have an upper-middle class, maybe even wealthy lifestyle in Vegas, but he is not going to sell 610 million records (mp3s now) or have a Graceland. He could bring a few hundred to several thousand entertainment, but he is not going to start a new legacy, only keep alive the old one. If said impersonator just dropped the act and tried to make it on singing talent and looks alone, he would probably not make it unless he was lucky without the right connections, but the music industry is its own trap these days.
Heather was molding herself (consciously or not) to be a female Art impersonator with the aid of the legacy himself! She was in fact both part paranormal host and voice actress. She was trying to allow just enough of her own personality through to keep a plausible deniability with the oft-peppered phrase "I am not Art." However, the coincidences were enough to make most of Art's fans uncomfortable, even with his blessing. "Its not about me" was true in that it wasn't about her. It was about her created personae's interpretation of Art in front of "all of you out there." Art's attitude, politics, and world schema were all projected to keep the audience. What Heather really believed is just a guess. If she had a belief that differed from what she thought his belief was, we would never hear it.
Did we ever really know who Heather was outside of the shadows and reflections that mirrored Art's world? These areas were never explored. There was of course the Wicca aspect (which fit in neatly with the show and the Paglini legacy), the NDE, the ghoul and the UFO sighting - but these were all tied to show content and still parallels to Art's shadow person and Big Black Delta UFO.
What we knew about Heather as a person was always very sparse and filled with ambiguity. It was filler for the moment. We know she could play guitar, and loved heavy metal such as Danzig. She claimed to have rebuilt muscle cars. She worked at an automotive dealership and a theater. There was also mention that she worked with the developmentally disabled.
She would have done better to play her favorite heavy metal bumpers and brought on more conversations about spell craft in the voice she had on the Gabcast. A week after Art's passing she could have simply quietly resigned from DMDN and made her own network without any drama if she wanted to do things her way. Art would have blessed a total change in course if she made a guitar and rock and roll show or an all-Wicca show, if I understood the master correctly. That is one aspect of his wisdom would stand today without any rust.
*nod to Bart Ell whose motto may be "Why settle for just one legacy?"
