Glenn Edward Lee Beck is one of the leading personalities of multimedia. ‘The Glenn Beck Program’ has become America’s highest ranked radio show due to his honest opinions, wit and charming personality. His contemporary style of storytelling and perceptive views on current events has made him the #1 New York Times fiction and non-fiction bestsellers.
Glenn Beck was born on 10th February 1964 in Everett, Washington. After graduating from Sehome High School in 1982, he moved to Utah to work at the KAYK station. After feeling misfit for the place he took a job at WPGC in Washington D.C. in 1983. The same year he took a job in Texas to work at the radio station KZFM where his stay was short lived. WRKA offered him to be the lead DJ for a morning time show which was called ‘Captain Beck and the A-Team’. Despite the show’s popularity, Beck left after he had a disagreement with the management. KOY-FM, the Phoenix Top-40 station hired him to co-host a show called ‘morning zoo’. Beck landed in some rivalries here and was subsequently fired. He then accepted a job at KRBE, Power 104 where he stay lasted a year before he was fired again.
Beck decided to move to Baltimore, Maryland where he became a morning DJ at WBSB, the city’s Top-40 station. Beck moved from one station to another being fired mostly because of his behavior. The Glenn Beck Program was aired on WFLA (AM) for the first time in Tampa, Florida. During its first year it moved from the eighteenth place to number one on their afternoon time. The show was launched nationwide on 47 stations, in 2002 through Premiere Radio Times. It then started being broadcasted from the new station WPHT. In November 2007 it was reported in the New York Times that Beck’s contract was being extended and by summer of 2008, the Glenn Beck Program was being aired over 280 terrestrial stations and the XM Satellite. With over 6 ½ million listeners, the show was ranked number 4 nationwide. After Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, Beck is number three according to the ratings.
In 2006, beck started hosting a nightly news commentary show on CNN’s prime time. The show ‘Glenn Beck’ was described as ‘an unconventional look at the news of the day featuring his often amusing perspective’. By the time his tenure at CNN ended he had the most followers after Nancy Grace. He won the ‘Marconi Radio Award’ in 2008. Beck left CNN Headline News and joined Fox News Channel. He still hosted Glenn Beck as it was only a weekend show. He also has a segment in ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ called ‘At Your Beck and Call’ on the Fox News Channel. His viewership increased and within no time he had more viewers than all the competing shows on MSNBC, CNN and HLN.
His success did not come without its share of criticism and controversies. According to the Washington Post his style was hurting Fox News Channel’s image as a news organization. In 2011, it was announced by Fox that Beck would ‘transition off his daily program’. In September 2011, Beck started his own television network as a subscription based internet TV, called ‘The Blaze TV’. The Wall Street Journal estimated that Beck can generate 40 million dollars in its first year.
Along with his television and radio work, Beck has also authored several books that include three best sellers.
