Glenn Beck facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Glenn Beck
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Beck in 2023
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| Born |
Glenn Lee Beck
February 10, 1964 Everett, Washington, U.S.
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| Occupation | Talk show host, political commentator, producer entrepreneur |
| Political party | Republican (before 2014) Independent (2014–present) |
| Movement | Conservatism |
| Spouse(s) |
Claire
(m. 1983; div. 1994)Tania
(m. 1999) |
| Children | 4 |
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Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and radio network TheBlaze. He hosts the Glenn Beck Radio Program, a talk-radio show nationally syndicated on Premiere Radio Networks. Beck also hosts the Glenn Beck television program, which ran from January 2006 to October 2008 on HLN, from January 2009 to June 2011 on Fox News and now airs on TheBlaze. Beck has authored six New York Times–bestselling books.
In April 2011, Beck announced that he would "transition off of his daily program" on Fox News, but would continue to team with Fox. His last daily show on Fox was June 30, 2011. In 2012, The Hollywood Reporter placed Beck on its Digital Power Fifty list. Beck launched TheBlaze in 2011 after leaving Fox News. He hosts an hour-long afternoon program, The Glenn Beck Program, on weekdays, and a three-hour morning radio show; both are broadcast on TheBlaze. Beck is also the producer of TheBlaze's For the Record.
Beck has received both praise and criticism, characterized by his supporters as a defender of traditional American values and by his detractors as a demagogue. During Barack Obama's presidency, Beck promoted conspiracy theories about Obama, his administration, George Soros, and others.
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Early life and education
Beck was born in Everett, Washington, the son of Mary Clara (née Janssen) and William Beck, who lived in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, at the time of their son's birth. The family later moved to Mount Vernon, Washington, where they owned and operated a downtown bakery. He is descended from German immigrants who came to the United States in the 19th century. Beck was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Mount Vernon.
Beck and his sister moved with their mother to Sumner, Washington, attending a Jesuit school in Puyallup. In 1979, when Beck was 15, his mother died, and Beck moved to his father's home in Bellingham, where Beck graduated from Sehome High School in 1982. Beck also regularly vacationed with his maternal grandparents, Ed and Clara Janssen, in Iowa. In the aftermath of his mother's death and his stepbrother's subsequent death, Beck has said he used "Dr. Jack Daniel's" to cope. At 18, after graduating from high school, he moved to Provo, Utah, and worked at radio station KAYK. Feeling he "didn't fit in", Beck left Utah after six months, taking a job at Washington, D.C.'s WPGC in February 1983.
Personal life
While working at WPGC, Beck met his first wife, Claire. They married in 1983 and had two daughters, Mary and Hannah. Mary developed cerebral palsy as a result of a series of strokes at birth in 1988.
In 1999, Beck married his second wife, Tania. After they went looking for a faith on a church tour together, they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October 1999, partly at the urging of his daughter Mary. Beck was baptized by Pat Gray. Beck and Tania have two children together. Until April 2011, the couple lived in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Career
In 2002, Beck created the media platform Mercury Radio Arts as the umbrella over his broadcast, publishing, Internet, and live show interests. Beck founded Mercury Radio Arts in 2002, naming it after the Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre, which produced live radio broadcasts during the 1930s. The company produces all of Beck's productions, including his eponymous radio show, books, live stage shows, and his official website.
Radio
In 1983, Beck moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, to work at radio station KZFM. In mid-1985, he was hired away from KZFM to be the lead DJ for WRKA's morning-drive radio broadcast in Louisville, Kentucky. His four-hour weekday show was called Captain Beck and the A-Team. Beck had a reputation as a "young up-and-comer". The show was not political and included the genre's usual off-color antics: juvenile jokes, pranks, and impersonations. It slipped to third in the market and Beck left abruptly in 1987 amid a dispute with WRKA management.
Months later, Beck was hired by Phoenix Top-40 station KOY-FM, then known as Y-95. Beck was partnered with Arizona native Tim Hattrick to co-host a local "morning zoo" program. During his time at Y-95, Beck cultivated a rivalry with local pop radio station KZZP and that station's morning host Bruce Kelly. Through practical jokes and publicity stunts, Beck drew criticism from the staff at Y-95 when the rivalry culminated in Beck telephoning Kelly's wife on the air, mocking her recent miscarriage. In 1989, Beck resigned from Y-95 to accept a job in Houston at KRBE, known as Power 104. He was fired in 1990 due to poor ratings.
Beck then moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and the city's leading Top-40 station, WBSB, known as B104. There, he partnered with Pat Gray, a morning DJ. During his tenure at B104, Beck was arrested and jailed for speeding in his DeLorean. According to a former associate, Beck was "completely out of it" when a station manager went to bail him out. After Gray and Beck were fired, they spent six months in Baltimore, planning their next move. In early 1992, they moved to WKCI-FM (KC101), a Top-40 radio station in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1995, WKCI apologized after Beck and Gray mocked a Chinese-American caller on air who felt offended by a comedy segment by playing a gong sound effect and having executive producer Alf Gatineau mock a Chinese accent. That incident led to protests by activist groups. When Gray left the show to move to Salt Lake City, Beck continued with co-host Vinnie Penn. At the end of 1998, Beck was informed that his contract would not be renewed at the end of 1999.
The Glenn Beck Program first aired in 2000 on WFLA (AM) in Tampa, and took its afternoon time slot from 18th to first place within a year. In January 2002, Premiere Radio Networks launched the show nationwide on 47 stations. The show then moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, broadcasting from new flagship station WPHT. On November 5, 2007, The New York Times reported that Premiere Radio Networks was extending Beck's contract. By May 2008, it had reached over 280 terrestrial stations as well as XM Satellite. It was ranked fourth in the nation with over 6.5 million listeners. As of July 2013[update], Beck was tied for fourth in the ratings, behind Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Dave Ramsey.
Television
In January 2006, CNN's Headline News announced that Beck would host a nightly news-commentary show in its new prime-time block Headline Prime. The show, simply called Glenn Beck, aired weeknights. CNN Headline News called the show "an unconventional look at the news of the day featuring his often amusing perspective". At the end of his tenure at CNN-HLN, Beck had the second-largest audience, behind Nancy Grace. In 2008, he won the Marconi Radio Award for Network Syndicated Personality of the Year.
In October 2008, it was announced that Beck would join the Fox News Channel, leaving CNN Headline News. After moving to Fox, Beck hosted Glenn Beck, beginning in January 2009, as well as a weekend version. One of his first guests was Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. He also had a regular segment on Fridays, "At Your Beck and Call", on the Fox News Channel program The O'Reilly Factor. As of September 2009[update], Beck's program drew more viewers than all three competing time-slot shows combined on CNN, MSNBC and HLN.
In April 2011, Fox News and Mercury Radio Arts, Beck's production company, announced that Beck would "transition off of his daily program" on Fox News in 2011. Beck hosted his last daily show on Fox on June 30, 2011.
TheBlaze TV (formerly GBTV)
Beck's Fox News one-hour show ended on June 30, 2011, and a new two-hour show began his television network, which started as a subscription-based internet TV network, TheBlaze TV, originally called GBTV, on September 12, 2011. Using a subscription model, it was estimated that Beck was on track to generate $27 million in his first year of operation. This was later upgraded to $40 million by The Wall Street Journal when subscriptions topped 300,000.
Books
Mercury Ink has a co-publishing deal with Simon & Schuster and was founded by Glenn Beck in 2011 as the publishing imprint of Mercury Radio Arts. Started in 2011, Mercury Ink publishes adult and young adult novels and non-fiction titles. Authors signed to Mercury Ink include Beck and New York Times best seller Richard Paul Evans.
Beck has reached No. 1 on The New York Times Bestseller List in four separate categories as of 2010[update]: Hardcover Non-Fiction, Paperback Non-Fiction, Hardcover Fiction, and Children's Picture Books.
Beck has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss's book Tools of Titans.
Stage shows and speeches
Since 2005, Beck has toured American cities twice a year, presenting a one-man stage show. His stage productions are a mix of stand-up comedy and inspirational speaking. In a critique of his live act, Salon magazine's Steve Almond describes Beck as a "wildly imaginative performer, a man who weds the operatic impulses of the demagogue to the grim mutterings of the conspiracy theorist". A show from the Beck '08 Unelectable Tour was shown in around 350 U.S. movie theaters.
The finale of 2009's Common Sense Comedy Tour was simulcast in over 440 theaters. The events have drawn 200,000 fans in recent years.
In March 2003, Beck ran a series of rallies, which he called Glenn Beck's Rally for America, in support of troops deployed for the upcoming Iraq War. On July 4, 2007, he hosted the 2007 Toyota Tundra "Stadium of Fire" in Provo, Utah. America's Freedom Foundation presents the annual event at LaVell Edwards Stadium at Brigham Young University. In May 2008, Beck gave the keynote speech at the NRA convention in Louisville, Kentucky.
In late August 2009, the mayor of Beck's hometown, Mount Vernon, Washington, announced that he would award Beck the Key to the City, designating September 26, 2009, as "Glenn Beck Day". Due to local opposition, the city council voted unanimously to disassociate itself from the award. The key presentation ceremony sold out the 850-seat McIntyre Hall and an estimated 800 detractors and supporters demonstrated outside the building. Earlier that day, approximately 7,000 people attended the Evergreen Freedom Foundation's "Take the Field with Glenn Beck" at Seattle's Safeco Field.
In December 2009, Beck produced a one-night special film, The Christmas Sweater: A Return to Redemption. In January and February 2010, he teamed with fellow Fox News host Bill O'Reilly to tour several cities in a live stage show called "The Bold and Fresh Tour 2010". The January 29 show was recorded and broadcast to movie theaters throughout the country.
In July 2013, Beck produced and hosted a one-night stage event, Man in the Moon, held at the USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah. The amphitheater sold out all 20,000 of its seats and a recording of the event was released on television and DVD in August 2013. The event was a narrative story told from the Moon's point of view, from the beginnings of the Book of Genesis to the first Moon landing. The Moon narrates the story.
Philanthropy
In 2011, Beck founded the nonprofit organization Mercury One, the mission of which is to "restore the human spirit by encouraging dependence on God, providing humanitarian aid, preserving heritage, and empowering all to stand for truth." In early 2011, he began work toward developing a clothing line to be sold to benefit the charity. In October 2011, Mercury One began selling the upscale clothing line 1791 exclusively at its website, 1791.com. The clothing in the line's 11-piece inaugural offering was manufactured by American Mojo of Lowell, Massachusetts.
In July 2014, after tens of thousands of undocumented immigrant children crossed into Texas via the Southern United States border, unaccompanied by parents, Beck announced that he, Senator Mike Lee, and Representative Louie Gohmert would travel to the U.S.–Mexico border with Mercury One. He said they would bring tractor trailers full of food, hot meals, and teddy bears for the unaccompanied minors. While Beck made clear in interviews that they wanted a full repeal of DACA, he also said he believed in the importance of helping these children. "Through no fault of their own, they are caught in political crossfire, and while we continue to put pressure on Washington and change its course of lawlessness, we must also help", Beck said. "It is not either/or. It is both. We have to be active in the political game, and we must open our hearts."
As of 2017, Beck's Nazarene Fund had reportedly relocated 10,524 Christian refugees from northern Iraq and Syria to other host countries, including the U.S., Australia, France, Slovakia, Greece, Lebanon, Brazil, and Canada. The fund's website says 1,646 families have been evacuated from the ISIS-ravaged region since its launch in 2014, and 45,000 people have received humanitarian aid as a result of donations to Mercury One.
See also
In Spanish: Glenn Beck para niños
- Beck University
- Conservative talk radio
- List of most-listened-to radio programs
