Glenn Beck
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.[9]
Glenn Beck
Republican (before 2014)
Independent (2014–present)[5]
Conservatism
4
- Gene Burns Memorial Award for Freedom of Speech, 2013 (Talkers Magazine)[6]
- Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award, 2013[7]
- Marconi Award Personality of the Year, 2008[8]
In April 2011, Beck announced that he would "transition off of his daily program" on Fox News, but would continue to team with Fox.[10] His last daily show on Fox was June 30, 2011.[11] In 2012, The Hollywood Reporter placed Beck on its Digital Power Fifty list.[12] 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.[13]
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.
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.[14] The family later moved to Mount Vernon, Washington,[15] where they owned and operated a downtown bakery.[15] He is descended from German immigrants who came to the United States in the 19th century.[16] 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[17] in Puyallup. In 1979, when Beck was 15, his mother drowned in Puget Sound while fishing with a man in Commencement Bay west of Tacoma.[18][19] Her companion also drowned; police investigators believed that one of the victims may have fallen overboard and the other drowned in a rescue attempt.[20][19] Beck has called his mother's death a suicide in interviews.[19]
After their mother's death, Beck moved to his father's home in Bellingham, where Beck graduated from Sehome High School in 1982.[21][22] Beck also regularly vacationed with his maternal grandparents, Ed and Clara Janssen, in Iowa.[23] In the aftermath of his mother's death and his stepbrother's subsequent suicide, 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,[24] taking a job at Washington, D.C.'s WPGC in February 1983.[19]
Defamation lawsuit and settlement
In March 2014, Abdulrahman Alharbi filed suit for defamation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against Beck and his business entities, The Blaze and Mercury Radio Arts, along with his distributor Premiere Radio Networks. Alharbi's defamation claim arose from Beck's repeated broadcasts "identifying Alharbi as an active participant" in the Boston Marathon bombing, even after federal authorities cleared Alharbi, who was injured in the attack, of any wrongdoing and confirmed that he was an innocent victim.[258][259] In December 2014, the judge rejected Beck's attempt to have the case dismissed.[260] In September 2016, the suit was settled on confidential terms.[259]
Beck authorized a comic book: