Is Glenn Beck afraid to take phone calls? Back in the late 70s, Larry King had a radio show on Mutual Radio Network overnight – roughly the same hours as Coast to Coast. One thing he said has stuck in my brain all these years, which may mean nothing :) He said on a couple occasions “If you’re in talk radio, and you get to the point that you’re afraid to pick up the phone line and start talking to a stranger, it’s time to get out of talk radio”….
More and more, the show is turning into three hours of Glenn talking to Pat and Stu. Any call that makes it on the air sounds like it is a prearranged call, not even a screened call. I can understand why Glenn feels this way, but between the lack of interaction with people outside the studio and the evolution into a religion preaching show, I’m really starting to lose interest – even though I think what he is doing is very important.
I agree…I realize we are living in serious times and Glenn is into some serious topics, but, his program used to be about entertainment AND discussion. He used to be funny. The program spends far too much time with the staff talking among themselves. To me, this is a turn off as a listener…do some bits, relax and be entertaining while making the point.
I tend to stay away from Don Imus, Stern and others of the ilk that spend too much time in studio conversations. When I tune in, which is not nearly as often as I did when he came out of Philadelphia instead of NYC, I don’t listen as long or as attentively. It’s scary and boring at the same time.
Look out number 4 or even #5…Glenn is moving down?
Cards on the Table: There is Beck the show and Beck the business. I think Glenn believes he is A) Divinely inspired to use his gift to help as many people save themselves as possible B) illustrate to the nation how far it has strayed from God and his principles and C) grab as much cash for those ends as possible. His ginsu steak knife approach to broadcasting, “….so wadda think? but wait there’s more…. not 9.99, not 8.99 I’ll have the real price when we come back….” This is getting older than dirt. The whole Stu/Pat thing – they can’t self edit – a 20 – 40 second attempt at humor goes on far to long. I was surprised to see this G Beck Extreme advertised on Drudge. Clancy (or his handlers) could create a stable of writers to follow up after Red Storm – Beck is using that model and quite frankly he is past saturation point. How many times can keep going back to the well for money, support, positive reinforcement – what ever. just out of curiosity Clancy was just a life insurance salesman from rural Maryland… right?, right?? Not that it matters but I actually agree with much of what Beck says and projects I just can’t afford the time and never ending sales job…. “What would it take for me to get you into this apocalypse today?”
I’m not into psychobabble, but I’m going to venture into to…
Pat is turning Beck into his puppet… Stu is playing along, but less so….. why that is happening isn’t clear to me…
My psychobabble theory – Glenn openly admits his drug problems in the past…. he went from the brink of dying on a floor from an overdose to being wildly successful. It is not uncommon for people to become terrified at becoming successful. They don’t understand why it is happening to them, feel guilt for what they did to get it, don’t want to overshadow the accomplishments of their parents, don’t want the responsibility… probably 1000 reasons – but the result is they start to engage in self-destructive behaviors to undmeirne their own success. Our culture encourages this behavior. We love to make people self-destruct – it makes us feel more important..
Glenn keeps on piling more and more projects – the idea of the TV cameras, the 4th hour, the tour with O’Reilly, the 8/28 gathering, doing documentaries… to borrow a drug analogy, well, I took 10 pills and it didn’t kill me, let’s try 15….. He’s either a genius or is going to self-destruct in a very painful way. The main thing giong for him is he has so many people working for him that they have a self-interest in keeping him from self-destructing….
Art, I believe that you have a good understanding of the situation. Glenn’s actions here are understandable and predictable. Knowing what he has said about his substance abuse problem and his religious commitment, his current Zeal for work falls right in line with “addictive” behavior. When an addictive personality finds ‘something’ (substance or activity) that triggers the release of certain pleasure causing chemicals in the brain that person will seek out more and more of the substance or activity that releases those chemicals. After 8/28 Glenn needs a well deserved sabbatical away from ALL of the stimulus for about 30-60 days to reset the receptors in his brain.
Just my humble uneducated opinion :)