It’s a really long story, and for the most part has the sharp knives kept away in the drawer. If you follow Beck, there aren’t a lot of surprises.
The story did confirm my observation that Beck is sleeping only about 3-5 hours a night. The one fact I didn’t know was that his wife is involved in running a drug addition treatment program in the NY/NJ/CT area.
I found it to be surprisingly fair, especially for the NYTimes. So used to unflattering and biased tones in most media, I found this piece refreshingl. I was saddened to hear that he is having trouble with advertisers and some of the Fox people, but it is not surprising, him being so enigmatic. Thank you for putting him back on the political opinion page.
I’m surprised to hear that it was fair (not just ‘fair’ for the New York Times). I don’t think Beck does himself any favors, does he have a martyr’s complex? He is very defensive about making money I think this is for two reasons: a) he really believes that he is not on one of the long-haul tracks (git while the gitting is good). b) He constantly over-sells EVERYTHING, from the next segment on the show, to the rally, to the insider, EVERYTHING. It really is nauseating. He diminishes the shine people would like to award him by seizing praise for himself over and over. Also these people/products like Beck have so insulated themselves and their companies they are truly inaccessible. I lost a password to the final Beck product I will ever buy – there was no way to reach a human to get resolution, polite emails were ignored and that was the only option. I got ripped off. I’ll live – never contribute to a Beck driven event again.
I don’t know if it’s authorized or not, but there are a whole series of ads for local car dealers, etc from Glenn Beck – “Glenn Beck endorses…”
Glenn has dropped several hints lately that his impulsiveness to hire staff and launch projects without a plan may be catching up to his company’s pocketbook. He mentioned getting a $200k American Express bill for 8/28. Yet he isn’t able to sell his house in Connecticut. He mentioned going through a list of people and figuring out who were the most essential. He doesn’t seem to have empowered his business manager to tell him “no”.
Art, I know you are all about radio. But not all radio hosts shine on radio. Let me explain.
I can’t stand Beck on the radio – he and his crew sound like a bunch of nerdy teenagers messing around. But his TV show is very good, with the occasional flash of brilliance. His TV show also seems to have researchers (which I find refreshing, as opposed to “commentators”) who put together some great presentations. His shows on the “czars”, and their backgrounds, were excellent.
I think there would be an excellent market for a muckraker like Breitbart (who subbed for Savage the other day) on a daily basis. There is so much corruption, not only in DC, but around the big cities in the USA that needs to be exposed.
The only problem would be to find real (uncorrupted) journalists who would actually do the hard investigative work and not just do the press release thing.
Somewhere along the way Beck veered, in my view, into a slightly uncomfortable strain of religion in his otherwise informative and enjoyable television show. His radio show continues to be very much of a joy to me … in sharp relief to ICCDude’s dislike. No accounting for taste I suppose. I enjoy the radio banter, frankly. One way or another, Beck has made some differences, mostly in ways that I like. He remains an entertaining enigma. And Breitbart as a daily muckraker? Oh yes, because there is so much muck to rake! And the NYT fair? Heavens forefend!
Like ICCDude, I really don’t like the Beck radio program…it tends to be silly; bordering at times on incoherent. While his television show, depending on the subject matter, can be depressing, I always learn something.