Image Credit: Ted Axelrod

Where in the world is Glenn Beck? On Saturday, the answer was Albany, where he told a live audience that his future plans did not include New York City. He’s sold his Connecticut home and intends to build a new media empire that will “deliver news directly to the youth of America,” according to WireReport.com. “I’m going to make sure that Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart don’t occupy the space of comedy alone.” Though Beck seems intent on starting fresh in a new metropolis, a source with knowledge of the situation says that Beck’s Mercury Radio Arts and its 50 employees will remain in New York. Still, that probably won’t prevent Jon Stewart from gleefully bidding Beck adieu, as he once did for Rush Limbaugh. READ FULL STORY »

Image Credit: Michael Caulfield Archive/ WireImage.com

As his show came to a close today, Glenn Beck discussed the news that he will sunset his daily show on Fox News later this year. You can watch the entire clip below, but first, without commentary or context, my top five favorite things he says:

5. “I have other things to do, and not because it’s good or bad for business. But I think you, out of all the people, will truly get this: Our only business is the business of freedom and our country at this time.”
4. “We will find each other. I’m developing other content for Fox, through specials and other things, on television and beyond.”
3. “It bothers me to be entering this phase and feel as though you might say, ‘Well, wait wait wait wait wait!‘”
2. “I don’t like conflict.”
1. “Paul Revere did not get up on his horse and say, ‘Ha! I’m going to do this for the rest of my life!’ …He went back to silver-smithing.”

Check out the full video below:  READ FULL STORY »

After months of media speculation, Glenn Beck and Fox News have agreed to break up. They’ll still see each other, of course, since they’ll be cooperating on a “variety of television projects … as well as content for other platforms,” but the days of tuning in to Beck at 5 p.m. every weekday are officially numbered. In a joint release, it was announced that Beck “intends to transition off of his daily program, the third-highest rated in all of cable news, later this year.”

I’d argued recently that Beck and Fox were greater together than the sum of their parts, but then Andrew Napolitano sat in for Beck one day in March and practically matched Beck’s audience figures. Faster than you can say Wally Pipp, Beck and Fox started hedging about their long-term future together. Beck, whose contract runs until December, hinted of building his own channel, and he’s already invested in a large web presence at GlennBeck.com and TheBlaze.com. Plus, he still puts in three hours a day on the radio.

But will his audience follow him to a website or to a new television station? READ FULL STORY »

Image Credit: Michael Caulfield Archive/WireImage.comEvery few months or so, when Glenn Beck’s truly impressive ratings soften, critics of Fox’s most controversial conservative start writing and re-writing his obituary. Most recently, it’s the New York Times, which speculates that the honeymoon may finally be coming to a close when Beck’s contract expires at the end of the year. True, Beck’s shed about a million viewers per night in the past year, but it’s worth noting that he still draws a bigger audience then all his timeslot rivals — combined. Lost in the debate over whether Beck is informed, credible, (or sane?) is the undeniable fact that he’s more popular at his particular job than just about anyone else in the entertainment industry is at theirs. READ FULL STORY »