Beck was born on Feb. 10, 1964 to Bill and Mary Beck in Mount Vernon, Wash., where he was raised as Catholic. Beck's mother, an alcoholic, drowned herself in a bay near Tacoma when Beck was just 13 years-old. That same year, he got his start in radio after winning an hour of air time in a contest on one of two radio stations in town. Shortly after his mother's death, one of his brothers-in-law committed suicide in Wyoming and another had a fatal heart attack. Bill Beck, a baker, moved his family north to Bellingham, where his son attended Sehome High School.
Formative Years:
After graduating high school, in the early 1980s, Beck moved from Washington to Salt Lake City, Utah and shared an apartment with a former Mormon missionary. worked in Provo for six months at K-96 and later at stations in Baltimore, Houston, Phoenix, Washington and Connecticut. At 26, he wed his first wife, to whom he was married for four years and with whom he had two daughters, Mary (who has cerebral palsy) and Hannah. Despite his early success, however, Beck soon succumbed to the same substance abusing behavior that killed his mother. He was divorced in 1990, a direct result of his alcoholism and drug abuse.
Recovery:
During his battle with substance abuse, Beck had been accepted to Yale as a theology major thanks, in part, to a recommendation from Sen. Joe Lieberman. Beck lasted just one semester, however, distracted by the needs of his daughter, the ongoing divorce proceedings and his ever-depleting finances. After he left Yale, his family helped him get sober by acquainting him with Alcoholics Anonymous. Soon, his life began to turn around. He met his future second wife, Tania, and, as a prerequisite for marriage, he joined the Church of Latter Day Saints.
Rise to Prominence:
Beck returned to talk radio during this time and over the next several years began to emerge as a conservative force, identifying himself as a Mormon with Libertarian views and a strong sense of family values. He has drawn attention for expressing his opinion on controversial issues (he is fiercely critical of Hollywood liberalism, supports of the war in Iraq, opposes multiculturalism, political correctness, euthanasia, anti-smoking regulations and overt homosexuality in TV and on film. He is also pro-life), and over the years has been a vocal supporter of Republican leadership.
National Spotlight:
Beck went from a local radio personality to national star very quickly. The "Glenn Beck Program" began in 2000 at a station in Tampa, Florida, and by January 2002, Premiere Radio Networks launched the show on 47 stations. The show then moved to Philadelphia, where it became available on more than 100 stations internationally. Beck used his show as a platform for conservative activism, organizing rallies across America, which initially included San Antonio, Cleveland, Atlanta, Valley Forge, and Tampa. In 2003, he rallied in support of George W. Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq.
Television:
In 2006, Beck landed a prime-time news commentary show, Glenn Beck on CNN's Headline News Channel. The show was an instant hit. The following year, he was making appearances on ABC's Good Morning America. Beck also guest-hosted Larry King Live in July 2008. By this time, Beck had the second-largest following on CNN, behind Nancy Grace. In October 2008, Beck was lured to the FOX News Channel. His show, Glenn Beck, premiered on the network the night before President Barack Obama was inaugurated. He also had a segment on the popular O'Reilly Factor, called "At Your Beck & Call."
Advocacy, Activism & The 9/12 Project:
Since 2003, Beck has toured the nation appearing in a one-man show in which he tells his inspirational story using his unique brand of humor and infectious energy. As a conservative spokesman and American patriot, Beck organized a series of rallies for troops deployed to Iraq. Beck's biggest advocacy project, however, is The 9/12 Project, which he started in March 2009. The project is dedicated to upholding nine principles and twelve values that united America in the days following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The 9/12 project also has become a rallying cry for many conservatives fed up with the new Left.
Beck & ACORN:
Following the 2008 general election, allegations surfaced that the liberal, inner-city community action group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) had committed numerous instances of voter registration fraud in more than 10 states. After joining FOX News, Beck began do a series of reports taking a closer look at the liberal advocacy group revealing how the organization applied pressure on banks to make loans to minority and low-income borrowers and how its leadership applied Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals." Beck continues to fight against the organization's liberal agenda.
GLENN: Did you see, by the way, that this show is under fire today because we're using a clip from Martin Luther King there, now is the time. As if the left owns Martin Luther King's ideas. As if Martin Luther King's idea of "I have a dream, now is the time to make that dream," don't see people for the color of their skin but the content of their character as if the left owns that idea.
PAT: Not only do they not own it, we don't even understand it.
GLENN: They don't even understand it. It is incredible to me how. It is incredible for somehow or another I am under fire for right before Martin Luther King Day Glenn Beck comes out and uses Martin Luther King's words. Oh, the humanity, unbelievable. This brings me to what I believe is coming our way. John is now among three prominent Democrats not planning to run again. Christopher Dodd is leaving. How many of these Democrats are jumping ship because they see that it's on fire? The strategy is, for the Democrats, to do a couple of things. One I explained last hour and that is get rid of the faces that everybody says that guy's part of the problem, at least in districts where, you know, they haven't gerrymandered the thing so much and especially in the House where they haven't like, for instance, Barney Frank will never, ever leave. If you look at how they gerrymandered his district, he doesn't have to worry about anything. It's almost saying you, you're in Barney Frank's district but your wife lives in the same house, she's not. It's almost like splitting the beds, you know, the kitchens and the bathrooms in half if the family disagrees on Barney Frank. And there's a lot of these people on both the left and the right that are like that. But where they can't control the districts like this, where you've got Chris Dodd as senator, you've got problems. And these people have to go away for the good of the party. They've been good and loyal servants, but they need another good and loyal servant, and the party needs to reinvent itself without reinventing itself. It needs an image change because Barack Obama has destroyed the Democratic Party.
Can you imagine if George Bush was coming into his first year, after his first year in office with numbers like this with Republicans just jumping ship, I mean long term iconic Republicans jumping ship. Can you imagine what the press would be saying about the damage done by this president and his policies? You don't hear that. You don't hear that the Democratic Party is being decimated. And it is. But don't worry. They have a two part plan. One, ask those people to step aside because as I lined out for you, laid up for you last hour, there's a poll that came out about a month ago that shows that Republican voters want to vote for somebody, and this is the same with independents, they want to vote for somebody who has their ideals and agrees with them ethically and morally and in their approach to life. Republican voters want to vote for somebody, and this is the same with independents. They want to vote for somebody who has their ideals and agrees with them ethically and morally and in the their approach to life. Even if it means they lose. Democrats are cut from a different cloth. They just want to win. That speaks volumes. So that's the strategy of the Democratic Party: Win. Chris Dodd, step down, let somebody else, to quote Mark Lloyd, somebody's got to ask themselves who can step down so somebody else can have a turn. Richard Blumenthal is that answer and they're hoping that you won't notice that the party hasn't changed. It's the same thing, just a different face. Well, a different face doesn't you know what? It is another example of the progressive movement. They gave you the choice between Barack Obama and John McCain. In many ways they're the same person. They're just going to take you there slower. You know, John McCain is just going to take you to the same destination just a lot slower. Barack Obama's hyperspeed. I'm tired of those choices, and that's what the Democrats are going to give you now. Well, no, no, no, we're giving you a fresh face. That Chris Dodd, he's gone now. All right.
Here's the second piece of this puzzle. And I want to get out in front of it now because to quote Martin Luther King, now is the time. Here's what's going to happen. I believe Rahm Emanuel has gotten together with Gutierrez? Is that from Illinois? Is that the
PAT: Uh huh.
GLENN: Okay. He's the guy who's going to be writing the new immigration bill. The new immigration bill I believe is going to be just outrageous. I have no idea, but I would imagine that they're going to make it outrageous because this is the only thing they have left. They had global warming and we were Holocaust deniers. But global warming, I mean, have you checked the thermometer lately? Global warming nobody buys anymore. And the pushback on Al Gore, that thing is collapsing and it's collapsing fast. Do you notice in the last, in the last six months when Al Gore would speak, people would shout him down or they would push back? Reporters were even beginning to push back. That global warming thing is falling apart. So they can't shut down debate anymore and they're losing on that. You can't call, you can't call us Holocaust deniers anymore. Flat earthers. Because we're on to you. Healthcare? They called us all kinds of names for healthcare. But they haven't really used their most powerful card. But what they think is the most powerful card will be their undoing. But it is going to be a battle to the death, I believe. You just have to know which one is playing.
Here's what's going to happen. They're going to make the healthcare bill come out and they are going to redesign it. They are going to redesign this thing. I don't know how, but they're going to come out and they're going to make sure that it is absolutely insulting for people who believe in the rule of law but they are going to cloak it in just this mother and child sort of friendly wonderful, happy families just like you kind of nonsense. I'm sure those people are families just like me and you except my family came here legally. Here's what they're going to do. They are going to make this about race. And they have already smeared Fox and said Fox is not even a news organization, Glenn Beck is this and that. But they are going to make this into race. Anything that they can do to make it into race, to cry racist from the top of their lungs. Unfortunately they are going to fail at that because people, the game, the paradigm has changed and the only ones that don't understand it are them. And maybe we're too late to the game and they just, they know something that I don't know. Maybe they have already put the structure in place that is so strong that it doesn't matter to them anymore because they know how the game ends, with them in power in a transformed America. Maybe it does in their world end that way, but believe me that only makes things much, much worse for them because Americans are not Soviets. We won't live under that kind of rule. They don't understand that the paradigm is changed. They have pushed Americans to the wall. And Americans are good people. I personally want I agree with Bill Gates. I want it easier for companies and for people who are coming over here and they are the brightest minds. They are the strongest people in their home country. I want them coming here. Bill Gates begged George W. Bush, make it easier for people to get a certain kind of visa. I was with him on that. He was saying we're losing all of the best and brightest talent to other countries. I fought with him on that! We talked about it on this program! SEIU has, we have audio of SEIU where they are talking about their membership here in the United States is not just Mexicans who are from overseas but they're Europeans. They are Irish, they are English, they're Italians, they're Russians, they're Chinese. I mean, he's talking about all of them. Well, that doesn't there's no race there. What, I have a problem against people who are German? I come from German descent. Have a problem with Italians? My wife is Italian. It's not Mexico. It's not the color of your skin, to quote Martin Luther King. It's the content of your character. And I'm sorry, but you don't have the great content of character if you are intentionally breaking the law currently and you say, make special exceptions for me. This is going to turn into a race baiting contest. Because they need to energize their own base. Because the uber left has really kind of been lost. So what do they do to energize it? You've got to give them red meat and global warming ain't it now. What you do is you infuse millions of new voters by making them legal and at the same time you point the finger at your opposition and you cry "Racist!" Sometimes the racist charge needs to be looked at. Other times it's just a game. Watch for it. It's coming.
Glenn Beck joined FOX News Channel (FNC) in 2008. He hosts "Glenn Beck," Monday through Friday from 5-6 p.m. ET. Beck's signature program breaks down and examines various stories and topics through the lens of his unique libertarian perspective.
Beck also hosts a nationally syndicated radio show ("The Glenn Beck Program") which is heard in over 300 cities and is one of the highest-rated national talk shows among adults ages 25 to 54. In 2008, Beck won the Marconi Radio Award for Network Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year.
Prior to joining FNC, he served as the host of "Glenn Beck," a talk show on CNN's Headline News which grew more than 200 percent in viewership in both the 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. timeslots during its tenure from 2006 to 2008. While at Headline News, Beck secured many interviews including Senator John McCain, Governor Sarah Palin, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
His career began as a talk radio show host at WFLA-AM in Tampa, FL where he took his program to number one within his first year there. He was the youngest Top 40 morning show disc jockey in America at 18 years of age and moved on to become a top 40 disc jockey in major markets throughout the country, including Houston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Phoenix and New Haven, CT.
Beck has written three New York Times best-sellers including "The Real America: Messages from the Heart and the Heartland," "An Inconvenient Book" and "The Christmas Sweater." He is also the founder and editor of the comedy magazine Fusion which is a "fusion of entertainment and enlightenment."
Glenn: Um, yes, indeed. Hello and welcome back to the program. So, Al Gore yesterday decides to retract -- do we have the actual audio of him saying -- gee, you can probably just do it, Pat. The ice is going to all melt and the Arctic temperature is going to be --
Pat: Glenn, some of the models suggest to Dr. Mozlowski that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap during the summer months could be completely ice-free within five to seven years.
Glenn: Wow.
Pat: Completely ice-free within five to seven years.
Glenn: That's incredible.
Pat: Isn't it?
Glenn: In fact, it's so incredible it's not believable and not true. So, here is -- Dr. Mozlowski said, it is unclear how this figure is arrived at. I would never try to predict the likelihood of anything as exact as this. So, he came right out and said, I don't know where he got that. I've never said any such thing. All right. And Al Gore expanded --
Pat: Al Gore later said the --
Glenn: His usual response is, the debate is over and that guy's a flat earther.
Stu: Right. Or he wouldn't respond to it.
Glenn: I'm not going to respond to questions. Those are ridiculous questions.
Pat: But unfortunately Mr. Gore's office later termed by Dr. Mozlowski as a ballpark figure, several years ago in a conversation with me, Al Gore.
Glenn: Okay. So, in a conversation several years ago, according to Al Gore's recollection, this was thrown out.
Pat: Hum.
Glenn: Okay. So, he has retracted what we showed you last night as being complete nonsense. Now, question: Why? Good news. A couple of reasons. A, you; B, media. I think the scientists are under such incredible pressure right now with climategate and everything else that they -- I mean, I know people who believe in the science of global warming and hate Al Gore, scientists who have said, no, you're wrong, but Al Gore is just as wrong. What Al Gore is doing is wrong, blah blah blah blah blah. So, I think the scientists are under so much pressure that they can no longer stand by and say, well, at least he's kind of doing something -- he's pushing the -- I don't think they can do that anymore because they know they're the ones that are going to be, you know, strapped to the pilary. You know? They're the ones. And so I think they're going to throw Al Gore under the bus. The other thing is the pressure from you. You have started to push back hard enough to where you've said -- and you see it in the poll numbers -- I don't believe it and I'm not taking it anymore. And so they're -- they want to correct the easy ones, the ones that don't -- like, for instance, the hockey stick will never be corrected by Al Gore, never, because that's too iconic. The minute he says the hockey stick is dumb, well, then, you're done, you're done, because that's what made you, the hockey stick. Right?
Pat: Yeah.
Glenn: So, they'll take care of the easy ones. So, they say, we correct our mistakes when we find them.
Pat: Uh-huh. Yeah.
Glenn: You do now the other thing is you are going to see a, I think, a tactic, not really a change but an increase. I think you are going to find yourself under attack even more. I mean, we've talked about this on the program before. They need to make an example. What does a bully do? I was talking to a friend of mine last night and I said I remember the eighth grade. We had a new teacher, Sister Margaret, and she was new to the school and there was a bully that had been in our class since, you know, first grade and his name was Troy and he was just a bully and everybody was afraid of Troy. Well, Sister Margaret didn't know who true was and Troy, more importantly, didn't know who he was -- who she was. She said, knock it off, first day, knock it off. He said, really? Make me. Go to the principal's office. No. I'm not going to. Yes, you are, even if I have to drag you there desk and all myself, by the hair. Well, he said, you would never do it. She did. She did. She dragged him, big, heavy metal desk, by the hair to the back of the room and she said, so, are you willing to walk the rest of your way, because I can take you the rest of way if you want. We never heard a peep out of Troy again. She set the example. We're all thinking, could you not have shown up maybe seven years before? Never heard a peep from him again. She set an example.
Pat: Glenn Beck suggests dragging Al Gore by the hair.
Glenn: No. What I'm suggesting is Al Gore and his minions and those in Congress are going to start dragging you by the hair. Anybody who is speaking out, they must make an example out of the people they are deeming the bullies. They're deeming the bullies the tea party goers, me, everybody else. What if they are really correct? And what they are going to do is if they can -- nobody messed with Sister Margaret. After that nobody messed with her. I just want you to know that that in the bully book, that's the way it works.
Glenn Beck: Non conservative conservative strikes again
January 5, 2010 - 13:39 ET
GLENN: I want to give you, I want to give you another story that I found in the New York Times today. Listen to this one. The United States opens this decade no sour mood. This is from David Brooks. Isn't he the guy who claims to be a conservative but hates everything conservative?
PAT: Uh huh.
GLENN: First Americans are anxious about the future. 61% of Americans believe the country is in decline. I'm surprised at that number. I would have thought it was a little higher than that. NBC says only 27% feel confident that their children's generation will be better off than they are. I am again shocked at that number. I would think that more than I mean, that's almost 30% think that our children's future, our children will be brighter than the one we have right now.
PAT: The same people in favor of nationalized healthcare probably, 30%, same 30%.
STU: You don't think that our children's future is brighter than ours?
GLENN: No. No, not on this course, not on this course.
STU: Right. But I mean, that's different.
GLENN: No, no, no.
STU: We change courses. We have the opportunity to change courses and I have hope that we'll change.
GLENN: Oh, boy.
STU: In all seriousness. I mean, what, do you think, are you giving up? Is this defeat?
GLENN: No, no. No
STU: I'm believing we're going to win.
GLENN: No, I'm not.
STU: Of course, I'm an Eagles fan.
GLENN: I know what it's going to take to remove, especially if you get healthcare, to remove the structure, to remove you know, I mean, we talked about this yesterday. Harkin was saying that this healthcare bill, the Nelson, Nebraska, you know, giveaway for Medicaid, Harkin is saying that all the states are going to line up for that and they all that right to line up for that and they are all going to get it. Well, they are expanding Medicaid and then they are telling the states they don't have to pay for it. If they are expanding a program and none of the states have to pay for that program, who pays for that program? How does that work economically?
PAT: China. China pays for it. They have done it before.
GLENN: No, no, you are right. It does start with a CH. Our children pay for that. And this debt is absolutely unsustainable. So I have great hope for the future for our children if we, our generation, goes through a resetting and a depression and actually does all of the hard work and says, okay, okay, okay, we're going to take care of, we're going to take care of those who are 75 years old and, you know, people who just cannot work, we're going to be able to take care of those people, but everybody else, you're on your own, gang, because the republic needs to be restored. That's the only way.
STU: Right. You have to become financially responsible and intelligent.
GLENN: Yes, yes.
STU: I mean, there are things we have to do, you are right. It's unsustainable at this course but it's kind of defeatist to say we're not going to change course.
GLENN: No, it's realist.
STU: I mean, what are we doing every day?
GLENN: It's realist. Today am I more optimistic for our children's future? No. Not with what I see the decisions in Washington, not with what I see happening in Washington where they're not even listening to the American people. They don't care.
PAT: Look, let me be clear.
GLENN: What we've said in the past.
PAT: What I've said in the past is that we must how many times have we said we have to stop healthcare and we have to stop the climate change bill. And if we do those two things, I'm going to be really optimistic about the future.
GLENN: Yeah, I will be, too, I will be, too.
PAT: Otherwise it's going to be tough.
GLENN: I'll still be very concerned until they say, now here's what we're going to do on this massive $106 trillion unfunded liability.
STU: Right. Because the healthcare thing and climate change are extraordinarily important but it is still turning the water off. The house is still flooded.
GLENN: Exactly.
STU: And there's no roof.
GLENN: But here's what this poll doesn't say and I would be interested to hear. This is where the optimism for me comes. Americans say that their children are not going to be better off than they are. That's the first time in American history. I believe that myself. However, where my help comes from and I haven't seen a poll on this, the people my age and beyond, are they willing to do the tough thing today to change that outcome with their children? I think the American people in a growing number are willing to say, okay, wait a minute, wait a minute, so I'm not going to be able to have two cars, I may have to cancel my cable, I'm going to have to I may have to plant a garden. We're going to have really, really lean years. My concept of what America's promise is has to change for me so we don't lose America's promise for my children. I think the majority of Americans are either at or about to arrive at that point where they say, yeah, I'll do that. And that's where real hope comes from. Because that's real change. That's something you can actually bank on. People doing the tough thing because it's the right thing.
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