Beck, Glenn (1964-…), is a conservative American political commentator who became a popular and controversial radio and television personality. He gained fame as the host of the national television talk show “Glenn Beck,” which aired from 2006 to 2011. Beck has organized a number of large political and patriotic rallies. He frequently engages in public speaking tours throughout the United States.
Glenn Lee Beck was born on Feb. 10, 1964, in Mount Vernon, Washington. He began his radio career at age 13, when he won a contest to be a disc jockey at a local radio station. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, Beck worked as a disc jockey and radio host at stations in a number of U.S. cities. In 2000, he became the host of the radio show “The Glenn Beck Program,” where he began doing political commentary. Originally broadcast on WFLA-AM in Tampa, Florida, the show was picked up by other radio stations across the United States, beginning in 2002. Today, it is one of radio’s most popular programs. From 2006 to 2008, Beck hosted “Glenn Beck” on the CNN Headline News (now called HLN) cable TV network. The show moved to the cable TV Fox News Channel in 2009. In 2011, Beck started his own subscription-based Internet television network, GBTV. In 2012, GBTV merged with TheBlaze.com, an independently operated news and opinion website owned by Beck. The Internet television network then became known as TheBlaze TV. In 2012, TheBlaze TV also began airing on the Dish Network, a cable and satellite television network.
Beck has written several best-selling books, including the nonfiction titles The Real America: Messages from the Heart and Heartland (2003), An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World’s Biggest Problems (2007), Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government (2009), Glenn Beck’s Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government (2009), and The Original Argument (2011). He also wrote a novel, The Overton Window (2010).
