Glenn Beck's Media Company, Mercury Radio Arts, Grows from Ground Up
Glenn Lee Beck was born in Everett, Washington, to Mary Clara (Janssen) and William A. Beck. His father was of German and English descent, and his mother was of German ancestry. He started in radio at the age of 13 by winning a local radio contest to be a DJ for an hour. Soon after, Glenn had three jobs - one at a Christian station, a Rock station, and a Country station - all of which his parents had to schlep him to in their home state of Washington. He was fired from all three jobs on the same day when he was 14 years old!
After high school graduation, Glenn pursued his career as a Top 40 DJ at stations all over the country. He landed an opportunity in Corpus Christi, Texas, as the youngest morning guy in the U.S. at 18 years old. His career was soaring and took him to Top 40 morning shows in Baltimore, Houston, Phoenix, Washington, and New Haven, Conn. He rode the wave of professional success into the 1990s when things began to change.
At the age of 30, Glenn lost his passion for radio - and everything else - as alcoholism and drug addiction took him over. He was faced with a divorce from his first wife and separation from his two daughters - the oldest with Cerebral Palsy. He was emotionally and financially decimated and relegated to one of the smallest radio markets. The shooting radio star had fallen to earth.
Finally, he turned to a program of recovery.
Coming to terms with his past and staying sober shifted his life direction. He found a new love (his second wife, Tania),faith in Jesus (he was baptized Mormon in 2000),and a new vision of his career - he would pursue talk radio.
Soon after his baptism, Glenn received a call from an agent who was interested in representing him. Days later, he had an offer to host his own talk radio show on WFLA-AM in Tampa, Florida, forcing him to move away from his daughters in New Haven. He and Tania decided to live in Tampa for two years and then, whether Glenn succeeded or failed, they would move closer to his girls.
He inherited the 18th placed position at WFLA-AM and took it to the #1 position in his first year, giving the station its highest ratings ever. Within 18 months, Premiere Radio Networks, the leading radio syndication company in the country, offered Glenn the opportunity to go national. In January 2002, The Glenn Beck Program launched on 47 stations.
He also kept his promise to his daughters and moved the national show to Philadelphia.
Running from 2006-2008, Beck launched "The Glenn Beck Program", an hour long television program, on CNN's Headline News. From 2009-2011, the show aired on the Fox News Channel. After changing his approach and wanting to play a different role in the media, Beck left Fox, and launched an independent network called "TheBlaze". TheBlaze, available on Dish Network and on over 90 other television providers across the nation, with eleven of those being in the national top 25, is a news and entertainment network which airs both Beck's radio and television program, as well as 16 other original programs. TheBlaze also has a radio network that broadcasts 15 programs.
In November 2014, Glenn revealed on his program that he had gone through a "pivot point" in his life and revealed that for five years he'd been suffering from an illness that would've made his body shut down within the span of 5-10 years. Glenn, after being tested for traumatic brain injury, was told by doctors in New York that he was functioning in the bottom tenth percentile. After doctors failed to diagnose exactly what was wrong with him, Glenn sought the help of the Carrick Brain Centers in Texas.
