Frikkin' NYT outdoes themselves here.
A puff piece for a lying, divisive, right-wing zealot!
How nice!
"A Folksy Guy, in Recovery, Is About to Land Millions" by BRIAN STELTER
On his daily radio talk show, Glenn Beck portrays himself as an average guy, a recovering alcoholic and a comedian who regularly injects humor into his conservative politics. This week he can add another description: very wealthy.
Calls Beck's rants humor. Un-frikkin'-real!
Think he works for Lincoln, the Pentagon, or Langley?
Is he part of Operation Mockingbird!
Does he know Armstrong Williams?
Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, is expected to announce today that it is extending Mr. Beck’s contract. Two sources with knowledge of the deal said it was valued at $50 million over five years, through a combination of salary and profit-sharing from syndication.
In signing the deal, Mr. Beck, 43, becomes the newest — and youngest — entrant into an exclusive club of highly compensated radio stars. The new contract would make Mr. Beck the third highest-paid talk radio host, surpassed only by Rush Limbaugh, the most popular terrestrial talker for two decades and whose show is also syndicated by Premiere, and Sean Hannity, whose Citadel Broadcasting show is routinely ranked second.
That's who the shit MSM is shoveling at you. I prefer Alex Jones myself.
The salaries apparently mirror Arbitron’s radio audience measurements, which show that Mr. Beck is the third most popular radio host in the advertiser-friendly 25- to 54-year-old demographic.
That's what they SAY, anyway.
The higher salaries are being driven by several trends in media that have traditional terrestrial radio companies bidding for talent. The talk-radio format exploded in the 1990s, gaining hundreds of new affiliates across the country, much of it on the back of Mr. Limbaugh. But Mark Fratrik, the senior radio analyst at the consulting firm BIA Financial Network, said the radio industry has suffered from a general malaise in recent years, partly brought about by increased competition for advertisers and the rise of alternative audio sources like the iPod and satellite radio.
Frederick Moran, an analyst for the Stanford Group:
“All of these contracts pale in comparison to Sirius Satellite Radio’s half-a-billion dollar contract with Howard Stern. Radio needs to ensure that it still gets some top talent in order to compete against satellite radio as well as other channels like the Internet.”
And we are creaming these guys!!!!
But the talk-radio format still has some advantages, especially listener loyalty.
Mr. Fratrik: “The audiences are large enough that they are able to generate substantial advertising revenues. Radio is still a very effective medium, in so far as getting a message out.”
Because it is on, so... click!
Even Don Imus, who lost his five-year, $40 million contract with CBS Radio this year after making racially and sexually vulgar remarks about the Rutgers basketball team, signed a new deal last week with Citadel. The contract details were not disclosed, but Citadel hopes Mr. Imus’s reputation has recovered enough to attract his listeners.
Imus drummed out over DIVISION -- the MSM's job apparently be hiring these assholes!
I used to call Imus "Asshole-in-the-morning!"
Mr. Beck delivers almost a million listeners in an average quarter hour, according to spring 2007 Arbitron data. Charlie Rahilly, the new president of Premiere, noted that Mr. Beck has shown a 16 percent listener increase in the demographic in the past year:
“That’s certainly the right direction for the media business.”
I'm not buying the bullshit ratings!
Mr. Limbaugh, the reigning king of talk radio, averages 3.4 million listeners in a quarter hour. The demographic trends give Premiere hope that Mr. Beck is grooming a new generation of listeners.
George Hiltzik of the talent agency N. S. Bienstock, which represents Mr. Beck:
“Most talk radio skews older than Glenn’s. The selling demographic is 25- to 54-year-olds. One of the reasons Glenn’s doing so well is because he is appealing to a younger audience than most talk-radio hosts.”
So is Ron Paul, but I never hear about him and the young!
In a format that tilts heavily toward males, Mr. Beck also attracts more females than most other talk-show hosts. His three-hour morning program is carried by nearly 300 stations across the country. Mr. Beck, who entered the syndication market just six years ago, said his brand of authenticity and candor was refreshing in a society of sound bites and spin.
Mr. Beck, in an interview:
"I guess I’m too stupid to self-edit, so I tell people exactly the way I feel. I truly believe radio is the most powerful medium there is. It’s really treated so many times as a bastard child of other mediums. It is the most effective medium, when it’s done right, because it reaches right into the listeners and connects with them on a one-on-one level.”
Except blogs are better!
And he talked to the Times after blasting them over amnesty? WTF?!
And the Times talked to him (I remember what they said about opponents)?
That engagement can extend to the advertising. Michael Harrison, the publisher of the industry magazine Talkers, said commercials read by hosts have proved to be the most enduring and effective form of radio advertising:
“These people are worth what they’re being paid because they’re directly responsible for bringing in that kind of business.”
So Glen is a PITCH MAN, 'eh?
PITCHIN' BULLSHIT!
With the backing of Clear Channel, Premiere is thought to be relatively stable, although the company does not break out the unit’s earnings. Westwood One Inc., one of Premiere’s chief competitors, has reported declines in revenue and market share recently. Another competitor, ABC Radio, was recently sold to Citadel Broadcasting.
Many top radio personalities benefit from partial or full ownership of their programs. Through a company called the Mercury Entertainment Group, Mr. Beck employs his own staff and licenses the radio content to Premiere. In addition to producing Mr. Beck’s radio show, the company co-produces an evening talk show starring Mr. Beck for CNN Headline News, stages two live tours a year, and publishes a companion Web site.
And does his show ever suck!
Mr. Beck is often accused of making inflammatory remarks.
Where is the condemnation then? Where's Big Al?
That's how I know that ALL MSM "news" is a STAGED PRODUCTION!
Beck last November, interviewing the first Muslim member of Congress on television:
“What I feel like saying is, ‘Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.’”
Beck, last month, speaking about the California wildfires:
“I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today.”
Wrong! They were from San Diego.
And if Imus had said that, he'd a been buffaloed of to Arizona so fast your nappy head would spin!
Mr. Beck’s contract symbolizes the contrast between the folksy personalities and personal fortunes of high-profile radio hosts.
Aww, he's folksy! Like Georgie?
Mr. Harrison: “It’s one of the ironies of our culture that people are able to hold two truths in their minds at one time as fans. They like the image of a person, and relate to them as a regular guy, knowing all along that these so-called regular guys are megarich multimillionaires.”
Yeah, that's an "irony" of the shit-chewing, shit-swilling, diarrhea-gargling culture we've devised.
Not like it was PLANNED, though?
Like giving up LIBERTY for FREEDOM, right?
Mr. Beck said he has wrestled with that contradiction:
“I’ve never been dishonest with my audience. My audience knows I don’t always travel commercially. I don’t flaunt it, but I don’t hide it.”
Yes, Glenn, you have been dishonest!
And you are not one of us; you are just a (well-paid) shill to divide and divert!!!!
