Yesterday evening was the final episode of the Glenn Beck program on Fox News. It's been an incredible 2.5 year journey for Beck. Throughout the 2.5 year run, Beck was very competitive at the 5:00 p.m. EST time slot. Even though many liberal pundits have cited a 32% or more ratings drop since late last year, Beck was very successful overall in the program's ratings. According to Stu Jackson on his blog at http://www.glennbeck.com/, he stated that Glenn has increased the ratings of the 5:00 p.m. time slot 131% compared to the programming that aired before his start. Stu said that was doubling the ratings plus another 31%. When Glenn took over the 5:00 p.m. time slot, both CNN and MSNBC were very close to taking over that time slot, particularly since the 2008 presidential election. In January '09 days before Glenn took over that slot, CNN tied Fox, which wasn't even close afterwards. Ever since then, Beck has beaten his competition from other cable networks throughout his program's run. He was way ahead of Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Chris Matthews, and Rachel Maddow, to name a few. When comparing Beck to the entire lineup of Fox News regardless of time, Beck held his own. In the prime time slots which normally have more viewers than at the 5:00 p.m. time slot, Bill O'Reilly was atop the ratings. Behind O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Bret Baier, Greta Van Susteran, Shepherd Smith, and Sean Hannity bounced back and forth between second and sixth. In one of those quarters Beck finished forth.
When Glenn Beck signed off on his program yesterday, he said the decision to leave was "divinely inspired" and promises to continue fighting the good fight to restore the principles and values that made America great when it was founded. Beck was addressing what many liberal pundits have cited as tension between Beck and the network, notably over advertisers who withdrew their support from Beck believing he was too controversial. Beck scoffed at the notion that Fox News decided to drop him due to comments he made in July 2009 that President Obama was a racist and harbored a deep-seated hatred towards white people or white culture. Beck would later claim that was a poor choice of words "on his part" and he apologized for the "racist" accusation he made against Obama, even though Beck had good reason to believe it. Last night Beck made an important point that his final program was "live" and that no anchor that was fired by the network would've been allowed live access to a full hour with the audience and be able to say whatever he desired to say.
For the past 2.5 years the chalkboard and the red telephone have been trademarks of the Glenn Beck television program. Beck stated that this show has become a movement and as a result this movement didn't belong on television. He said it wasn't a TV show anymore and that the movement belongs in the home. Since the Glenn Beck Program began on January 19, 2009, the 9/12 Project was begun by Glenn Beck while speaking to a caller one day. However, Glenn doesn't coordinate the movement. Today the 9/12 Project is growing by leaps and bounds. Also, Glenn Beck hosted a "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 2010, exactly 47 years to the day that the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Probably close to a million people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial full of zeal and encouragement. Beck was exhorting the audience to look to God for the solution to America's problems. He would emphasize that the greatness of America lies with its people and not government. He stated that change must come through the American people. He also was the keynote speaker at CPAC on February 2010 and gave the best address at the whole CPAC Convention.
One of the things that I admired about Beck was that he was diligent in the last two years educating his viewers about America's heritage, both positive and negative. He hosted several "Founders' Fridays" shows last years inviting guests such as David Barton, president of WallBuilders speaking of individual or groups of founders that played a role in the founding of our nation. He featured programs on such Founders as Samuel Adams, George Washington, George Whitefield, James Madison, the black founders, and women founders. He would educate people about the greatness of our Founders and wanted his audience to be aware of our nation's roots so we can turn this country back to the Judeo-Christian principles this nation was founded upon. Beck also spoke indepth of the Progressive movement and how it caused America's drift downward. He would speak of some of the top Progressive thinkers such as Woodrow Wilson and others who thought the U.S. Constitution was a flawed document. He would encourage Americans to roll up their sleeves and become involved in their own communities. He also warned of some of the indoctrination that was taking place in some of the public school systems in America as well.
Glenn Beck announced back in May that he's going to take part in a "Restoring Courage" rally in Israel on August 24, 2011. He's recently hosted numerous shows about Israel and how we as Americans need to stand for Israel. There will be a group headed to that event. Beck has also worked out a deal with Mercury Radio Arts and he's going to start a new internet channel called GBTV. He will start a live-streaming show over the internet on September 12, 2011, which will be the day following the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks upon America. It will be a two hour show. I wish Glenn Beck the best in his future endeavors. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching his Fox News programs throughout the last two years. I'll miss him on Fox. I'm going to quote his final words before signing off. . . . . .
It is not the person that is leading the parade. It is not the person on the stage who gets all the credit. It is all the people behind them.
It is all the people that have made this possible . . . . . from the very beginning.
. . . . . From New York. . . . goodnight, America.
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