Glenn Beck Profile…

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s John Timpane profiles FNC’s Glenn Beck…

Many are the radio people who have crashed trying to make the transition to TV. Beck is “one of the few who have done it,” says Blazer. Sikahema calls his ease on-camera “unbelievable. He has somehow managed to do on TV what he does on radio – usually, it doesn’t translate. He’s just a natural.”

On set, you see close up that Beck’s energy has found a home. Inescapable is how loud he talks on camera. His manner is conversational – yet his volume reverberates throughout the set. Somehow, it not only works – it cranks. He’s famous for shouting, weeping, for that sense of an emotional volcano just beneath the surface, about to blow.

He begins his May 9 show, as always, with a high-energy shout-out to viewers: “If you believe this country is great, but there’s too much talk about change, and not enough action, or maybe too much change in a direction you weren’t expecting, declare yourself a 9/12-er, and come on, follow me.” With that, Beck strides to his desk.

Once there, he reviews what “the mainstream media” are covering. He jokes, speaks in dozens of character voices, makes faces (priceless faces), gestures. Sitting but not sitting still, he reviews the ill-advised New York flyover of Air Force One; the party switch of Sen. Arlen Specter, called “Spectator” and imitated in a gruff, old-guy voice; President Obama’s health-care plan (he simpers: “We’re gonna change the world”).

Obama, Beck says, “has helped orchestrate a power grab of industry, energy, health care, and taxes.” Minutes later, he asks: “So where does this leave you? What do you get out of this, the taxpayer? Where’s the transparency we’ve been promised? It ain’t in Washington. Tonight the transparency is right here.” With that, he springs up and strides toward a blackboard to crunch some numbers.

In a reflective moment in his office, Beck says, “It’s really . . . entrepreneurial around here. I’m on my own. We live and die by the ratings.”