President of Glenn Beck’s Company Makes “40 Under 40″ List

by Steve Krakauer | 3:46 pm, March 29th, 2010

» 2 comments

Glenn Beck‘s company Mercury Radio Artists Inc. has had quite a successful year – on TV, on radio, on the web and in print.

Now Crain’s New York is recognizing the President of the company, Chris Balfe, naming him to this year’s “40 Under 40” list.

From the profile:

Mr. Beck’s Mercury Radio Arts has grown into an innovative powerhouse with 32 full-time employees helping produce the controversial media star’s daily radio program, books, Web site, monthly magazine, online newsletter, live stage shows and Fox News television program. Revenue has grown to $26 million in 2009 from $1 million in 2003, according to a person familiar with the company.

Says Beck: “I’m the idea guy. He’s the guy who knows how to make it work.”

Styleite has more on the list, which includes a Project Runway winner…

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40 Under 40, Chris Balfe, Crain's, Glenn Beck

http://www.sailrabbits.com Magister

Earlier, I posted a couple of links to reviews of Beck’s Orlando show to my blog and though it sounds like it may have been a full bill of non-name guests, if you take the estimated 8000 in attendance and multiply by the $120 ticket price reported by the Philadelphia Daily News, Mercury took in almost a million dollars before expenses on a single-day event.

Add to that the upcoming shows, plus at least one more book this year which he’s starting to promote, Beck might not get a Limbaugh or Letterman-like salary, but he’s on track for another banner year before you even take into consideration the undoubtedly growing, recurring revenue from the subscriber-only portion of their website which Baife highlights to Crain.

It may sound like a knock, but I’m jealous of how they’ve been able to take Dire Straits to heart.
http://www.sailrabbits.com Magister

PS) Here’s an interesting question… all of the various outlets have rules governing Twitter or they have them under development, but do they have anything governing their personalities use of subscriber-only content, when it’s done on their own website which is registered and administered by the personality’s firm?