Is Glenn Beck Losing His Audience? (Or Merely His Mojo)

Still, at the risk of reading too much into this ratings story, let’s get back to the larger issue: The heretofore underrepresented masses — what we now know as the Tea Partiers (and/or a large part of Beck’s audience) — who have borne the heaviest burden of this economy, and perhaps find the most comfort in the idea the government is out to get them, are arguably now over-represented. They no longer need to be given a voice or convinced they are not alone: It’s not as if you need to turn on Glenn Beck to hear about the secret evils of socialists (and others!) anymore. In fact it’s a bit like the country is in the process of out-Becking Beck, one result being his is a less original and/or necessary, and/or entertaining voice. It’s now just another one.

I asked Mike Madden of Salon, who has covered Beck in the past, what he thought. “The question, says Madden, “as Republicans move out of “rally the crazies!” mode and into “don’t scare the moderates!” mode is whether they’ll keep picking up talking points that first get wide circulation on Beck’s show. We had a story on Salon last year that traced a handful of his conspiracy theories right into the political mainstream. That doesn’t seem to be happening quite as much these days. Then again, that could be because Beck spends half his time now obsessing over the Progressive Era and the nefarious things Woodrow Wilson did. If he is losing some of his edge and his relevance, that might be a lesson — it’s hard to do daily political TV shows that focus mostly on the news from 90 years ago.”

Could be! It’s also hard to demonize a president day-after-day that in the end appears to be getting things done. I also started wondering this week, whether the aftermath of the Arizona bill is signifying some sort of sea change. The across the board opposition to it has been striking — so much so it has apparently managed to put Karl Rove, Jeb Bush, and Barack Obama on the same side of an argument. Even Fox News seems strangely skeptical about the whole thing. You get the sense that people are far more comfortable yelling extreme rhetoric than seeing some of their ideas put into an actual law. And I wonder if one of the results will be a craving for cooler (and/or electable) heads. Neither category of which is much use to the talents of Glenn Beck. Unless he decides to have a come to Liberal moment on live TV, which would undoubtedly keep a whole lot of people tuned in for many months to come (politics aside, the man is a showbiz genius).

Regardless, there seems to be a sense of what’s next. Time’s James Poniewozik, whose piece on Beck has been nominated for a Mirror Award, thinks the challenge is a common one:

“I’d guess that Beck’s challenge is that old one in broadcasting, which is topping his own act. He’s an entertainer among other things, and to a certain extent his show is driven by surprise, by invention, by unpredictability. That’s why, as much as I might mock his ideas, his show works so well for me as TV: that there’s a real sense of playing with the medium and not knowing what might come next. If you start feeling that, well, you *do* know what’s coming next, then maybe it feels less urgent to watch every day.”

Like I said, Liberal conversion! Probably don’t hold your breath. Meanwhile, maybe it’s best not to get ahead of ourselves. Beck’s radio show numbers are up 13% over last year. And as Madden points out he’s still bringing in a whole other set of numbers.

“If Beck doesn’t draw the 14 gazillion people that attended the 9/12 march last year (okay, fine, 70,000 people, for all you reality-based elitists) a few months before an election, right when the tea should be flowing freely, maybe he’s jumped the shark, after all. But considering the reports he made $32 million in 2009, it’s hard to argue he didn’t make the most of the time he had.”

It is indeed.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.