Yesterday, in what must have an early April Fool joke, a Media Matters employee posted a poorly researched article on their website that baselessly claimed that The Glenn Beck Program had fallen short of 400 radio affiliates. Almost immediately after the article was posted, multiple media outlets debunked the lies. Glenn addressed the issue on radio this morning.
“There's nobody more credible on numbers than Media Matters. Nobody more credible. I mean, you can take their numbers directly to the bank and deposit them,” Pat said.
“Not in the sense that they have any value,” Stu said.
“I mean, really now that you think about it, you might not want to take their numbers to the bank directly. You might want to stop at a garbage can between your house and there and deposit it there,” Pat suggested.
When Pat brought up the Media Matters article on air, Glenn asked what was said. Stu explained to Glenn that the article claimed the show had dropped below 400 affiliates (editor’s note: it would still be the third largest radio show in America even if this was true). Stu said that Business Insider, on the other hand, had actually done research and found that the show had over 430 affiliates.
“May I ask you this? Because everybody's focusing like, what have we lost? Like seven stations? But haven't we gained in the same period, haven't we gained like 88 stations?” Glenn asked.
“Apparently Media Matters forgot to add to their count the 88 stations that have acquired Beck in the past year,” Stu said.
“What you have to take into account on, you know, radio networks like ours, like national shows that gain and lose affiliates on a pretty regular basis,” Pat explained.
“ Yeah, we have over 430 affiliates, and what that probably means is we've had in our lifetime probably 630 affiliates and we've probably lost 200,” Stu said.
“People just don't understand the instability of the radio industry,” Pat explained.
Despite the fact that the Media Matters article has been proven to be a fabrication, the progressive organization has refused to issue a correction. (editor’s note: I don’t really expect them to issue a correction. Legitimate news sources lead with their mistakes. Fake news sources close their eyes and hope no one notices.)
While we won’t be updating our website and marketing materials to reflect the lies contained in the Media Matters article, listeners may hear Glenn trumpeting the fact that they were absolutely, 100% incorrect. As Mediaite pointed out in a short, but funny, article:
Earlier today, Media Matters reported that Glenn Beck’s radio show had lost enough stations that he could no longer claim, as he does on his website, that the show is “heard on over 400 stations.” However, it appears they got some of their math wrong. This is terrible, terrible news, obviously. This means that, for the next three weeks, we’re going to have to listen to Beck go on and on about how Media Matters has “86 employees trying to get me and they still can’t get their facts right!”
While that may be an issue down the road, Glenn decided to take the controversy and use it to promote local radio stations and local radio advertisers.
“These radio stations are fighting for their life to stay on the air,” Glenn said. Glenn and Pat said that when they first started, people could make a lot of money in radio, but that’s not the case anymore. “You can't now. You really can't. They have cut things so far to the bone.”
“It is the only medium besides the Internet, it is the only medium where you actually have a say. It's the only medium where you actually can call in and have your voice on a national program,” Glenn said.
“We do celebrate when a station goes local, even though it can hurt us. Local people are going to be the people that eventually replace me. I was a local guy. We need local hosts. And the only way that happens is if you go to the advertisers that you hear on this station and you frequent their business and you tell them, thank you, thank you for sponsoring these people,” Glenn said.
And while Media Matters may go out and try and attack national and local businesses that advertise on Glenn’s programs, Glenn explained his very simple philosophy on partnering his show with advertisers. “My philosophy is if it's right for me, if it's right for the advertiser and it is right for the consumer, if all three of us can walk away and say that was a good deal, then it's right. Once one of those three legs goes, then the table can't stand anymore.”
And Glenn warned the businesses that work with him not to abuse his audience. “Don't you ever screw them. Don't you ever do anything. I'll expose you if I ever find out that you guys are doing something. I will expose you nationally. You'll never be able to start a business because you have people's trust and I do, too, and you must honor that.”
To read more about how wrong Media Matters has been on this story, you can check out The Blaze, Business Insider, and Mediaite. (editor’s note: Media Matters, please feel free to print and frame any of these pieces to keep at your desk)
