Glenn Beck signs 5-year, $100 million radio deal

[June 12, 2012]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck has signed a five-year, $100 million contract to continue his morning radio show with syndicator Premiere Networks Inc.

The details were confirmed Monday by a person with direct knowledge of the deal. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the deal and requested anonymity.

The contract was earlier reported by The New York Times.

It marks a big pay bump for Beck. His last contract with the Clear Channel subsidiary was reportedly for $10 million a year in 2007.

The Glenn Beck Program is the nation's third-highest rated radio show behind The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show. Those two shows are also syndicated by Premiere.

Over the past five years, Beck's audience has grown nearly 50 percent and the number of stations carrying his show has doubled to more than 400.

Forbes Magazine estimates that Beck, 48, makes $80 million a year. He parted ways with Fox News Channel last year after his TV show's audience size shrank and advertisers staged a boycott following his comment that President Barack Obama had "a deep-seated hatred for white people."

[Associated Press; By RYAN NAKASHIMA]

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