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Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. It is based in
Irving, Texas Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to a 2019 estimate from the United States Census Bureau, ...
, where it has studios and offices, as well as in Washington, D.C. TheBlaze was a pay television network founded by
Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
. Originally, it was called Glenn Beck TV, created after Beck's departure from Fox in 2011. In 2012, the network took the name of Beck's popular website, TheBlaze. From 2014 to 2017, the company had four different CEOs, followed by Beck himself. Months after Beck took the position, the company laid off over a fourth of its staff. CRTV LLC, which operated the '' Conservative Review'' and CRTV (Conservative Review Television), was an online subscription network.


History

On August 31, 2010, three days after his
Restoring Honor rally The Restoring Honor rally was held August 28, 2010 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and was organized by Glenn Beck to "restore honor in America" and to raise funds for the non-profit Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Billed as ...
at the
Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...
in Washington, D.C., conservative political commentator
Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
launched the ''TheBlaze'' website, describing it as an
alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...
to "mainstream media outlets". TheBlaze headquarters are located in
Irving, Texas Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to a 2019 estimate from the United States Census Bureau, ...
, at the Mercury Studios (formerly the Studios at Las Colinas). Beck announced the creation of an online-only network replacing Insider Extreme as a result of his Fox News departure on June 7, 2011. On September 12, 2011, Beck launched GBTV (Glenn Beck TV) as an exclusive
internet streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
network, produced and operated by Mercury Radio Arts. GBTV would air a television adaptation of his
radio show A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...
, his television show, and other original programming, including ''Real News from TheBlaze'', a nightly news program hosted by former CNN personality
Amy Holmes Amy Mulenga Holmes (born July 25, 1973) is a Zambian-born American journalist and political commentator. Holmes co-hosts, with fellow commentator Michael Gerson, a politically conservative-oriented talk show on PBS titled ''In Principle.'' She is ...
. On June 18, 2012, Mercury Radio Arts announced the consolidation of all of its outlets under the "TheBlaze" brand, thus renaming the internet television station from GBTV to TheBlaze. In 2012,
Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...
placed TheBlaze on its channel lineup. As a result of the "Get TheBlaze" campaign (a movement led by supporters to have other supporters call their cable or satellite television provider and ask them to carry the channel), several smaller, regional cable operators also have recently picked up TheBlaze—including Cablevision (also known as Optimum TV – Channel 828), a major cable provider in the New York metropolitan area. Betsy Morgan was named CEO of ''TheBlaze'' on December 9, 2014, replacing Chris Balfe, who had been CEO since the beginning. Morgan left the company in June 2015. Chief Revenue Officer Kraig Kitchin replaced Morgan until he resigned in January 2016, taking the position of Interim Head of Sales and being replaced by Stewart Padveen, a digital startup entrepreneur, who resigned in February 2017. Beck took over as CEO of the company in May 2017. In November 2015, Beck sent an open letter to the Republican National Committee, requesting permission for TheBlaze to host a Republican presidential debate; this offer was not accepted. On August 31, 2017, TheBlaze laid off nearly 60 employees, which cut its personnel by almost 30%. On December 28, 2018, Verizon Fios removed TheBlaze from its lineup. TheBlaze is available as Blaze Live on ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV with 24 hours a day programming.


Merger with CRTV

On December 3, 2018, TheBlaze Inc. television arm merged with CRTV LLC, combining resources, personalities, personnel, subscribers, and programming. The merged entity, named Blaze Media, retained TheBlaze's channel slot and incorporated two of CRTV's programs into the channel's schedule (''Steve Deace Show'' and ''Wilkow!'').
Gavin McInnes Gavin Miles McInnes (; born 17 July 1970) is a Canadian writer, podcaster and far-right commentator and founder of the Proud Boys. He is the host of '' Get Off My Lawn with Gavin McInnes'', on the subscription-based streaming media platform C ...
, the co-founder of Vice Media and ''Vice'' magazine, founder of the
Proud Boys The Proud Boys is an American far-right, neo-fascist, and exclusively male organization that promotes and engages in political violence in the United States.Far-right: * * Fascist: * * * * * Men only: * * * Political violence: * * * It has ...
, was expected to host his programs ''Get Off My Lawn'' and ''CRTV Tonight'' for the new company, whose co-president, Gaston Mooney, called McInnes "a comedian and provocateur, one of the many varied voices and viewpoints on Blaze Media platforms." Less than a week after the merger, however, it was announced that McInnes was no longer associated with Blaze Media, with no details given as to why. Former contributor Michelle Malkin likewise followed McInnes out the door after ''CRTV'' merger with ''TheBlaze'' in December 2018.


Notable program hosts for television, and radio and podcasts

*
Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
– host of ''Glenn TV'' and ''The Glenn Beck Radio Program'' * Stu Burguiere – '' The Glenn Beck Radio Program'' (co-host/executive producer), ''Stu Does America'' (host) *
Steve Deace Steven James Deace (born July 28, 1973) is a talk show host. His program ''The Steve Deace Show'' is on the Blaze Media platform. Early life Born on July 28, 1973, Deace is the son of Vickie McNeeley. McNeeley, who was 14 years old and not marr ...
– host of the ''Steve Deace Show'' * Kevin Freeman – host of ''Economic War Room'' * Pat Gray – ''Pat Gray Unleashed'' (host), ''The Glenn Radio Program'' (recurring regular and frequent fill-in host) * Mark Levin – host of ''LevinTV'' *
Chad Prather Chad Prather (born December 9, 1972) is an American conservative political commentator, comedian and Internet personality known for a series of YouTube videos in which he comments on life, right-leaning politics and current events. His video "Un ...
– host of ''The Chad Prather Show'' * Dave Rubin – host of ''
The Rubin Report ''The Rubin Report'' is a conservative political news talk show hosted by Dave Rubin, airing on BlazeTV and YouTube. The full audio of each episode is additionally available for download as a podcast. In the show, Rubin interviews authors, activ ...
'' *
Allie Beth Stuckey Allie Beth Stuckey (; ; born February 18, 1992) is an American conservative commentator whose podcast ''Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey'' is owned and distributed by Blaze Media. She has been a regular guest on Fox News. In November 2019, Stu ...
– host of ''Relatable'' with Allie Beth Stuckey * Matt Kibbe – host of ''Kibbe on Liberty'' * Phil Robertson – host of ''In the Woods with Phil'' and ''Unashamed with Phil Robertson'' *
Jason Whitlock Jason Lee Whitlock (born April 27, 1967) is an American sports journalist, columnist, and podcaster. He hosts a program for the media company Blaze Media, where he hosts the show ''Fearless with Jason Whitlock''. Whitlock is a former columnist ...
– host of ''Fearless with Jason Whitlock''


Frequent guests

* Ben Shapiro - editor emeritus of
The Daily Wire ''The Daily Wire'' is an American conservative news website and media company founded in 2015 by political commentator Ben Shapiro and film director Jeremy Boreing. The company is a major publisher on Facebook, and produces podcasts such as ' ...
and host of the syndicated radio show ''
The Ben Shapiro Show ''The Ben Shapiro Show'' is a daily conservative political podcast and live radio show produced by ''The Daily Wire'' and hosted by Ben Shapiro. The podcast launched in September 2015. , ''The Ben Shapiro Show'' was ranked by Podtrac as the seco ...
'' *
Daniel Lapin Daniel Lapin (born January 1, 1947) is an American Orthodox rabbi, author, and public speaker. xaminer om/article/rabbi-lapin-reveals-prosperity-secrets (URL blocked by Wikipedia) He was previously the founding rabbi of the Pacific Jewish Center ...
- Jewish Rabbi * David Barton – Christian Zionist, evangelical political activist and author * Ted Cruz – United States senator from Texas * Jeremy Boreing - COO and co-founder of
The Daily Wire ''The Daily Wire'' is an American conservative news website and media company founded in 2015 by political commentator Ben Shapiro and film director Jeremy Boreing. The company is a major publisher on Facebook, and produces podcasts such as ' ...
* Mike Lee – United States senator from Utah * Bill O'Reilly – Former television host of '' The O'Reilly Factor'' on Fox News, and host of ''No Spin News'' * Dennis Prager – founder of PragerU and political commentator * Ben Sasse – United States senator from Nebraska * John W. Whitehead – founder of the
Rutherford Institute The Rutherford Institute is a conservative Christian public interest law firm dedicated to the defense of civil liberties, human rights, and religious liberties. Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, the non-profit organization's motto is "its ...
* Howard Kohr - CEO of AIPAC * John Hagee - televangelist and founder of Christians United for Israel * Kirk Cameron - evangelical actor *
Alex Stein Alex Stein (; born 27 October 1957) is an Israeli jurist who currently serves as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Israel and a former law professor. Early life and education Stein was born to a Jewish family in the Soviet Union and immigrated ...
- Comedian


Former hosts and contributors

*
Steven Crowder Steven Blake Crowder ( ; born July 7, 1987) is an American-Canadian conservative political commentator and media host. Early in his career, Crowder worked for Fox News and posted satirical videos on conservative media platforms. He then began h ...
- ''Louder with Crowder'' (departed 2022) *
S. E. Cupp Sarah Elizabeth Cupp (born February 23, 1979) is an American television host, political commentator, and writer. In August 2017, she began hosting ''S.E. Cupp: Unfiltered,'' a political panel show, co-hosted by Andrew Levy, on HLN and later CNN. ...
– ''Real News'' *
Laurie Dhue Laurie Walker Dhue (born February 10, 1969) is an American television journalist. She was a Fox News Channel anchor from 2000–2008, reporting for the television show ''Geraldo at Large'' and the host of ''Fox Report'' ''Weekend''. Early life ...
– Blaze news anchor *
Tomi Lahren Tomi Rae Augustus Lahren (; born August 11, 1992) is an American conservative political commentator and television presenter. She hosted ''Tomi'' on TheBlaze, where she gained attention for her short video segments called "final thoughts", in w ...
– ''Tomi'' (2015–2017) *
Dana Loesch Dana Lynn Loesch ( ; ; born September 28, 1978) is an American radio and TV host. She is a former spokesperson for the National Rifle Association and a former writer and editor for ''Breitbart News''. Loesch was the host of the program ''Dana'' ...
– ''Dana'' (2013–2017) * Michelle Malkin – host of ''Michelle Malkin Investigates'' (departed 2018, show moved to Newsmax TV) *
Gavin McInnes Gavin Miles McInnes (; born 17 July 1970) is a Canadian writer, podcaster and far-right commentator and founder of the Proud Boys. He is the host of '' Get Off My Lawn with Gavin McInnes'', on the subscription-based streaming media platform C ...
– host of ''Get Off My Lawn'' (departed 2018) * Jay Severin – ''The Jay Severin Show'' (2012–2016) * Andrew Heaton – ''Something’s Off with Andrew Heaton'' (2018–2019) *
Andrew W.K. Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier (born May 9, 1979), known professionally as Andrew W.K., is an American conceptual performance artist, rock singer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor. Raised in Michigan, Wilkes-Krier began his musi ...
– ''America W.K.'' *
Andrew Wilkow Andrew Steven Wilkow (born August 18, 1972) is a conservative political talk radio host on the Sirius XM Patriot channel on SIRIUS channel 125 and XM channel 125. Until July 2006, Wilkow had been on WGY in Schenectady, New York, (weekday morni ...
– ''Wilkow!'' (departed 2021, show moved to Salem News Channel)


Controversies


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez video

In July 2018, CRTV published a satirical video that featured footage of then- Democratic candidate in New York's 14th congressional district midterm election,
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of th ...
, from a previous interview with PBS. The previous interview was edited to appear as if Ocasio-Cortez was giving nonsensical answers to questions read by CRTV commentator
Allie Stuckey Allie Beth Stuckey (; ; born February 18, 1992) is an American conservative commentator whose podcast ''Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey'' is owned and distributed by Blaze Media. She has been a regular guest on Fox News. In November 2019, Stuc ...
, a comedy routine more famously done by
"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...
on his ''
Al TV ''Al TV'' is an American comedy TV series created by and starring singer-songwriter "Weird Al" Yankovic, which aired as periodic specials on MTV and VH1, beginning in 1984. Overview The premise of the show is that Yankovic uses his private s ...
'' series. The video was accompanied by a caption reading "Allie *grills* congressional hopeful and progressive it girl 'Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' on her socialist agenda and knowledge of government... or lack thereof." Following outcry from various media outlets, the outlet updated the caption to indicate that the video was satirical and included a link to the original PBS interview.


Jon Miller's Bong Joon-ho Oscars tweet

On February 9, 2020, ''White House Brief'' host Jon Miller posted a tweet in response to South Korean filmmaker
Bong Joon-ho Bong Joon-ho (, ; Hanja: 奉俊昊; born September 14, 1969) is a South Korean film director, producer and screenwriter. The recipient of four Academy Awards, his filmography is characterised by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black h ...
, director of '' Parasite'', and his acceptance speech at the 92nd Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay. Miller wrote: "A man named Bong Joon Ho wins #Oscar for best original screenplay over ''
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Bona Film Group, Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is a ...
'' and ''
1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...
''. Acceptance speech was: 'GREAT HONOR. THANK YOU.' Then he proceeds to give the rest of his speech in Korean. These people are the destruction of America." The tweet immediately caused controversy, with numerous Twitter users and celebrities accusing Miller of racism and xenophobia. Miller clarified on his show that his tweet was not directed at Koreans, but rather those " woke" people in Hollywood who ignored social conventions.


Additional outlets


Radio

TheBlaze Radio Network was launched on September 5, 2012 and is available for free online via the company's website, iOS and
Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
apps, and the
iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...
app. TheBlaze Radio Network is the only host airing conservative talk-show host Pat Gray.


Website

TheBlaze website launched on August 26, 2010. According to Beck, the site took two months to design. At launch, the site's chief editor was Scott Baker, with its associate editor-video producer Pam Key and with Jon Seidl and Meredith Jessup as reporters. Key is known for her blog, ''Naked Emperor News: Smoking Gun Video and Images''. Baker is a former Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, broadcast journalist who previously worked at '' The Huffington Post'' and
Breitbart TV Andrew James Breitbart (; February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012) was an American conservative journalist, and political commentator who was the founder of ''Breitbart News'' and a co-founder of ''HuffPost''. After helping in the early stages of '' ...
. Seidl, of the Manhattan Institute, previously worked at '' The American Spectator''. Jessup previously worked at Townhall. Journalists joining ''TheBlaze'' later included
S. E. Cupp Sarah Elizabeth Cupp (born February 23, 1979) is an American television host, political commentator, and writer. In August 2017, she began hosting ''S.E. Cupp: Unfiltered,'' a political panel show, co-hosted by Andrew Levy, on HLN and later CNN. ...
and
David Harsanyi David Harsanyi (born circa 1970) is an American conservative journalist, columnist, author, and editor. He wrote for the ''Denver Post'' for eight years, then '' Blaze'', and then he edited for ''The Federalist'' for more than six years. He becam ...
. In January 2011, Betsy Morgan became president and Kraig Kitchin director of sales. Morgan had helmed ''The Huffington Post'' until 2009. Kitchin had formerly been the president of Premier Radio. In March 2011, the site was noted for its critique of James O'Keefe's NPR sting video.


Magazine

''TheBlaze'' (entitled ''Fusion'' prior to September 2012) was a monthly news magazine published by Mercury Radio Arts and TheBlaze in New York City and circulated throughout the United States. Its former title, ''Fusion'', was taken from Beck's talk radio program's slogan, "The Fusion of Entertainment and Enlightenment." The editor-in-chief was Scott Baker. The magazine was sixteen pages and was published monthly except for February and August. It was available digitally and in print. The last edition of ''TheBlaze'' magazine was published in April 2015.


References


External links

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TV
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Radio

Mercury Radio Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaze 2011 establishments in Texas 24-hour television news channels in the United States Companies based in Irving, Texas Conservative media in the United States Defunct television networks in the United States Internet properties established in 2010 Mass media companies based in New York City Tea Party movement Television channels and stations established in 2011 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2019 Television news in the United States YouTube channels