Becky V.

I was "reading" this article about Glenn Beck's roots in radio HERE when this caught my eye:

The birth of Glenn Beck as Radio Super Patriot can be traced to the morning of April 15, 1986. This was the morning after Ronald Reagan ordered U.S. warplanes to bomb Moammar Gadhafi's Tripoli palace in response to the bombing of a Berlin nightclub frequented by U.S. servicemen. . .What's most notable about this early version of Glenn Beck as Super Patriot is his near listlessness. There are none of the fire-breathing, teary-eyed histrionics that would come to define Beck's future radio and TV persona. Even while offering up star-spangled red meat, Beck sounds as if he would rather be smacking Liz Curtis around. When a young male caller suggests kidnapping Libyan agents and then torturing them by sliding them down razor blades into waiting pools of alcohol, Beck simply replies, "Thanks for the call. Buh-bye."

This reminds me of what I wrote last year about Dick Vitale:

I didn't have ESPN until I went to college, so I never even really heard him doing a game until then. I had no idea he had done games for ESPN for ten years. So a coupla weeks ago I flipped to ESPN Classic to check out whatever games they were showing, and I landed on the 1983 ACC Final (Ralph's final league game.) I'm watching the game, and it wasn't until about 10 minutes in I was like hold up...is that Dicky V? He was so calm, just doing his job, letting the game breathe (as Mad Dog would say.) And he was right on about everything...the complete opposite of the hyperventilating cartoon fuckmuppet he has become. Now, thorughout the weeks I've checked in from time to time, and it's always the same thing. There was always an excitement from him now and again, but nothing crazy, nothing over-the-top. I just saw the final 2 minutes of the 1996 Duke/Carolina game, won in the final seconds by a tip-in and Dicky V's excitement level, while cranked up pretty high for the time, doesn't even crack the register when compared to if he was on camera today opening a box of Raisin Nut Bran Cereal 'OMYGOD BAYBEE I'M GOING WILD WITH THIS IT'S RAISINS AND BRAN AND YES I AM NUTS BAYBEE THIS IS AWESOME BABEE OH CRAP I AM CHOKING ON MY SPOON THIS IS NOT SO AWESOME BAYBEE!!!!!!!!!!" If the Duke/UNC game this weekend had a finish like that our guy would chop his own head off and kick it into the stands before setting himself on fire while shitting out a Shane Battier kewpie doll he's been "SAVING FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION, BAYBEEEEEEEE!!!!"

I don't know which came first, the chicken or the egg. Vitale for one was already an announcer at ESPN; did he feel the need to start acting crazy to get noticed? Or do these things happen once you've already reached the apex?  Did Beck turn into his character before or because of his being thrust into the national spotlight?