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Fox News star Laura Ingraham claims she’s been stiffed out of nearly a million dollars by Quake Media in a new lawsuit that suggests the subscription-based podcasting platform, which boasts a cadre of famed pundits across the political spectrum, has crashed and burned.
A complaint filed last week in New York’s Supreme Court alleges the company owes Ingraham close to seven figures, including almost all of the $800,000 contract she signed with Quake in 2022. According to the suit, the right-wing radio and TV host originally signed on with Quake Media in late 2019 for a twice-weekly podcast running 60-90 minutes each. The Laura Ingraham Show, which would be produced by her own company Radio Ingraham LLC, was essentially the same PodcastOne show she stopped airing, yet still continued to charge for subscriptions, in October 2019 (Ingraham transitioned from nationally syndicated radio to podcasting the year prior).
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But her new home, Quake Media, which was founded by political fundraiser Doug Rosenberg, took a while to get off the ground. After securing $2.5 million in seed money, the network launched to some fanfare in October 2020, charging users $4.99 per month for a slate of six shows hosted by famed talkers including ex-Fox Newser Gretchen Carlson, former CNN host Soledad O’Brien, former Arkansas governor and Fox News personality Mike Huckabee, and disgraced Democratic politician Andrew Gillum. By summer 2021, Quake secured another $3.5 million amid investor optimism over paid subscriber retention rates.
And while Carlson, O’Brien and Huckabee exited within a year, Quake was able to pull in other high-profile (and controversial) names to fill out its schedule: Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a one-year deal to host a political podcast, and former MLB legend Pete Rose, who was banned from the sport over his gambling activities, was given—of all things—a sports betting show.
But it seems to have all gone downhill from there.
Ingraham claims that her original Quake Media contract stipulated a $550,000 fee for one year—in the form of an initial $150,000 upfront and then monthly installments of $33,333. Even though the Fox News star provided the agreed-upon 94 episodes in a timely manner, she alleges, Quake never paid her final monthly fee.
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Nevertheless, she signed an extension in fall 2021 under the same terms. But in her second contract, Ingraham claims, Quake Media failed to make her final four monthly payments—a shortfall of $133,336. Amazingly, she agreed to another deal in October 2022, this time for $800,000, with the monthly payments being upped to $50,000.
Ultimately, her complaint says, Ingraham only received $50,000 during this last term, and has not received a single cent from Quake Media since last December. She still delivered 80 episodes for the company this past year, with the most recent one airing in late October. Besides the $919,660 she alleges that Quake now owes her, Ingraham seeks “reasonable and actual attorneys’ fees” arising from the company’s breach of contract.
Her lawsuit comes at an especially difficult time for Quake Media since the company appears to be fully defunct. Ingraham’s complaint suggests as much. The company originally went by the name Villanova Media, which she writes “may no longer exist as a juridical entity.” Beyond that, Quake’s Android app is no longer available to download, and the official Quake Media website is completely dead.
The network hasn’t posted to its Twitter account since Ingraham’s final episode, and its Facebook page has not been updated in nearly a year. Gov. Cuomo announced last week that he has broadcast his final podcast episode, boldly calling the yearlong series a “success.”
Reps for neither Quake Media nor Ingraham responded to requests for comment.
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