Radio Host Laura Ingraham Caught In Profane On-Air ‘Meltdown’ During Technical Difficulties

by:Russell Bartlett
"I'm just surprised it's taken this long..."
Successful radio hosts often trade on their ability to make provocative statements live on air. For one syndicated host, however, it was a series of remarks she made when she thought her listeners couldn’t hear her that are now causing controversy.
The incident began as Laura Ingraham came back from a commercial break to a situation where she thought her broadcast was experiencing serious technical difficulties. She reacted by somewhat frantically calling on the show’s executive producer Drew Carmichael.

“What’s going — what do I do guys?” Ingraham asked. “I can’t hear anything! What do I do? Drew, can you hear something in yours? No, right? Are you on ‘Best of?’ Are you on ‘Best of?’ We have dead air? We’ve got to put a ‘Best of’ on, Drew.”
The call to run a “Best of” referred to a stand-by compilation from past shows and could be used to fill otherwise”dead air.”
After a few more moments of background music, an even more animated Ingraham was once again heard — unbeknownst to her — live on air to a nationwide listening audience.

“We’re going to lose every f—— station we have!” the upset radio personality exclaimed. “This is unbelievable.”
Every veteran radio broadcaster knows you should never curse around a microphone that could be hot.
Ingraham then turned back to her staff for assistance in what she thought was a broadcasting crisis.
“I don’t know what to do,” she said. “What do I do? Just read stories? What?”
In remarks meant for those in the studio but broadcast to a much wider audience, Ingraham described what she thought was happening.
“Everything’s dead in here,” she declared. “I hear a click! The lights aren’t on on the console. We’ve got to put a ‘Best of’ on. We’ve got to call [network] Westwood One.”

Mediaite’s Lindsey Ellefson reported about the on-air outburst, explaining Ingraham has previously been associated with such behind-the-scenes ranting.
“Her blasé attitude,” Ellefson wrote, “could be attributed to how frequently this sort of meltdown occurs.”
She referenced the following video — which features unaired, behind-the-scenes footage from Ingraham’s brief stint as a Fox News Channel host — to support her claim. https://youtu.be/q3lCfHtaR30





The Mediaite report also included a quote from an unnamed source supposedly familiar with the previous work environment of an Ingraham-hosted program.
“Meltdowns are basically a daily occurrence over there,” the source claimed. “She goes through producers faster than anyone in the industry. I’m just surprised it’s taken this long to happen on air.”