During his radio program on Tuesday, former Fox News host Glenn Beck shared with his listeners that after he notified the network of his intention to leave at the end of his contract, the late Roger Ailes tried to strike a deal for less than what Beck believed he deserved.
Beck made his comments while discussing the departure of Tucker Carlson and reflecting on his exit from the network, which happened a few months after he launched The Blaze as an alternative to mainstream media.
“As I said to Roger Ailes at one point, because he was negotiating my next contract,” said Beck. “I told him I was not renewing, he was offering me and negotiating with me, but I was not negotiating. I don’t bluff, I tell you what I’m going to do, and I don’t bluff.”
Beck established The Blaze with much excitement in 2011 as a right-leaning media company that he thought could challenge Fox News. According to Comscore, The Blaze attracted 5.9 million unique visitors online in September two years ago, slightly surpassing its web competitors Breitbart News (5.5 million) and The Daily Caller (4.5 million) but falling significantly behind Fox News (95 million).
“As we were going back and forth, he (Ailes) said at one point to me, you know we have a real hard time selling your show,” Beck said. “I said, really, that’s weird because my sales team at The Blaze and for my radio, we’re not having a single problem.”
Beck suggested to Ailes that the issue could lie with the sales team at Fox News rather than his own program.
