Bubba the Love Sponge
| Genre | "Comedy", Talk |
|---|---|
| Running time | 4 hours (approximately) |
| Country |  United States |
| Home station | Howard 101, Cox Radio Stations in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Richmond, and Dayton and Beasley Broadcasting in Fort Myers. |
| Starring | Bubba "The Love Sponge" Clem Brent Hatley Mike "Manson" Waters Nedley Mandingo III (Character voiced by Mike Waters) Matt "Spice Boy" Loyd |
| Creators | Bubba The Love Sponge |
| Exec. producers | Brent Hatley Matt Lloyd |
| Opening theme | "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by Jimi Hendrix |
| Ending theme | "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by Jimi Hendrix |
| Website | http://btls.com |
Bubba the Love Sponge (born Todd Alan Clem[1] in Warsaw, Indiana on April 23, 1966) is a radio talk show host. Bubba's radio shows are broadcast on Howard 101 at Sirius XM Satellite Radio on various Cox Radio and Beasley Radio stations. He also serves as a backstage interviewer and on-air personality for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
Contents |
Early career and the FCC
The Federal Communications Commission issued a Notice of Apparent Liability (a precursor to a fine) of $755,000 against four stations owned by Clear Channel Communications (including its parent station, WXTB) on January 27, 2004 for objectionable segments of "Bubba the Love Sponge" aired on its stations in five Florida cities: Callahan, Clearwater, Port Charlotte, West Palm Beach, and Jacksonville. The fine consisted of the maximum of $27,500 for each of 26 airings of a segment plus $40,000 for record-keeping violations. [2]
The segments included graphic discussions about sex and drugs and according to the FCC were "designed to pander to, titillate and shock listeners".[citation needed] One segment featured the cartoon characters Alvin the chipmunk, George Jetson and Scooby Doo discussing sexual activities.
Clear Channel Communications discontinued Bubba's show on February 23, 2004 and two days later, Clear Channel CEO John Hogan testified in front of Congress, stating that the "Bubba the Love Sponge" show would no longer be broadcast on Clear Channel.
Current activities
Bubba began broadcasting on Sirius Satellite Radio on January 9, 2006. Bubba began broadcasting a live morning show from Tampa radio station WHPT (102.5 "The Bone") on January 8, 2008 which was simulcast on the Jacksonville, Florida radio station WFYV (104.5 FM).[3] During the second quarter of 2008, Bubba's show received a number one rating [4] in his home market of Tampa. Cox Radio then expanded its broadcast of the Bubba the Love Sponge show to include four more radio stations covering the cities of Miami, Orlando, Ft. Myers and Richmond.
In December 2008, Bubba extended his contract with Sirius/XM for another 2 years. The contract consists of a rebroadcast of his terrestrial morning show, in addition to a satellite only show Friday mornings. He also can do a show on Howard 101 on Monday nights at 7 PM ET, but this special show hasn't aired in several months.
In January 2009, Cox Radio stations WHDR-FM Miami (93 Rock), WHTQ-FM Orlando (96.5), WZLR Dayton, Ohio (95.3) and WDYL Richmond (Y101), along with Beasley Broadcast Group station WRXK-FM Ft. Myers (96 K-Rock), also began broadcasting the Bubba the Love Sponge Show. Bubba's show is broadcast live each day with a 60-second delay from Bubba’s custom, multimedia studio in Tampa.
On January 3, 2010, Bubba announced via his Twitter account that he had signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a backstage interviewer.[5][6] He made his debut the following day on the special live, three-hour, Monday night edition of TNA Impact!, participating in four short backstage segments.[7] Bubba's performance was universally panned[citation needed], with many fans feeling that Bubba was only given his position due to his closeness to Hulk Hogan[citation needed], who made his TNA debut on the same night.
On January 16, 2010, Bubba made crude remarks on his twitter account regarding Haiti's struggle to recover from the January 12 earthquake. Although he later apologized for his remarks, which he still claimed were truthful, they caused a riff between him and TNA management and for a while he was not used by the company.[8][9][10]
On January 19, 2010, Bubba claimed that he had been attacked by Awesome Kong while backstage for the tapings of TNA Impact! the previous day. It is believed that this altercation was due to the comments made by Bubba the Love Sponge concerning the Haiti relief project.[11][12]
References
- ^ [1]Pinellas County Consolidated Justice Information System
- ^ FCC Issues Steep Indecency Fines, Proposes $755K 'Bubba The Love Sponge' Radio Show - CBS News
- ^ Jacksonville.com
- ^ Saghir, Ryan (May 5, 2008). "Bubba The Love Sponge regains #1 spot in Tampa Bay" (Original). Orbitcast (Online: Orbitcast). http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/bubba-the-love-sponge-regains-1-spot-in-tampa-bay.html. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
- ^ Clem, Todd (2010-01-03). "watch spiketv(Monday)8pm est 4hulks return 2wrestling I'm the new backstage guy think I'm on a total of 4x Please tell everybody u know.". Twitter. http://twitter.com/BTLSRadio/status/7355432282. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2010-01-04). "New backstage interviewer for TNA". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1262622463.php?style=dark. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- ^ Keller, Wade (2010-01-04). "KELLER'S TNA IMPACT LIVE REPORT 1/4: Jeff Hardy, NWO reunion, Hulk Hogan, TNA Knockout Title match, more surprises - ongoing coverage". PWTorch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/TV_Reports_9/article_37861.shtml. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- ^ Scherer, Dave (2010-01-16). "Bubba the Love Sponge not in line with TNA's position to help the earthquake victims in Haiti". PWInsider. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/44368/bubba-the-love-sponge-not-in-line-with-tnas-position-to-help-the-earthquake-victims-in-haiti.html?p=1. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ^ Scherer, Dave (2010-01-18). "TNA personality told he's not needed in production meeting, leaves TV". PWInsider. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/44399/tna-personality-told-hes-not-needed-in-production-meeting-leaves-tv.html?p=1. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ^ Johnson, Mike (2010-01-18). "Bubba the Love Sponge apologizes for comments about Haiti". PWInsider. http://pwinsider.com/article/44408/bubba-the-love-sponge-apologizes-for-comments-about-haiti.html?p=1. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ^ "Kong sent home by TNA after fight last night". Wrestling Observer. 2010-01-19. http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/12009/. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ^ "Awesome Kong Punches Bubba the Love Sponge?". Diva-Dirt. 2010-01-19. http://www.diva-dirt.com/2010/01/19/awesome-kong-punches-bubba-the-love-sponge/. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
External links
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