The Craziest Talk Radio Scandal You’ve NEVER Heard About

Somewhere in the Tampa Bay area is a man named Brent H. I’d like to use his last name because he’s been a (quasi ) public figure for a long time, and frankly, he deserves the recognition. But I definitely really n’t: I think he left radio to pursue other passions, and I want to respect his decision.

But Brent H. has some jaw-dropping tales to tell, because he was a developer and on-air skills for two of the funniest, weirdest, most questionable displays in the background of talk-radio,” The Howard Stern Show” and” Bubba the Love Sponge”.

Stern, of sure, is significantly more popular. Love him or hate him ( and lately, it’s more the latter than the original ), but if you’re older than 40, you’ve heard of him. Bubba is more hit-or-miss: If you lived outside his tv industry, he was largely unknown. ( He did gain some national attention on Sirius, but the company never really put any effort into promoting him. ) According to Bubba, he left Sirius after he was asked to take an 80 % pay cut. )

But if you lived in Bubba’s industry, he was great. ( Literally and figuratively: At his heaviest, Bubba claims he hit 488 .) He hosted the# 1 day program in Tampa Bay. He dominated another areas, mainly in Florida and throughout the South.

Anyhow, after leaving” The Howard Stern Show” a few years ago, Brent attempted to launch an online display of his own before, strangely, trying to make adult movies. When I heard about this, I thought it was strange: I do n’t know Brent ( other than being connected on Linked In ) and I’ve only booked one celeb on Bubba’s show ( the late, great comedian Richard Lewis ), so my run-ins were limited. However, I recall that Brent’s best course of action would have been to liquidity his “insider information” and radio repute to create a podcast similar to” Dark Side of Talk Radio.” &nbsp,

It would n’t have to be anything too elaborate: Just something with him and a few guests, where they recount the craziest, most insane scandals in the history of their medium. Done right, I’ll bet it’d find great quantities.

The radio conflict between Todd” MJ” Schnitt and Bubba the Love Sponge is, in my opinion, the craziest incident in the record of talk radio. Buckle off, boys and girls: This person’s a monster! &nbsp,

Radio war— and the whole” shock jock” genre — are then passé. It’s no more amusing or daring to speak DJs push the boundaries of good taste or smack the FCC in the snazzy. Because millions of Internet performers push these boundaries even further, it’s pointless ( and boring ). Radio ca n’t compete with the one-two punch of the Wild West of podcasting, plus unlimited, FCC-free content.

Before, the DJ’s technical problem was the restricted number of media platforms, but listening to a network set the creation fire was kind of interesting: It took moxie. But then, the issue is an abundance of websites. This is a large part of the reason why liberals and conservatives shifted their views on free conversation. As a result, these radio shenanigans do n’t land the same.

However, radio battles were once a cherished component of the talk radio rulebook: A shock jock would enter a new business to see which DJ was# 1 and attempt to fight with the most successful person. Obviously, the# 1 DJ was advised to dismiss lower-ranked shows and only focus on his own performance. And that’s what he’d generally would.

At least at first.

The impact jocks would, in effect, push the envelope even further because of the DJ’s first silence. And in the era of this thing, no subject was off limitations: parents, wives, deceased relatives, children, personal tragedies, etc. were all exploited. And they got quite dark: When Howard Stern entered the Philadelphia business, he soon targeted John DeBella, the top-rated Philly number. &nbsp,

Harsh exploited DeBella’s parting from his partner, Annette, and really aired a “dial-a-date” section where a serial-harasser of DeBella’s present went on a day with DeBella’s wife. Soon after a suspected suicide, Annette died of carbon monoxide poisoning in her door.

In the Tampa Bay industry, Todd Schnitt and Bubba were vying for the top position. Schnitt used the name” MJ” for his morning show and his real name for his afternoon talk-show, which also did quite well: In 2002, when Glenn Beck’s show left 970 WFLA ( Tampa’s top-rated new-talk station )” The Schnitt Show” took its spot. He jumped around a dozen different channels, but his present lasted until 2023 — an impressive, two-decade work.

So that’s the landscape:” MJ” was doing very well in Tampa and hit# 1, Bubba had him in his shock jock places, and the name-calling quickly escalated. Finally, Schnitt had enough and sued Bubba for libel.

The responses in question included comments about Schnitt and his wife, who was a former assistant state lawyer. For the purposes of this story, those remarks are n’t important. Because of what transpired following, it is something you only see in films.

Schnitt’s lawyer, Phil Cambell, had a reputation for enjoying ( ahem ) adult beverages. Malio’s restaurant and club was one of his favourite haunts. So after battling Bubba’s lawyers in the courthouse, Campbell went to Malio’s to unwind and relax (adult-speak for “drink booze” ).

A gorgeous young woman named Melissa Personius was present at the club. Lo and behold, Melissa and Campbell are hitting it off! She seems to really, truly like him!

He was 64, she was 30. The waiter claimed that Campbell said,” I’ve always had a girl get me coffee before,” when she gave him a chance of Southern Comfort.

( Is your Spidey Sense feeling tingling right now? )

After a few more flirtatious ( and drinking ), Melissa batted her eyes and inquired if Campbell could move her car because she was feeling a little tipsy. Campbell initially advised her to get a cab, but she finally agreed to assist.

So he opened her car and threw his backpack in. Finally he got into the driver’s side and turned the fire.

Soon, the blue-red signals of Tampa Police Sgt. Ray Fernandez’s police vehicles flashed: He was waiting there all along!

Campbell was detained for a DUI. He was taken away and forced to leave his constitutional paperwork in Melissa’s vehicle.

Turns out, Personius was a professional in Stephen Diaco’s law company! And Diaco was Bubba the Love Sponge’s attorney! &nbsp, ( But Diaco pinky-swore to the judge that they NEVER peeked inside Campbell’s backpack and immediately returned it. Hey, no harm, no foul! )

What a zany accident. But we still have one more to go: Bubba’s different lawyer, Adam Filthaut, was home friends with Tampa Police Sgt. Ray Fernandez! &nbsp,

In a nutshell, attorneys Adam Filthaut and Stephen Diaco were entirely barred from practice due to their DUI scheme. Campbell’s DUI imprisonment was thrown out. Cpl. Ray Fernandez was fired. Todd Schnitt lost his petition for defamation, jumped through more legitimate heuristics, and settled with Bubba for an undisclosed sum.

It’s the craziest television account I’ve always heard. If it did n’t actually happen, nobody&nbsp, would ever believe it. &nbsp,

People like Brent might one day show it.

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