Radio personality Bubba The Love Sponge recently had a very public contract negotiation with Sirius XM satellite radio. The show appears on Sirius channel 101 Monday through Thursday from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm, and Fridays from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Unhappy with the amount of money Sirius was paying him, Bubba returned to terrestrial morning radio in the Tampa area last January. He would do the morning show until 11:00 am and then do his afternoon Sirius show at 3:00 pm.
For weeks Bubba talked about his difficulties brokering a new deal with Sirius XM management. His fan’s were calling into Sirius and threatening to cancel if Bubba wasn’t resigned. It looked as though Bubba The Love Sponge wouldn’t be returning to Sirius XM in 2009. Then the day before the holiday break, it was announced that the Bubba The Love Sponge Show would be returning to Sirius XM for two more years.
As it turns out, that was not exactly true. When listeners tuned in this past Monday afternoon, they heard a very different show than what they were used to listening to. What they heard was a taped rebroadcast from Bubba’s Tampa terrestrial morning radio show, not the live uncensored satellite radio show.
To say his fans felt mislead and cheated is an understatement. He was able to develop a rather strong and fervent following on satellite radio. It seemed his style of radio was very well suited for the freedom of satellite radio. All that now appears to be for nothing.
It would have been better if he was just honest with his satellite listeners. He should have come out and told them that his satellite show was being replaced with a rebroadcast of his terrestrial morning radio. Supposedly his Friday 10:00 am to 2:00 pm show will remain live and uncensored and not just a rebroadcast of his terrestrial morning radio show, but I think people will have to wait and see if that turns out to be true.
ed
/ January 12, 2009the bubba army was bamboozled by bubba sirus and mhoward. they all lied to sell radios during christmas.the bubba army has gone from a full blown army to a national guard unit next to a cub scout den.watch the subscribers leave sirus.the feds should go after sirus for fraud.
Rick
/ January 12, 2009@ed: I’m not a huge fan. I only listen when there isn’t anything else to listen to in the afternoon. With that said, his new show is unlistenable.
Richard in L.A.
/ January 17, 2009The Bubba show is now weak and totally lame. I listened to the Sirius (actually I download the show using Bittorrent) show the day he got back it it sounded like any other morning zoo program. It took a few minutes to realize I’d been bamboozled, but the show is no longer edgy and outrageous. The BTLS is now a waste of time.
D-Rok in Canada EH!
/ February 9, 2009AHA Bubba’s a chump. Ned is the only decent part of the show. Opie&Anthony called it for this douche……Fake no talent goof.