Tampa Radio: Bubba's Back, This Time on N/t WWBA

WWBA  820 AM has announced that it has signed an agreement to air the Bubba the Love Sponge® Show starting February 13, 2017.

Bubba Clem

The agreement will make WWBA the new “Flag Ship Station” for Bubba, returning the nationally syndicated and extremely popular radio program back to the Tampa airwaves for the Bubba Army to listen on 820’s 50,000 watt signal.

The show will air live during its traditional morning drive time slot between 6am and 10am.

The Bubba the Love Sponge® Show is nationally known for its everyman approach to various radio topics including celebrity interviews, sports, politics, and news of the day humor. The shows assortment of on-air personalities and its loyal listeners known as the “Bubba Army” not only support the show, but also support various charities within the region. During the course of the shows existence it has held numerous fundraising events through The Bubba the Love Sponge® Foundation that is primarily focused on providing aide to the families of first responders and law enforcement that are killed in the line of duty. Total aide to date is approaching $1,000,000.

“We are extremely excited to enter into a partnership with the Bubba the Love Sponge® Show,” said Tom Paleveda, Program Manager of WWBA – AM820. “The show has an incredibly engaged audience across West Central Florida and we felt we could serve that audience exceptionally well with our distribution platform. We have assurances that Bubba will do his best to be a good boy while providing his unique brand of content.”

WWBA is is licensed as part of the Tampa Bay radio market and airs news and talk-show programming. WWBA, which is known as "820 News" on air, is owned by Genesis Communications.

WWBA 820 AM (50 Kw-D, 1 Kw-N, DA-2)

Clem has been at the center of several controversies in recent years. according to tampabay.com.

In 2001, Clem was charged with animal cruelty after the castration and slaughter of a pig on air. He was later acquitted. Three years later, he lost his job at Clear Channel after racking up $755,000 in fines for indecent behavior from the Federal Communications Commission.

In 2006, he recorded a video of Hulk Hogan having sex with Clem's wife, a tape that was later leaked to the Gawker website. Hogan and Clem settled a lawsuit out of court. In 2013, Clem won a high-profile defamation suit against a rival radio personality Todd Schnitt.

In January, Beasley Broadcast Group's WBRN-FM 98.7 said it would no longer broadcast radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem's show in Tampa Bay following a ratings-tampering lawsuit filed against him by Nielsen, which is claiming $1 million in damages. Clem admitted to the ratings tampering charges at a news conference last year.