Tampa Radio: Cox Fires Two Talkers At The Bone

Matt 'Spice' Lloyd

Cox Radio has fired two longtime personalities from the “hot talk” station WHPT-FM 102.5 The Bone, including one host who seemingly has a tense relationship with one of the station’s biggest stars, shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.

According to Eric Deggans at Tampa Bay Times, Matt “Spice” Loyd, who hosted The Spice Show on WHPT weeknights at 7 p.m. and once worked as a member of Clem’s radio team, was let go Monday, along with Chris Fisher, known mostly to fans by his last name.

Fisher blamed economics for his departure, saying he knew Cox Radio wouldn’t pay a full salary to have him host his show, The Fisher Experiment, from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. weekdays.

BTW, the reason is "budget cuts". As for ratings, last quarter I was #1 in my demo & time slot. Anyways, lets get drunk...
— The Spice Show (@SpiceShow) August 27, 2013

Looking over the severance package.... ; )
— The Spice Show (@SpiceShow) August 27, 2013

Chris Fisher

“I knew overnights were just a placeholder until they could figure out what to do with me,” said Fisher, 41, who added this was his fourth firing in a career which included stations in Tallahassee, Orlando and Daytona. “It wasn’t about performance...I just realized this is part of the business.”

Loyd posted on Twitter Monday that “budget cuts” were also the reason he was given for the change. His show debuted last year when the station converted to a male-oriented, music-less hot talk format which seemed to have worked in the ratings.

Read More Now.