Tampa Radio: Tough Times For Bubba The Love Sponge

Bubba Clem

He made a fortune in broadcasting, but today Budda The Love Sponge is broke...and down on his luck.  He tells The Tampa Times,  “There’s really nothing you can say to take me down further than I already am.”

How far down is he?  Consider:

• He doesn't have a major radio outlet in the Tampa market. He's on a low-powered translator, 98.3 FM and an AM station. A member of Bubba's on-air Army says 'We've we’ve pretty much burned through all the major radio companies in this town.”
• In a interview with Howard Stern on SiriusXM this summer , Bubba admitted he's no longer living in his 65000 square foot home. He's living in a mobile home. He may soon lose the house to the bank.
• Records show he owes $47,000 in past due property taxes, and owed close to $200,000 to the IRS as of August 2018.
• He tried an auction in September starting at $900,000, but got no bids.
• Bubba had to give away his 10-year-old rescue pitbull, Peaches, saying he could not afford her specialized veterinary care.
• He's behind in bills...his water was turned off recently and he had to borrow money to get it back-on.
• As for the $1M lawsuit for ratings tampering. He and Nielsen reached a confidential settlement in late July. He’s since hemorrhaged stations, losing Ocala, Orlando and Reno, Nev. in the past year, then Fort Myers and Fort Walton Beach over the summer.

Bubba says he takes responsibility for the Nielsen ratings scandal and role in the Hulk Hogan sex tape.  Bubba says he’s just going to put his head down and keep doing “the best show ever heard in this town.”



Bubba says "I’m to Tampa what Howard is to New York and the Grease Man is to D.C. ... And whether I get a chance to get it back will be determined.”

Crosstown rival Mike Calta originally said he’d like to comment for the Tampa Times story but changed his mind when shown some of Bubba’s comments.

“The more I see this I realize what a psychotic, narcissistic fool he is, and I don’t want to have anything to do with him,” Calta wrote in an email. ...”It’s coming from a fraudulent, backstabbing, irrelevant hack.”