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 probably shouldn’t: I think he left radio to pursue other interests, and I want to respect his decision.
But Brent H. has some jaw-dropping tales to tell, because he was a producer and on-air talent for two of the craziest, lewdest, most controversial shows in the history of talk-radio, “The Howard Stern Show” and “Bubba the Love Sponge.”
Stern, of course, is considerably more famous. Love him or hate him (and lately, it’s more the latter than the former), but if you’re older than 40, you’ve heard of him. Bubba is more hit-or-miss: If you lived outside his radio market, he was mostly unknown. (He did gain a degree of national exposure on Sirius, but the company never really invested in 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 market, he was huge. (Literally and figuratively: At his heaviest, Bubba claims he hit 488.) He had the #1 morning show in Tampa Bay. He dominated other markets, mostly in Florida and throughout the South.
Anyway, after exiting “The Howard Stern Show” several years ago, Brent tried launching an online show of his own before inexplicably attempting adult cinema. When I heard about this, I thought it was strange: I don’t know Brent (other than being connected on LinkedIn) and I’ve only booked one celeb on Bubba’s show (the late, great comedian Richard Lewis), so my run-ins were limited. But I remember thinking that the smartest move for Brent would’ve been to leverage his “insider knowledge” and radio credibility to launch a “Dark Side of Talk Radio” kinda podcast.
It wouldn’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 get great numbers.
And for my money, the craziest scandal in the history of talk radio is the radio war between Bubba the Love Sponge and Todd “MJ” Schnitt. Buckle up, boys and girls: This one’s a doozy!
Radio wars — and the entire “shock jock” genre — are now passé. It’s no longer cute or daring to hear DJs push the limits of good taste or give the FCC the middle finger. It’s pointless (and boring) because millions of Internet performers are pushing these limits exponentially further. Radio can’t compete with the one-two punch of the Wild West of podcasting, plus unlimited, FCC-free content.
Before, the DJ’s vocational challenge was the limited number of media platforms, so listening to a host set the establishment ablaze was kind of entertaining: It took moxie. But now, the issue is an overabundance of platforms. (This is part of the reason why liberals and conservatives flipped positions on free speech.) As a result, these radio shenanigans don’t land the same.
But radio wars used to be a time-honored part of the talk radio playbook: A shock jock would roll into a new market, see which DJ was #1, and try to feud with the top guy. Naturally, the #1 DJ was advised to ignore lower-ranked shows and just concentrate on his own performance. And that’s what he’d usually do.
At least at first.
You see, the DJ’s initial silence would incentivize the shock jocks to push the envelope even farther! And in the heyday of this stuff, no topic was off limits: parents, wives, dead relatives, children, personal tragedies, etc. were all exploited. And they got very dark: When Howard Stern entered the Philadelphia market, he immediately targeted John DeBella, the top-rated Philly host.
Stern exploited DeBella’s separation from his wife, Annette, and actually aired a “dial-a-date” segment where a serial-harasser of DeBella’s show went on a date with DeBella’s wife. Annette died of carbon monoxide poisoning in her garage shortly thereafter of a suspected suicide.
Todd Schnitt and Bubba were battling for the top spot in the Tampa Bay market. 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 few different stations, but his show lasted until 2023 — an impressive, two-decade run.
So that’s the backdrop: “MJ” was doing very well in Tampa and hit #1, Bubba had him in his shock jock sights, and the name-calling quickly escalated. Eventually, Schnitt had enough and sued Bubba for defamation.
The comments in question included remarks about Schnitt and his wife, who was a former assistant state attorney. For the purposes of this story, those remarks aren’t important. Because what happened next is the kind of stuff you only see in the movies.
Schnitt’s lawyer, Phil Cambell, had a reputation for enjoying (ahem) adult beverages. Malio’s steakhouse and bar was one of his favorite haunts. So after battling Bubba’s lawyers in the courthouse, Campbell went to Malio’s to unwind and relax (adult-speak for “drink booze”).
At the bar was a pretty young lady named Melissa Personius. Lo and behold, Melissa and Campbell are hitting it off! She seems to really, really like him!
He was 64; she was 30. When she ordered him a shot of Southern Comfort, the bartender testified that Campbell said, “I’ve never had a girl buy me drinks before.”
(Is your Spidey Sense tingling yet?)
After some more flirting (and drinking), Melissa batted her eyes and asked if Campbell could move her car since she was feeling a little tipsy. Campbell advised her to take a cab but eventually agreed to help.
So he went to her car — with his briefcase — and placed it inside her vehicle. Then he got into the driver’s side and turned the ignition.
Immediately, the blue-red lights of Tampa Police Sgt. Ray Fernandez’s patrol car flashed: He was waiting there all along!
Campbell was arrested for a DUI. He was taken away and forced to leave his legal briefcase in Melissa’s car!
Turns out, Personius was a paralegal in Stephen Diaco’s law firm! And Diaco was Bubba the Love Sponge’s lawyer! (But Diaco pinky-swore to the judge that they NEVER peeked inside Campbell’s briefcase and promptly returned it. Hey, no harm, no foul!)
What a wacky coincidence. But we still have one more to go: Bubba’s other attorney, Adam Filthaut, was family friends with Tampa Police Sgt. Ray Fernandez!
Long story short: Attorneys Adam Filthaut and Stephen Diaco were permanently disbarred for their DUI scheme. Campbell’s DUI arrest was thrown out. Sgt. Ray Fernandez was fired. Todd Schnitt lost his defamation lawsuit, jumped through more legal hoops, and eventually settled with Bubba for an undisclosed amount.
It’s the craziest radio story I’ve ever heard. If it didn’t actually happen, nobody would ever believe it.
Maybe one day, someone like Brent will tell it.
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