It’s been a busy summer full of planning — and signal swaps set to transpire — for JVC Media of Florida, the independently owned radio station owner fronted by John Caracciolo.
Among JVC’s moves is a July 16 agreement that sees it acquire a Class B AM licensed to Altamonte Springs, Fla., and its Oviedo-based FM translator, from Salem Media Group.
Under Salem, these facilities were “The Answer,” offering conservative Talk programming to the 31st-largest radio market.
A big shift in the spoken word programming is on the way, with the voices of Sebastian Gorka and Mike Gallagher replaced by two of Central Florida’s more infamous air personalities — including Bubba The Love Sponge Clem.
JVC Radio on Friday (8/23) confirmed that the syndicated morning show hosted by Clem, along with well-known local “hot talk” personality Shannon Burke, will be the signature hosts on what is being branded “Florida Man Radio.”
This is W288CJ at 105.5 MHz, serving Orlando’s northern suburbs, and WDYZ-AM 660, which enjoys a city-grade signal over Orlando and points north, including Daytona Beach.
The shift from conservative talk to “shock jocks” is set to take place in September. Other air talent named by JVC includes Scott Ledger, and attorney Justin Clark.
However, the biggest move involves Bubba, whose program was dropped in mid-May from WWBA-AM 820 in Tampa, now offering a classic country format. This followed the July 2018 change in direction for WRXK-FM “96 K-Rock” in Fort Myers-Naples, which saw the syndicated program scratched from the “Talk that Rocks” station’s lineup.
As of today, Bubba’s lone terrestrial on-air homes are WYBB-FM “98 Rock” in Charleston, S.C., and a Sports Talker serving Peterborough, Ontario, to the east of Toronto.
Serving as Florida Man Radio’s Director of Programming is Len Shackelford.
“This will be a personality driven talk station focused on Central Florida,” Shackelford says. “There will be no topics off limits, including topics specifically about our on-air staff. Think sports, politics, pop culture … if you talk about it in your life or on social media, Florida Man Radio will talk about it.”
Bubba will take the morning shift, with Scott Ledger’s Dangerous Conversations in middays, Burke in afternoon drive, and Clark’s You Have Power airing in the 6pm hour.
JVC EVP Shane Reeve acknowledges that Bubba and Burke aren’t exactly beloved by all in Central Florida, but certainly adored by a large segment of men. “The great talent and notoriety of our hosts will wake up talk radio in Orlando,” he said. “Florida Man Radio will prove that there can still be creativity and real topics discussed on Orlando radio that affect each and every one of us.”
Caracciolo added, “This is exactly what radio needs right now, fresh, new, funny and local. The vision of a locally based talk station that isn’t afraid to confront the big topics while not taking it too seriously screams the mantra of JVC. We aren’t afraid to buck the norms – keeping live and local radio working for our clients and listeners, providing great results for clients, and continuing to invest in great programming. I’m thrilled for the future of our stations across the country.”
Bubba’s trials and tribulations in Tampa Bay radio have been well documented by the trade press and by local media. One of the more positive news stories to involve the air personality is the July 6, 2018, out-of-court settlement reached with Nielsen regarding ratings tampering.
As part of the settlement, Nielsen says, Clem admitted that prior to the lawsuit he had not previously disclosed all contacts with Nielsen panelists. Clem agreed to make an undisclosed financial payment to Nielsen.
In October 2015, Nielsen went after Mr. Clem directly by filing a $1 million law suit in a Florida civil court over a ratings tampering case that wound its weigh through the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, leading to the out-of-court settlement.
Meanwhile, Burke’s return is sure to get local media talking.
In 2010, after a year away from radio, he took the noon-3pm slot on now-defunct WEUS-AM 810 in Orlando, owned by Carl and Carmine Como. By June 2012, WEUS was gone.
At WEUS, a billboard campaign featuring Burke had generated much controversy. A billboard showing Burke holding a microphone as if it were a gun, with smoke drifting from its tip, accompanied the phrase “Listen or else.” It lasted one day.
Why? Burke placed the blame on Clear Channel Outdoor, as then-sibling Clear Channel Radio fired him two years earlier from Hot Talk WTKS-FM 104.1 “Real Radio” — a station JVC Media will now seek to draw listeners from. Burke took to the airwaves in assailing Clear Channel for not wanting a former employee to use one of the company’s billboards to possibly lure listeners away from one of its own stations.
The Orlando Sentinel had a different take. It noted in its February 2011 report that Burke was dismissed from WTKS in 2009 “after he got drunk and flew into a rage because his dog had sneaked out of the yard. He pulled a handgun, shot his wife’s dog, and the same bullet grazed the side of his wife’s head.”
Burke pleaded no contest to animal cruelty and opening fire in a building and served six months in the Seminole County Jail. He also was ordered into alcohol rehab, to get treatment for bi-polar disorder and to give up his guns.
Upon his release from jail, Burke and his wife separated.
Then, there is Ledger, who began his career in 1986 as the fiery afternoon air personality on Tampa-based WXTB-FM “98 Rock.” He later moved to WTBT-FM “Thunder 101.5,” and from 2006-2009 became a nighttime Sports Talk host on WDAE-AM 620 in Tampa.
Now, it appears a Kickstarter campaign in which more than $10,000 was pledged to get his “Dangerous Conversation” up and running has proven successful.
Via Twitter, Ledger was jubilant. “It’s time to kick some ass on the airwaves,” he wrote. He thanked Burke for suggesting him to JVC management, while confirming that his first day on the air will be September 4. “Words cannot express how stoked I am,” he said.
