Bubba The Love Sponge And Sirius XM May Agree To Terms After All
It what can only be described as a soap opera gone wild, Sirius XM Radio and Bubba The Love Sponge may still have a sparkle of life in a new deal that would keep the shock jock on satellite radio. SiriusBuzz learned this morning through an announcement on the Howard Stern Show that the King of All Media intends to discuss the issue with management as soon as possible. Bubba The Love Sponge could be back on Sirius XM with a schedule that would match the current one day per week exclusive broadcast, but the radio shock jock and his staff are free to pursue other ventures as well, including unique programming for Internet Radio start-up RadioIO.
SiriusBuzz reported here on New Years Eve that it appeared that the Bubba and Sirius XM negotiations had reached an impasse and that a frustrated Bubba began telling fans to cancel their subscriptions. Over the weekend I reached out to Brent Hatley from the show at his home to see where the dust was settling, and to let him know that I would like to do a piece on whatever their next ventures were. Hatley indicated that there was a slight chance that the Sirius XM deal may be resurrected, but that he was not really sure. He also indicated that he would be programming a few of his own channels on RadioIO, a project he is excited about.
For right now Bubba is indeed off the air at Sirius XM. His usual programming slot will be filled by Mamory Lane for the time being.
Bubba The Love Sponge has been a staple on Sirius XM’s Howard Stern channels since even before Stern arrived at the satellite radio provider. Over the years he has gone from exclusive to satellite to shared deals with terrestrial radio. At times I have been very critical of Bubba’s on air negotiations, and while there are passionate fans that support his every move, there are many fans who do not like the way Bubba tends to burn bridges. He is a very reactionary person, and sometimes would be better served to take pause before lashing out.
I still stand behind my statements that Bubba, while very talented, is taking things too far. His show sometimes becomes a drama-fest, which can have listeners tuning away from the show rather than tuning in. In fairness I can understand some of Bubba’s frustration, but in all honesty, he is not the only shock jock available to fans and that works against him in negotiations. By contrast deals with personalities like Martha Stewart give exclusivity and cache with a demographic Sirius XM would like to see grow. So while Martha does make a good payday, she is offering something Bubba can’t. He simply is not the number one shock jock, and only the number one scores a big payday. Howard still carries that torch. It is the economics and reality of the situation.
On his terrestrial radio show today Bubba read the article from SiriusBuzz that was critical of him, and even encouraged his fans to do a little Twitter harassment. I understand his frustration with my opinion, but if nothing else Bubba knows I am a fair person, which is why I had reached out to the show over the weekend to get additional details on the RadioIO deal, and spoke to Brent as recently as an hour before this piece published.
The official launch of the Bubba channel on RadiIO will happen on January 10th and will feature a main channel as well as “sub-channels” for Brent, Manson, Ned, and Spice. These sub-channels will feature music, talk, and other programming that the team is excited about. Details of these RadioIO channels will be available Wednesday January 5th. Listeners will be able to stream the Bubba Show each day from 10:30 AM to 12:30 Eastern with the RadioIO service. The show will be available for free until March of 2011. Additional details will be made available during the course of the week.
While a satellite radio deal is still up in the air, it has been confirmed that the door for negotiations remains open and that the team would love to remain a part of the Sirius XM family. I can only hope they will try to keep the level of negotiations on a higher tier and stop with the canceling and slamming of Sirius XM.
More details to follow.
Position – Long Sirius XM Radio
It wasn’t enough they couldn’t come to terms. He likes to buen bridges. Once he told people to cancel their subs even for Sterns show,I would’ve been done with him.
Stern was a supporter and he was even willing to stab him in the back by telling Sterns fans to cancel.
Does Sirius really NEED to put up with this guy?
I am going to cancel. Management doesn’t care about what their customers want
Cancelled mine this morning. Over 100 refund coming. Just need to find the best subscription for Bubba at RadioIO.
Pay Bubba…
I hope so. Canceled my Sirius today because of no Bubba. Told the girl if he comes back i will as well.
First off, I love the whining and other content on the show, that is “real”, who gives a crap about boring ass semi celebrity guests?? The content that is gold are the “real” discussions on the show, the same goes for Howard, I get bored listening to supposedly hot women talk about their C**ty lives, I want to hear what the people on the show think and say on a daily basis because that is what is most real. Sirius is just another big stupid company that does not give a crap about their employees unless they have a name. Celebrities mean nothing to me and I want the show to be filled with as little interviews as possible because the interesting parts of both Howard and Bubba’s shows are when callers call in with interesting stories and we hear what those guys think and then make fun of them. That is what I want to hear, not some lame ass bi*ch that is only interested in doing the next guy to climb the ladder. I think that Sirius has treated Bubba like crap and he shouldn’t have to take it, we all have our value in society and we all need to grow up, we all have the right to be treated fairly which is something this world has lost long ago, not the way big business and government treat us, they can suck a co*k for all I care, they do not spend one second thinking about anyone but their rich selves. Down with corporation and give me more “real” content to listen to!
If he did tell people to cancel sirius then that is his opinion, the fact that people run out and do whatever other people tell them is on that person, not Bubba, we all need to take responsibility for our actions, not blame anyone and everyone else but ourselves. The fact is, he was hurt because sirius wouldn’t come to terms with him after all those years of service. He should be mad at them. Plus the fact that they didn’t even call him until the very last minute is messed up, if my job was ending in one month and my boss has said zero to me about staying on, I would spend the next month looking for a new job. Way to go on treating your employees sirius, just another company that doesn’t give a crap about anything other than making money.
One other thing, to be honest, I think this radioio gig is better for the show than sirius because radioio wants it to succeed and they have done a good job setting it up so far, I like the replays, the bits and best of stuff is interesting since we never heard that before unless you lived in fl. So what if they modeled it after Howard’s channels, it is a good model and I am sure that he has no problem giving Howard credit. Either way, I think that this is a bigger deal for them than any sirius deal, but as always to be realistic, they hopefully will get a deal with sirius again which will help promote as well. I think the radioio thing is a good thing and they are treating the show good by giving them a bunch of channels to program in addition to the show. This is how a company should support their employees, not brush them off and hope they go away.
First off I love Bubba. I listened to his show everyday. I am a truckdriver and his show made the miles go by a little faster. BUT I am not gonna cancel Sirius because of Bubba. For a man who complains about money, he has purchased an airplane, half owner of a night club, doesn’t seem to have any problems financing his sons race team. And lets not forget that if he worked for more than 6 or 7 months of the year maybe Sirius would be likely to cut a deal. I mean come on the man took the whole month of July off. Plus every other week was a replay of something from a couple of years ago. I agree with the writer of this article. Bubba has claimed his devotion to Howard Stern (FYI I am not a Stern fan), but jumps up and tells people to cancel their subs. Which does effect Howards Ratings. I first heard Bubba about 9yrs ago when I was delivering in Tampa. Loved the show and as soon as I heard he was on Sirius I went and got Sirius for my truck. Thankyou Bubba, but I am not gonna give up the money I paid for a Lifetime sub with sirius and go spend my hard earned money on Radioio. Anyway who know if that will last?
Bubba is done, Now that he has insulted some of Sirius’s big Hollywood stars and made users cancel subscriptions, I dont see him ever coming back
He is just a BIG CRY BABY…wah your not paying me enough..wah oprah gets paid more…wah eminem makes too much money at sirius..wah opie and anthony are still on how come i’m not…wah…wah..wah
I WILL CANCEL SIRIUS XM IF BUBBA DOESN’T GET RENEWED…I GOT TWO SUBSCRIPTIONS.
I already cancelled my subscription to the once SIRIUS satellite radio!! BRING BACK BUBBA !!
Bubba leaving Sirius was the best choice. Now I get 7 channels of btls content and don’t have to sit through “the history of Howard”, every other month. Luv Howard, but now I get to choose what to listen to when there on vacation ( wish Howard left too ).
Six year’s, three sub’s………………..done
Screw off Kenny. You don’t know the crap that’s been going down behind the scene. Keep on listening to a satellite service that keeps giving you less for your money all the time. The music channels now typically repeat songs every 5 or 6 hours. Never used to be that way. Sound quality is still crap and will always be way overcompressed. The talk content will soon be available on most any streaming radio. The music quality on streaming radio is far superior to Sirius.
Bubba is second only to Howard, He should get paid more then oprah, martha, eminem, maddog and fox.
I guarentee he has more listeners then any 3 of them combined.
Besides the rock stations the only thing worth buying Sirius for is Howard, Bubba, and the NFL.
loseing one of those three is gonna hurt the company. Whoever is in charge better wake up. At the price we pay theres no excuse not to have the best. Get rid of the crap and pay that money to keep the guys that the listeners want. Its that easy.
BRING BACK BUBBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
His show is the same old shit anyways. Im glad stern renewed. Bubba is good to a point. The problem is a lot of people really dont care for him. Sorry but its the truth. More people listen to opie and anthony replays than bubbas only live show on friday. Im a die hard stern fan, and will be. When stern retires, i will still stay with sirius. They have so much to offer. Internet radio will NEVER be as good as sirius. What happens when you dont have internet service in a town, no show for you. Internet radio is just a fad. It will never be as big or better than Sirius.
Pay Bubba so I dont have to cancel
bring bubba back
bring bubba back i will cancel sirius if they dont come to terms.
bring back bubba f.t.e
Whether he burned the bridge with Sirius or not, I have no use for Sirius anymore. I never listened to Howard and the music and comedy channels are boring with the same loops repeating over time. I have more variety in my own library. Sirius is spending way too much on hoping people will buy-in for Martha Stewart (convicted criminal) and Oprah (who has her own OWN network now), etc. So, forget it – I will load up an i-Pod with Bubba from radioio, music and comedy bits from i-Tunes and Sirius can fade away due to their poor management decisions. Buh bye!
come on be sirius bubba has a great show been avid stern fan for year but your doing your fan wrong by not keeping bubba at any price come on talent costs money loyalty is priceless bubba has shown his worth i come stand with sirius doing there talent like this i/m out hoping they see the light
come on be sirius bubba has a great show been avvid stern fan for years but your doing your fans wrong by not keeping bubba at any price come on talent costs money loyalty is priceless bubba has shown his worth i can/t stand with sirius doing there talent like this i/m out hoping they see the light
Anyone know what he wants to get paid to where SiriusXm are offering?
Bubba sucks. This RadioIO thing will fail just like they failed in Miami. His reach is NOT as far as he thinks as was witnessed in the 2010 elections in Florida where “his boy” Charlie Crist was destroyed.
Anybody wanna bet that his subscription rate for RadioIO will be laughable? Seriously, think about it…he had trouble selling out venues that sat 2,500 people for his traveling shows.
I wanna see the numbers after March. LOL.
F Bubba and his Army and the political hack Brent Hatley.
And whatever happened to his so-called TV show in Chicago?
FAIL!
Put Bubba back on !! satellite radio!!
Sapien calls himself a programmer first of all u pay millions to martha who brings zero people to sirius u also pay millions to mm who does nothing 4 his channel then u pay 3 million to maddog when u already have the best guy n ferrall and now u want 2 pay him shit just like u did 2 bubba stop wasting money and pay the right people like bubba and ferrall u dumbass sapien
I just resubscribed after leaving for a short period. The first thing I did was tune to Howard 101 to listen to Bubba. I heard some old recycled Howard garbage. I will disconnect permanently if Bubba is not back by the end of February.
Are you insane? Martha Stewart does nothing for Sirius. Nor does Oprha, Jamie Fox and a number of others. Review the numbers, Bubba was the number two show on Sirius right behind Howard. The others are so far behind you could shut them off and only a few would even know they were gone!