Northpinellas: Radio host weighs in where he's unwanted

Last week, City Commissioner Bill Jonson saw Orlando, largely bare, looming above Belcher Road in an unincorporated section of Clearwater across from a post office.

He snapped a picture and Thursday night held up the photo at a City Commission meeting as an example of undesirable business.

"I just don't think it's . . . in keeping with the environment we're looking for in Clearwater," Jonson said.

On Friday, Jonson said the image disgusted him.

"I just saw it and was repulsed by it," he said. "I had never seen or heard of him previously. I guess I missed that piece of culture in the Tampa Bay area."

For Jonson, Orlando represents more visual clutter stemming from the protracted legal battle to remove billboards from the area.

But listeners -- including Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback Shaun King -- have called in with affection for Orlando, whose self-deprecating wit has earned him a following among female listeners who often dial up to flirt.

On Friday, his 31st birthday, Orlando joked that his stripper name would be Pound Cake. In real life, he goes simply by Orlando, with no last name.

WLLD general manager Charlie Ochs questioned the negative response to the billboards, which stand in six locations in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties.

"What is it that's repulsive?" he asked. "Is it that Orlando is large, Orlando is black? He is more covered up than a lot of models on billboards and in magazines."

Orlando said the ad campaign is in keeping with the station's "wild" image.

He merely struck a pose to reflect that.

"It's about having all shapes, sizes, colors coming together under one banner of partying," he said. " 'Freak' for us isn't really a bad word."

But some people aren't laughing.

In Largo, where another billboard towers above Astro Transmission on Seminole Boulevard, just north of Ulmerton Road, owners Jim Caul and Phyllis Stavola used words such as "cheap" and "tacky" to describe it.

"It's disgusting; it's an insult," Stavola said. "If that appeals to them, what kind of freaks are they?"

Stavola does not listen to the show and was not aware of its title.

In Clearwater, Mary Bennett didn't notice Orlando until her 15-year-old son pointed up at the billboard from the parking lot of the post office on Friday afternoon.

"I can't believe he did that," Bennett said, wide-eyed. "Oh, my God."

A regular listener, Bennett said she is used to seeing ads with scantily clad women, not men.

"I didn't think he would bare all," she said, still staring. "I have to give him props (respect) because I can't see myself doing that."

Tipping the scales at 358 pounds and standing 5 feet 11, Orlando knew the billboards, which started appearing two weeks ago, might cause a fuss.

"Before they went up, we told people to drive carefully and not spend too much time looking at it because we didn't want to cause accidents," he said Friday.

Reclining sideways, head propped on one arm with the other stretched across his chest, Orlando posed in front of colleagues Gordie Daniels and Kathy Suzewits. From behind, they can be seen reaching over to dangle the station's logo strategically across his groin.

Orlando said fan reaction has been entirely positive to the idea, which started as an on-air bit.

"I was saying I wanted to start my career as a pinup model," he said. "It was just funny."

About 120 e-mails later, the last 40 of which offered donations, Orlando said his bosses were convinced the idea could work.

He rejects any suggestion that the photo was meant to offend.

"I'm sorry that the guy thinks that looking at me is bad," he said. "It hurts my feelings a little bit, but I'll get over it."

-- Jennifer Farrell can be reached at 445-4160 or farrell@sptimes.com.

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