Glitch gives private chat a public airing

By PAMELA DAVIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 14, 2000

Listeners got more than music when they tuned into WTBT-FM 103.5 (Thunder) early Thursday morning.

Because of what seems to be a technical mistake, WTBT aired portions of a private -- very private -- telephone conversation.

On the air, after 1 a.m. and while music was playing, a female voice discussed sex and relationship troubles with an unknown and unheard person on the other end of the phone. The chat was off the air by 1:30 a.m.

WTBT said a phone feed somehow got mixed in with the station's signal.

"It obviously was a technical issue," said WTBT program director Ted Cannarozzi.

Oblivious to being on air, the female speaker used a barrage of curse words. She also talked about a May court date and a child custody fight.

A few listeners called WTBT's morning show on Thursday asking about what they had heard hours before. Unaware of what aired earlier, morning show personality Ron Diaz thought the first caller had received some sort of interference. But, after taking several more calls on the same subject, Diaz realized the conversation had actually aired on WTBT.

"We're trying to track it down," Cannarozzi said. "We're in a building with so many other stations there could have been a cross of wires someplace. It might be that somebody was in a production studio, took a phone call and a patch cord was in."

It's not clear why, but morning show producer and Bubba the Love Sponge sidekick Mike Calta (a.k.a. Cowhead) has been suspended.

Brad Hardin, WXTB's operations manager, said that Calta is now on administrative leave.

"I haven't met with Cowhead and would rather not comment until he and I and Bubba can sit down and figure out what we're going to do," Hardin said. He plans to discuss the matter with Bubba and Calta on Monday.

WXTB's morning show is in "best of" mode today, because Bubba's on vacation. A live show will air Monday.

After four years as program director of public radio station WUSF-FM 89.7, Susan Johnson is leaving to become program director of the new Classical Public Radio Network, a music partnership between KUSC in Los Angeles and KCFR in Denver.

WUSF afternoon concert host Russell Gant is now the interim program director. Gant has been at the station for 17 years.

The station also recently lost its operations manager, Brian McCabe, who's moving to Paris to study French at the Alliance Francaise. McCabe was at WUSF for 10 years. Curtis Hayes, McCabe's assistant, will be the station's interim operations manager.

What started out as lighthearted banter on Rush Limbaugh's radio show has turned into a serious campaign to join the broadcast team of ABC's Monday Night Football.

"This is not a PR stunt. It is real. This is something he is interested in," said Kit Carson, Limbaugh's chief of staff.

Limbaugh would undoubtedly bring many of his radio listeners to the TV set. Before getting into radio, Limbaugh handled public relations for the Kansas City Royals.

Limbaugh says he would keep his conservative opinions quiet.

"I won't use Monday Night Football as a platform for my political views," Limbaugh told USA Today. "That's crazy. This is entertainment."

Locally, Limbaugh's talk show airs from noon to 3 p.m. on WFLA-AM 970.

- Times staff writer Pete Young contributed to this report, which includes information from the Associated Press.