Up Close With Brent Hatley, Executive Producer, Bubba The Love Sponge Show Howard 101/Sirius

Bubba The Love Sponge’s union with Howard Stern on Sirius Satellite Radio has proven to be a successful venture. And like with any high-powered show, there has to be a person who holds it all together. Meet Brent Hatley, Executive Producer, talk show host, ex-marine and a man who’s not afraid to voice his opinion. Brent offers his thoughts on satellite radio and its future, the show’s strong and quick-witted cast of characters, and the intricacies that keep the show running on all cylinders.

How much pressure, if any, do you get from Howard because you do the show in Tampa? Why Tampa?
We don’t get much pressure from Howard at all.  Howard has always told us: go do what you do, go do a great show.  He likes the show we do.  We communicate a lot more with Tim Sabean a daily basis.  Tim’s probably the best Program Director I’ve ever had.  He really gets it.  The whole staff gets along, which is a first in anywhere that I’ve worked.  We have to do the show in Tampa because of family issues.  Beside myself, mostly everybody else has kids and family.  Bubba’s a single dad who shares custody, which is a real big issue.  That’s why we have to be in Tampa.      

Tell us about the studio. What went into building it, what special features went into the design, and how did that all come about?
Dick Rice, our Chief Engineer, and I started working on the studio in July ’05.  We took an office building and converted it into a studio.  Bubba came in and laid out all the things that he had always wanted as a radio host, but was never allowed to get when he was in terrestrial radio.  We tried to make that happen for him.  So the studio layout is a radio person’s dream.  The only other studio I’ve seen that’s got more stuff that a radio person would like would be Howard’s studio at Sirius.  Our studio is a lot of fun.  It’s dark and it’s got everything from a torture rack to a stripper poll.  There are couches and wireless mics everywhere and guitars hanging on the walls for our acoustic performances.  It’s a studio that’s made for a radio show.         

What are the chief differences between doing the show on satellite radio as opposed to terrestrial radio?
The subject matter -- the things that you’re allowed to speak about.  I have never had anyone at Sirius come to me and tell me I cannot express this opinion or that opinion.  My opinions sometimes are way out of the mainstream and are radical, and not one person, from Tim Sabean all the way up to Mel Karmazin or Howard or anybody has ever told me I can’t express a certain opinion.  In terrestrial radio I was told all the time “you shouldn’t say that… you can’t say this… you can’t talk about that.”  “Your opinion here is too extreme; you need to reel it back in.”  No one has ever told us anything we can or can’t say.  That’s the most refreshing thing.  If you’ve got an idea, if you’ve done some research or you found something you really want to talk about, at Sirius you’re allowed to talk about it.  That’s probably the best thing about Sirius.  It’s the best thing for the listener too.  You don’t want to hear the same mantra, the same drumbeat across the whole country.  At Sirius, you can express a wide variety of opinions because they allow it.        

With satellite, do you feel you can do a better show for your audience?
Absolutely.  The audience gets a better show. They get more of what’s on your mind.  Also, the audience is a lot different than terrestrial radio.  The audience is a lot smarter than they were on terrestrial radio.  On terrestrial radio they just weren’t as up-to-date with current events, politics, world affairs.  They didn’t have as much to add when you went to the phones.  When you go to the phones here at Sirius Satellite Radio, you find a lot of people with a lot of intelligent thoughts and things to add and funny things to say.

Is there a line even on satellite that you can’t cross?
Sure. It’s lines that you come up with for yourself.  Sirius basically doesn’t want you to break the law; the actual law where they call the police.  That’s about it.  Any other lines are discussed.  You have creative show meetings.  Bubba and I have had meetings with Howard and Gary Dell’Abate and I’ve even sat down and talked to Fred Norris quite a bit. The lines are self-imposed, but they’re still pretty gray as to where you’re going to go with things.

Former adversaries, now compadres, Howard and Bubba often do some cross-promoting on the air. Do you and your counterpart Gary Dell’Abate have much interaction?
Sure.  Gary’s great, man!  Gary and I bounce things around, but it’s mostly me bouncing things off of Gary.  I like to talk to Gary a couple of times a week.  Also Will Murray and Jason Kaplan, who work for Howard, are really good.  They’re his segment producers, so I speak with them a lot.  I also speak with Richard Christy quite a bit.  When I’m in New York, I usually try to find at least twenty minutes to sit down and pick Fred’s brain, because he’s just brilliant.  Our two shows, and even Ferrall’s people, we all really, really work well together. It’s the first time I’ve ever been in a situation where everyone genuinely gets along, and that’s because of Howard and Tim’s leadership. 

It gets pretty intense in the studio during the show. Has there been a time where you said to yourself: “What did we just do?”
That happens at least once a week. This is what really makes Bubba great.  He’s still at the point, where I’m someone who’s around him everyday and have been around him since ’96, been on his show since 2000, and he still makes me cringe at least two or three times a week. There are things that Bubba says that still, to this day, make me cringe.  I’ve always used that as a gauge to say: Hey, if he’s making me cringe, then it’s probably pretty compelling for the person on the other end listening.   

Speaking of compelling, on your show you recently had Michael Berg, the father of Nick Berg who was captured and ultimately slain by terrorists. 
It was a really interesting interview.  The really hard thing for me was, I disagreed with quite a bit of what Michael Berg had to say, and I had to find a tactful way to try to make my points. This was really a challenge for me because I could hear the anguish in his voice, and some of the things he was saying about the United States I found not to be true, just from my experience in the military, and my experience of being in the Middle East. Bubba had some really hard questions to ask him.  It just made me cringe and shocked me when he actually asked the question, “Did Michael Berg’s head get returned with the body?” A lot of the listeners e-mailed and said, “Hey, man, you had to ask that question?” Bubba asked the question, which I think he definitely should have, because every listener is sitting there wanting to hear the answer. That was a tough question to ask a father.

Speaking of your military background, you host a show on Sirius called Basic Training.
Yes. It’s a debate between myself and a guy named Richie Hawkins, who’s on one of the Hip-Hop channels on Sirius. Right now it’s a debate about the Iraq war. I’m against it, from being a Marine, from being in the Middle East in the first Gulf War.  I’m absolutely against us being there for a myriad of reasons.  We went in for the wrong reasons, to the  management, to you’re never going to impose democracy on another country that doesn’t want it.  And, I’m opposed to it because we’re treating our soldiers and Marines and sailors and airmen horribly when they come home.  That show really is not a barrel of laughs, but Howard understood that and he said, “Hey, go in there and let’s talk about what’s really going on in Iraq.  I think it’s important that we at least talk about it once a month.”  So we do that once a month.   

The show boasts a great cast of characters from Bubba, to yourself, Manson, Ned, Hamel.  Summarize these guys.
Manson is one of the most talented guys in radio. He’s really weird. He’s a paradox, in the fact that in his personal life he’s a very conservative guy.  I don’t mean politically, but in his personal life. He’s a family man; spends all of his free time with his kids, coaches his kids, and then comes in and comes up with some of the sickest parodies I’ve ever heard, and makes some of the funniest, sickest comments I’ve ever heard on the air. He’s a very, very interesting guy to be around.

Bubba is probably one of the best radio hosts I’ve ever heard as far as keeping a conversation going. The fact is, if you can’t keep Bubba’s interest in a subject, you’re not keeping the listeners’ interest in a subject. He’s funny.  He’s not afraid to make fun of himself, which is really rare among hosts. There’s only a couple I can think of that are willing to do that.  Bubba also allows the staff that works there to make fun of him, which is really strange too.  With Bubba, the great thing I like about him is nothing’s off limits; there’s nothing that’s sacred; there’s nothing he won’t talk about.  Even if he’s mad about something or something makes him uncomfortable, he’ll still allow it to be talked about.  He does a masterful job of just keeping the show running and keeping the audience interested.

Hamel is somebody we met a long time ago.  He used to do this television show in Tampa called The Groove Tube.  Hamel founded VoyeurDorm.com and got really rich from that. He’s eccentric, and comes up with a lot of good bit ideas. Hamel’s just a great guy.

We got Spice Boy back, who’s really fun to have on the air with us.  We get to bust his chops about his love life.  He’s the youngest one of all of us, so we kind of make fun of him for being part of the young culture with the baggy jeans and the piercings and the partying and all that stuff.  Spice is good producer too; he works really hard -- so it’s good to have him.

We have 25 Cent, who is our green room correspondent.  He does a great job of going in and messing with the guests in the green room..

Ned is probably one of the funniest people I’ve ever been around.  He brings this weird, sick (that’s the best word I can use) element to the table.  Ned’s not afraid to say anything.  It’s hard to tell with him what’s real and what isn’t.  We’ve got a new album coming out, and the whole second CD is all Ned bits. His phone calls are phenomenal. That’s my favorite thing about Ned. Something we haven’t played on the new show, that we used to play on the old show, is the Prison Break.  Ned used to call the prisons and speak to the people, and they would just stay on the line for the longest time.  He would call as a concerned citizen and as a taxpayer complaining about a prison break.  Ned’s prison calls are some of my favorite stuff, but we haven’t played any of those yet.  I’ve been trying to get him to do another one when somebody escapes from prison.  Some of those are the funniest ones he’s done.  God, his phoney phone calls are the best.

We have a good crew of characters and you couldn’t make these people up.

You mentioned Clear Channel.  Any thoughts on that?
There are four people at Clear Channel I really, really respect:  Bo Matthews, who just got a promotion in Cleveland. He was our Program Director in Jacksonville.  Great guy, and a very talented programmer.  I’m really glad to see him do well.  Todd Thomas, who is Operations Manager for Clear Channel/Hartford, and a fantastic Program Director.  I think anybody who has him will be lucky.  Mike Olivero, the Promotions Manager for the Tampa cluster, is the best kept secret in radio as far as promotions directors. Michael is awesome. They have a great imaging guy in Tampa, Carl Harris.  I love all those guys. 

The problem with regular radio is they’ve allowed lawyers to become programmers.  I was fortunate enough to work for Clear Channel and for Jacor, and I was fortunate enough to work for Randy Michaels.  Randy Michaels and Mel Karmazin leaving terrestrial radio, those two CEOs right there, Randy from Clear Channel and Mel leaving CBS, is probably the biggest blow to terrestrial radio that could have ever happened.  Those two guys are the only two CEOs in the industry that get it as far as talent goes, as far as content goes, and as far as how important programming is.  Those two guys get it more than anyone else.  Clear Channel getting rid of Randy Michaels was a huge mistake.  They are seeing that now.  CBS and Mel Karmazin parting ways really, really hurt CBS bad.  I just don’t think Clear Channel has ever been the same since Randy Michaels has gone.     

Final thoughts on the future?
The future for Sirius is great and the sky is the limit. The big thing is they just added the streaming of Howard’s channels to Sirius. The programming on Sirius is second to none. Sirius, by far has superior programming, and with NASCAR coming there’s something for everybody.  I don’t think anybody understands quite the impact that NASCAR is going to have.  It’s going to have a huge impact on Sirius.  NASCAR fans start tailgating on Thursday, and don’t stop until Sunday after the race.  Those are perfect candidates for satellite radio, and I think they’ll all come over with NASCAR. Tony Stewart coming over is going to be great. The great thing about Sirius, besides all the great talk programming, is the music.  I’m a Rock listener.  I think there are seventeen Rock channels, and I listen to probably ten of them.  There is no terrestrial radio station in any market that comes close to the variety and good music that’s played on Sirius. They let the PD’s at Sirius do their thing and program, and program stations they think sound good.  I would pay the $12.95 for the music alone.

** QB Content by Mark LaSpina **