Bubba The Love Sponge - Early Career

Early Career

Clem, a native of Warsaw, Indiana, began his radio career on Indiana State University's WISU-FM. Following school, one of his first paying jobs in radio was at WGRD in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he worked evenings. Clem was in trouble with WGRD almost from the start due to the sexual content of his show. Clem also insulted crosstown competitor WKLQ, in particular Danny Czekalinski (better known as Danny Douglas) who worked at WKLQ during the evening, calling Douglas a homosexual and at one point claiming that Douglas had AIDS. After Roger's Department Store canceled their account with WGRD, management at the station met with Clem and explicitly told him what he couldn't say on the air. Clem also apologized to Douglas, but less than a week later Clem once again disparaged Douglas on the air. On December 20, 1988, a 13-year-old-girl listening to the show called Clem to defend Douglas. Clem made sexual references to Danny and to the 13-year-old female caller and was fired the next day. Clem then worked for a brief period WLUM-FM in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.