Cowhead Is Out In Tampa

4-2-14

Well not exactly. The afternoon star on "102.5 The Bone" (WHPT-FM) tells The Tampa Bay Times he's retiring the name Cowhead and will now call his program, The Mike Calta Show. The 42-year-old said, "I have two kids now and I don't ever want my 14-month-old daughter to hear the name Cowhead, unless maybe she is cashing some huge check from my will. Then she can know." 

Calta told the paper it's a different time in radio. "When I started at the Power Pig (currently 93.3. FLZ-FM), everybody had those types of names. I was Big Mike for a while but that didn't really stick. Then they asked me if I ever had any nicknames in high school and I remembered that a few people called me Cowhead and it sort of stuck. The minute I said it I immediately regretted it. "I think times change. Even the Power Pig changed its name. As times change and you age, it just gets silly."

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Cox's Cowhead Show Facing Lawsuit Over Doctored Picture

4-30-13

Can your DJ's be held responsible for pictures they post on your station website? How many times have they Googled a photo and posted it or sent it in an e-mail? What happens if that photo is altered and changes its entire context? A Nashville family claims that's exactly what Mike "Cowhead" Calta did to their son, who has Downs Syndrome, and they have filed a lawsuit. Cowhead works at WPHT in Tampa. A picture of 17-year-old Adam Holland was posted to the Cowhead show website under the heading, "Retarded News." The Holland family is asking for $6 million in the lawsuit.

The original photo of Holland (seen below) was taken in 2004. In it, he is smiling and holding up a drawing that includes the words "Go Titans." The Hollands say the altered image has caused them "severe mental anguish and emotional distress," and "humiliation, fear and embarrassment." They are seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

While Cox did not comment to the Miami Herald about the lawsuit, the attorney for the Holland family says he has an e-mail from WHPT Program Director Michael Sharkey saying the "Retarded News" segment "is designed to highlight odd stories that are seemingly always in the news. These stories are NOT about disabled individuals. However, in our investigation, we noted the picture that he was using did denote a person with Down Syndrome. We have removed that picture from our page and we are removing any reference to handicapped or disabled individuals." Sharkey apologized for "any grief this might have caused."

Read the full story in the Herald HERE

(4/30/2013 10:04:11 PM)
People who think it's funny to make fun of someone with Downs Syndrome shouldn't be in broadcasting. Kids in preschool are taught that this is something you don't do. So we've people on the air without the common sense of a four-year-old.
(4/30/2013 6:48:35 PM)
Another thing that's just plain wrong is people being able to post comments on the internet without identifying themselves.

(4/30/2013 6:48:34 PM)
Another thing that's just plain wrong is people being able to post comments on the internet without identifying themselves.

(4/30/2013 6:46:43 PM)
Chuck...you're dead wrong. There is a lot wrong with pushing boundaries when it involves the humiliation of others. This is not the kind of thing the law should have to get involved with because it should not have happened in the first place. It's just plain wrong.
(4/30/2013 3:20:00 PM)
He should be fined $6 million for being sad and uncreative.

There are oodles of other ways to get teh point across without doing the equivalent of a fart joke.

He should be fired for taking the easy way out.

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(Audio) Cox Signs Cowhead For 3 More Years

Mike ?Cowhead? Calta, afternoon host on Tampa's WHPT-FM The Bone has just signed a new 3-year deal with the Cox owned station. And, when Radio Ink Editor-in-Chief Ed Ryan called him to discuss the new arrangement, he did what any good radio guy would do...he put him on the air. Here's the exchange.

RADIO INK EDITOR ED RYAN GOES LIVE ON THE AIR WITH COWHEAD 

Cowhead does very well in the ratings for Cox. And, as you heard in our interview, he wouldn't reveal his salary to us. He did say he'd be making the kind of money a rookie baseball player would be making. And, like any good reporter would do, we looked it up. The Major League Baseball minimum salary is about $400,000 or so a year. So, if true, that's not a bad buck for someone living and working only an our from happiest place on earth. Cowhead has been on the air in Tampa since the early 90's. For the past five years, The Cowhead Show has broadcast from 102.5 FM The Bone.

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