Dave "Big Poppy" Ortiz

As Joe is confident most of you know, he has a working relationship with Clear Channel Radio that Joe is quite proud of if not humbled by. Joe trusts that the good people on Gandy Blvd. will let him speak warmly of a couple of employees at a CBS station today; just this once.

Today is a somber day for local sports radio, and for Joe in particular. “Big Poppy,” otherwise known as Dave Ortiz, the producer and sidekick of J.P. Peterson’s “Happy Hour With J.P.,” is leaving the Tampa Bay area. His last day on the air is Friday but he will be working a celebration of sorts today.

That is, if you call drinking at Hooters “work.” Ortiz’s final remote is at Channelside Hooters today which will also serve as a going away party.

Joe is somber because a great deal of the success Joe enjoys is indirectly if not directly due to Ortiz.

Not quite two years ago, Joe started out with no traffic and scant people even knew this site existed. But Joe started to become known widespread because of Ortiz. Joe now boasts millions of visitors.

Joe first met Ortiz before JoeBucsFan.com was created when J.P. invited Joe to do a radio spot on a May afternoon. Just hours prior, Joe had broken a national story concerning then-Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden and current Bucs rookie wide receiver/return man Preston Parker that appeared on TBO.com.

It seems Parker, then an incoming junior at Florida State, was pinched with a handgun at home in South Florida. Parker’s sin was that the weapon was not registered.

Earlier that day Bowden was golfing in Tarpon Springs and told Joe he wasn’t offended by Parker’s actions. In so many words, Bowden said he was under the impression law-abiding adults in Florida can legally own handguns, though adding Parker should have registered the gun.

Bowden went on to say he didn’t blame Parker for carrying a gun because “in some areas you have to. You have to protect your family.” This of course made national headlines and it was Joe who broke the story first on TBO.com.

After Joe’s appearance with J.P., Ortiz came up to him and told Joe how much he liked Joe’s interaction with J.P. and asked Joe if he could come on the air from time to time to talk sports. Joe agreed.

Fast forward three months and this very site was born. Joe called Ortiz to ask if he and J.P. might be looking to kill airtime amd talk about this site. Ortiz said he’d study the site and call him back. Ortiz did. Joe explained this site isn’t exactly MSM and Ortiz said, “That’s just what I’m looking for. I don’t want to produce a show that’s just like everybody else. I’m looking for a different perspective.”

(Joe is confident his many displays of Carmella Garcia is what won over Ortiz.)

And Joe began weekly spots with J.P. to talk Bucs, often on Fridays.

It was those spots, and Joe’s content, that helped pique the interest of Clear Channel, which spawned Joe’s current exclusive working relationship that Joe has today.

Joe started with very little. He grew quickly thanks to Ortiz. Joe is a lot of things but being an ingrate isn’t one of them. Joe doesn’t forget when people help him out.

Ortiz has taken a position as a producer with The Sporting News Radio Network where he will enjoy a substancial raise. The only drawback is that Ortiz has to move to Houston. At least now, with a newborn baby son Dominic Brooks (named for Derrick Brooks), and his wife Karla, Big Poppy (that’s how Ortiz spells it) will now have health insurance for the star linebacker in Florida State’s recruiting class of 2029.

Strangely, Ortiz’s main duty will be as the executive producer for the Todd Wright Show, which is broadcast out of the St. Petersburg studios of WQYK, yet Ortiz will be moving from Pinellas County to Houston to produce a show broadcast from St. Petersburg.

Yeah, Joe knows. Odd.

At any rate, Big Poppy, Joe does not and will not forget. Joe will also keep in touch. Big Poppy is one of the true good guys in the media business. He’s a teddy bear of a guy. In a genre with posers and out-and-out con artists, two locally in particular that Joe won’t name, Ortiz is the polar opposite, just a genuine nice guy. Joe doesn’t know if Big Poppy has a cross word to say about anybody.

If anyone is in the neighborhood of Channelside Hooters this afternoon, there will be a going away party for Ortiz. Please stop by and say goodbye to Big Poppy.

He will be missed.