While we mostly cover local radio here, once in a while a story pops up that's so bizarre, it's hard to ignore. This may be one of them. It started in Florida in 2015, when a shock jock named "Bubba The Love Sponge Clem" was accused of paying a listener who was given a PPM device by Nielsen to deliberately tune in and boost his ratings. He paid the guy between $300-$700 a month for his trouble.

Eventually, the rating service found out and sued the "Sponge," a case resolved by an undisclosed settlement. 

Eventually, the jock figured out who ratted on him and it wasn't long before his rabid listeners also found out - and went after the guy in the worst way possible. Now that snitch is suing Nielsen for what it's done to his life.

From the Tampa Bay Times:

“The mayhem that followed was horrific for Tabachuk and his family,” the lawsuit states, claiming that radio fans harassed Tabachuk with death threats, rape threats and stalking, hacking his social media accounts, showing up to his home and the home of his parents."

It got so bad, the guy actually had to move his family out of the state and into what the newspaper describes only as a "mountainous region outside of Florida."

Imagine having your life turned upside down because of someone you listened to on the radio. Stranger than fiction. 

Shock jock’s ‘rabid’ fans forced Florida man to flee state, says lawsuit