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ringo · Aug 23, 2002, 12:58 PM

<sniff>...so sad.

WNEW afternoon shock jocks Opie and Anthony were fired today, following a contest where they awarded prizes to people who had sex in risky public places.

This was an annual event, but this year a couple was caught having sex in NYC's St. Patrick's Cathedral and the station fired them to avoid FCC punishment.

Too bad...damn good radio...made me laugh out loud while stuck in afternoon traffic.

I Palindrome I · Aug 23, 2002, 01:01 PM

They were stupid fsckers who got exactly what they deserved. Hopefully, the station loses its FCC license as well.

maxelson · Aug 23, 2002, 01:04 PM

They'll be back. Was it 'AAF in Worcester that fired them and sent them on to a bigger more foul market in NYC? Yeah. So. THere will be another market. Another radio syndicate that wants to make the money they will bring in for a short time.
Opie and Anthony are pedestrian. Dinks like them are on every corner, crawl out of every sewer pipe, live under every rock.

daimoni · 05:46 PM

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ringo · Aug 23, 2002, 01:09 PM

Yes, they were stupid, fowl, pedestrian...any bad thing you want to say about them is probably true....I still enjoyed listening to them most of the time...they went places where Howard Stern wouldn't dare, hopelessly obscene...and they brought listener participation to a whole new level

mitchell_pgh · Aug 23, 2002, 02:22 PM

Most of the time they weren't that bad... they had a few funny bits that I still can't get out of my head... "Stapler Russian Roulette" was so funny... Some of their crap is simply for the lowest common denominator types, but other bits are funny...

I'm sure they won't be gone for long... Where would they go next... DC, LA... who knows...

driven · Aug 23, 2002, 03:29 PM

Originally posted by ringo:
<sniff>...so sad.

WNEW afternoon shock jocks Opie and Anthony were fired today, following a contest where they awarded prizes to people who had sex in risky public places.

This was an annual event, but this year a couple was caught having sex in NYC's St. Patrick's Cathedral and the station fired them to avoid FCC punishment.

Too bad...damn good radio...made me laugh out loud while stuck in afternoon traffic.

They will probably still get FCC punishment.

driven · Aug 23, 2002, 03:30 PM

Originally posted by ringo:
Yes, they were stupid, fowl, pedestrian...any bad thing you want to say about them is probably true....I still enjoyed listening to them most of the time...they went places where Howard Stern wouldn't dare, hopelessly obscene...and they brought listener participation to a whole new level

Is Howard Stern still on the air?
(AFAIK he's never been on here in Atlanta, and I have not had the chance to hear him since I left the New York area)

ringo · Aug 23, 2002, 03:42 PM

Yeah, Stern is still on the air, but I haven't listened to him lately (NPR junkie in the AM). A lot of his schtick didn't work after his divorce since he couldn't play the whole "I love my wife" angle anymore. I know a few people who still talk about his show, so maybe he's gotten back into good material again.

RE: The whole FCC thing.
Yeah, they might still punish the station, but the Catholic League, who were really pushing the FCC to act (Take broadcasting rights away from the station), said that they would drop their complaint now that O & A were fired.

I'm hoping another New York station picks them up. They got great ratings, but just couldn't survive the negative publicity from their last stunt.

calamar1 · Aug 23, 2002, 03:43 PM

Originally posted by driven:

They will probably still get FCC punishment.

Indeed. The alacrity with which the FCC has moved to punish them is somewhat disturbing, considering that it appears to be motivated largely by the vocal Christian group that is pushing for their demise. Don't get me wrong, i think they deserve to be punished, but when similar things they've done before result in fines, and now, all of a sudden, they're gone, you've got to wonder about the influence of this group on the FCC.

The question is, did the FCC decide that this incident was exponentially worse than those in the past, or did this Christian group force them to? i don't really know, of course, but it's enough to make one wonder.

Now of course, their radio station actually ditched them, and that makes sense--they're a big company with lots of listeners, many of whom might agree with their need to go bye-bye; it makes financial sense.

driven · Aug 23, 2002, 04:03 PM

Originally posted by ringo:
Yeah, Stern is still on the air, but I haven't listened to him lately (NPR junkie in the AM). A lot of his schtick didn't work after his divorce since he couldn't play the whole "I love my wife" angle anymore. I know a few people who still talk about his show, so maybe he's gotten back into good material again.

RE: The whole FCC thing.
Yeah, they might still punish the station, but the Catholic League, who were really pushing the FCC to act (Take broadcasting rights away from the station), said that they would drop their complaint now that O & A were fired.

I'm hoping another New York station picks them up. They got great ratings, but just couldn't survive the negative publicity from their last stunt.

Howard Stern got divorced !?!?!!?!??! WOW!

When did THAT happen? (I told you I was away from the area for a while.)

driven · Aug 23, 2002, 04:06 PM

Originally posted by calamar1:

Indeed. The alacrity with which the FCC has moved to punish them is somewhat disturbing, considering that it appears to be motivated largely by the vocal Christian group that is pushing for their demise. Don't get me wrong, i think they deserve to be punished, but when similar things they've done before result in fines, and now, all of a sudden, they're gone, you've got to wonder about the influence of this group on the FCC.

The question is, did the FCC decide that this incident was exponentially worse than those in the past, or did this Christian group force them to? i don't really know, of course, but it's enough to make one wonder.

Now of course, their radio station actually ditched them, and that makes sense--they're a big company with lots of listeners, many of whom might agree with their need to go bye-bye; it makes financial sense.

I don't think it was so much that they screwed in a church, but that they screwed in THAT church. It's a huge part of New York City. To make matters worse Mr. & Mrs. Screw-A-Lot were outsiders. I think ALL decent people of New York were angered, not just the Catholics. (New Yorkers have been through a lot in the last 12 months, and they do tend to band together ... when you do a blatently dis-respectful act in this climate then of course you will get a harsh reaction.)

scaught · Aug 23, 2002, 07:26 PM

Originally posted by daimoni:
We can't people just play music?

honestly, id prefer just the same that they didnt. id rather listen to another shocking talk radio duo who likes to get all risky with their "anti politically correct" stuff (which i despise), than some moron playing music some guys in a boardroom decided was "good".

daimoni · 05:46 PM

.

mitchell_pgh · Aug 24, 2002, 12:23 AM

I thought that the show was hilarious, but the church thing was just over the line. They made a decision to air that skit thinking that it would be funny and that people wouldn't mind, but they did. I'm not a super religious person, but I think they got what was coming to them...

putamare · Aug 24, 2002, 01:06 PM

Originally posted by driven:
I think ALL decent people of New York were angered, not just the Catholics/

I can speak for at least one decent person of New York that wasn't angered. Two conseting adults having sex is hardly what I would call a big deal. An institution that protects pederasts is.

Justin W. Williams · Aug 24, 2002, 04:08 PM

Bob and Tom are the only shock jocks I can listen to. I don't find them that shocking most of the time. Their Harry Carey skits crack me up, plus all the comedians are hilarious and make my mornings just a bit better.

Much better than listening to Rick Dees playing Pink and NStink all morning.

CommonSense · Aug 25, 2002, 12:34 AM

I didn't always absolutely despise O&A. Hell, I say with some shame that for a few months in 2000 (pre-syndication), I kind of liked them. I could do without the Guido callers and the general low-brow, "New York is the center of the world" crap, but I tolerated it back then.

Problem is, if other shock jocks are are a candle that eventually burns out, O&A were a raging fire in a steel-walled room with no oxygen leaking in. They burned bright and wild, but burned out a hell of a lot faster, too. It wasn't too long before I started tiring of their whole "trying too hard" approach.

And then they started in on Don & Mike -- who I've enjoyed since the late '80s (hey, I'm a DC native and will NEVER feel at home north of, say, Philadelphia). That's when it was over, as far as I was concerned.

I pretty much expected them to gradually see their ratings decline (they haven't taken off as well outside NYC, despite their pitiful spin-doctoring of the ratings books), and then they'd just rightfully slide into irrelevance. But I'll take them going out like this, too.

The only thing that sucks about it is that they're technically still under contract for another two years, so they'll continue to be obscenely overpaid, while actual decent human beings who do good work in this world have to bust their asses to get, say, $40,000 a year if they're lucky. Nice world we live in.

Well, whatever. At least I live far south enough in NJ to get WYSP in Philadelphia, where Don & Mike are still on (and kicking ratings ass). I think it'll be VERY interesting to tune in when they're back from vacation, since they had an extremely bitter "radio war" with O&A, before being muzzled by management, a few months ago. (What a difference a summer makes!)

Live by the sword, die by the sword. Good riddance, little boys.