Opie and Anthony
From OAPedia.com
Opie (Gregg Hughes, May 23 1963 - ) and Anthony (Anthony Cumia, April 26 1961 - ) are the hosts of the radio program The Opie and Anthony Show. The show is based in New York City and airs on Sirius XM Satellite Radio (on XM channel XM202 and Sirius channel Sirius 197). Up until recently, the show had also been broadcast on several terrestrial radio stations and on satellite TV service DirecTV. Prior to Sirius XM, the show was on WNEW-FM in New York and WAAF-FM in Boston (which they obsessively insult).
Opie and Anthony's rude and crude style of entertainment (which many listeners support nonetheless) has earned them the sobriquet of "shock jocks." Regular guests to their show include Robert Kelly, Patrice Oneal, Louis C.K., Bill Burr, and Rich Vos. On the show, Anthony is known for his impressions of people such as Andrew Dice Clay, Tom Brokaw, Ronald Reagan, Mike Tyson, and Tony Danza. Their style and jokes target the males in the 18-35 age range, although they have broken both constraints and have taken over in markets when syndicated and the city already had a show geared toward that style.
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History
The Early Years - Long Island and Boston
The origins of the current Opie and Anthony show date back to when Opie was a disc jockey on radio station WBAB on Long Island. In 1994, Opie held a song parody contest and was personally handed an entry by a musician named Brother Joe. The entry featured Joe's brother Anthony singing "Gonna 'Lectric Shock O.J." (a parody of "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding, about the then-current O.J. Simpson murder trial). The song was one of many attempts Anthony made to get out of his miserable job at Apollo Air Conditioning, and this one did the trick. On September 14, 1994, Anthony made his first appearance on The Opie Show (O&A have admitted their embarassment at their first on-air appearance together, due to Anthony's over-eagerness to be on the radio, and Opie's general hackiness at this point in his career). Opie knew he and Anthony had some chemistry together, and when the opportunity arose to do a radio show in Boston, Opie and Anthony officially became a radio team.
On March 13, 1995, Opie and Anthony began airing on WAAF in Boston. Although many of their bits could be considered hack (such as Sperm Bowl 96 and their appearances on Real Rock TV), it was while they were on WAAF that O&A created some of their most famous bits, such as Butt Plug, 100 Grand, and their legacy - WOW, aka Whip 'em Out Wednesday, where women were invited to show their breasts to anyone with a "WOW" on their car (via an official WOW sticker, or just by having the word "WOW" on their car somewhere). O&A began to develop a fan following, and soon radio executives in New York City took notice. According to Opie, the pair were being courted to come to New York to do radio, but had to get out of Boston to do so. The solution - pull an April Fool's Day Prank where they would tell everybody that Boston's Mayor Menino was killed in a car accident. Although O&A admitted that the bit was way over the top and should not have been taken seriously, it caused a firestorm of controversy, and led to O&A being kicked off the air in April, 1998.
WNEW - O&A Version 2.0
On June 25, 1998, O&A officially began their New York radio careers on legendary rock station WNEW. At the time, 'NEW was in a downward spiral, going through numerous format changes and failing to get ratings, and the other jocks did not take kindly to them. On their first shows, O&A mentioned several jocks wishing them well, but in reality the jocks were leaving them hate messages. The only jock who was supposedly nice to them was Scott Muni. O&A seemed to tone down their behavior during these early shows and tried to fit in at the station, but the real O&A eventually emerged and they began showing contempt for what the station had now become. They would make fun of the records they were playing and bash their fellow DJs. One of them, Carol Miller, confronted them on the air about their behavior (looking back, O&A said they respect the fact that Carol stood up to them instead of trashing them behind their backs like the other DJs did, and bear no animosity toward her). In September of 1999, WNEW finally ended its long career as a rock station and switched to a talk format; O&A got the last laugh.
Several key elements of the show first took place during the WNEW years. O&A often had comedians appear on the show to hang out and riff with them, many of whom became good friends with the duo. One of those comedians, Jim Norton, became so popular with O&A and with the fans that he became the regular co-host by the end of their tenure at the station. O&A also began their friendship with radio duo Ron and Fez, and the two teams would often appear together on each other's shows (these were known as AFRO shows - AFRO being an acronym of the initials of Anthony, Fez, Ron, and Opie). Several key staff members joined the show at this time, including Steve C (whose FoundryMusic.com website became O&A's official homepage), Rick Delgado, Ben Sparks, and Stinky.
It was during the WNEW years that Opie and Anthony also began their long-running rivalry with fellow radio host Howard Stern - a rivalry that caused problems with their bosses at Infinity Broadcasting, since both Stern and O&A were employed by the company. Stern, who had a good friendship with Infinity President Mel Karmazin, was so jealous of O&A and so outraged by their goofing on him that he had Mel put a gag order on them so they could not talk about Howard on the air, or else they would lose their jobs.
As O&A became more and more popular, syndication became a goal they wanted to achieve. This finally happened in the summer of 2001, when they became syndicated to several stations including Philadelphia's WYSP, Washington DC's WJFK, and WBCN in Boston - a rival of their former station WAAF. O&A also began to spin out of control with their increasingly controversial bits. The Voyeur Bus incident in November, 2000 led to arrests. Their annual Sex for Sam bit, a contest in which couples had sex in public places in order to win an opportunity to tour the Sam Adams beer brewery, led to the firing of show staff member Psycho Mark. Their T&A with O&A event in Buffalo, NY, although not broadcast on the radio, led to FCC complaints. It was this last bit that nearly led to their firing, but an even more infamous incident that took place on August 15, 2002 was the one that sealed their fate.
On August 15, O&A broadcast Sex for Sam 3. During this particular contest, O&A joked that a church would be one of the locations where couples could score points. One couple attempted to do this at St. Patrick's Cathedral. When their spotter, comedian Paul Mercurio, called O&A and told them what was happening, they told Paul (somewhat jokingly, but still seriously) to get them out of there. Paul, however, was interested in making a name for himself and allowed the couple to continue what they were doing. Eventually police became involved, and the couple were arrested. The incident became big news and the story spread across the country. Many were outraged at what happened; William Donohue, head of a group named the Catholic League, threatened to have WNEW's broadcast license pulled if O&A weren't disciplined. The next day, O&A broadcast their last official show on WNEW. The following week, The Opie and Anthony Show was cancelled.
XM, and the Return to Terrestrial Radio
Despite the cancellation of their show, Opie and Anthony weren't officially fired. They were still bound to their Infinity contract, and the duo were still paid by the company during their time off the air. However, the contract had a non-compete clause which forbade them from working at another job for over two years. During that time, there was much speculation about O&A's future. In August, 2004, at the time the Infinity contract expired, the pair signed with XM Satellite Radio and started broadcasting their show again on October 4th of the same year. Jim Norton, Steve C, and Ben Sparks continued working with O&A at XM, and it was there that E-Rock was first brought on as a producer. Also, several interns (Than, Danny, Travis, Derek, and later Sam) impressed O&A so much that they became full-time members of the show staff.
At first, the duo were only available on a premium channel because of XM's initial concern at hiring the controversial pair, but listenership was high enough that in April, 2005 the show was allowed to be a part of the regular subscription service. On XM Satellite Radio, O&A were no longer bound by FCC regulations regarding language and content; thus, O&A were able to get away with a lot more than they could on terrestrial radio.
Although O&A matured a bit since their 'NEW days, they still managed to generate controversy. One show, commonly referred to as the "show we can't talk about", nearly got them fired mere weeks after starting on XM. Their Assault on the Media competition, where O&A fans (nicknamed the Pests) were asked to disrupt live news broadcasts, led to a news reporter getting injured. An altercation Opie had with an intern named Noah also got them in trouble. Still, the show began to rebuild its audience, and eventually their former company, Infinity (now known as CBS Radio), was looking to bring them back.
In 2006, Howard Stern abandoned terrestrial radio in order to broadcast his show on XM competitor Sirius. This left a void that needed to be filled at the stations Howard used to broadcast from. Some of these stations replaced Howard with David Lee Roth, a move that proved to be a disaster ratings-wise. CBS Radio had to do something, so they brought back O&A to try to save their company. As of April 26, 2006, O&A were officially back on terrestrial radio. In a deal with both CBS and XM, the show was now airing nationwide on both formats from 6-9 AM ET, and then exclusively on XM from 9 AM-12 PM ET. O&A have said that this is the deal Howard should have made.
The Merger, the End of Terrestrial, and Beyond
In 2007, XM and Sirius announced that they were planning a merger of both companies. At the time, there was much speculation on what would happen to The Opie and Anthony Show. Their former boss Mel Karmazin became the CEO of Sirius and was expected to take over the reins of the combined company. Since Howard was still broadcasting his show on the platform, and his friendship with Mel was still intact, it was believed that O&A would not have a place at the merged company, or would be silenced like they were during the WNEW days. In May of that year, the duo ended up getting suspended from XM for 30 days because of comments made by a guest named Homeless Charlie. It was believed that fears over those comments affecting the merger led to this action, as O&A have done (and said) much worse without incident. Following the suspension, Pests began dropping their XM subscriptions in droves and smashing their radios. When O&A returned to XM in June, they credited the Pests with helping them keep their jobs.
Despite the victory, O&A and the Pests were not confident of the show's future. The merger eventually became finalized in 2008 (with the combined company now known as Sirius XM), and O&A's biggest supporter at XM, Eric Logan, left the company. O&A's XM contract was set to expire at the end of September of that year, but fortunately it was renewed, and as of September 30, their show became available on Sirius, on channel Sirius 197. As of April, 2009, O&A began broadcasting from Sirius' studios in New York. Though still treated like redheaded stepchildren (what else is new?), their future at Sirius XM remained secure.
Their situation on terrestrial radio, however, was not so fortunate. Because of constant fears over controversial content, the terrestrial portion of their show was often hampered by ridiculous censorship by their bosses. O&A also dealt with being dropped by key terrestrial affiliates. Finally, in March, 2009, their flagship station K-Rock went through a format change, dropping O&A in the process and thereby taking them off any remaining affiliates. While O&A no longer have to worry about censorship to an extent, it is a blow to not have the exposure that free terrestrial radio provides as opposed to a pay service like Sirius XM.
Recently, the fate of O&A was up in the air. Contract negotiations with Sirius XM hit a setback - with O&A's contract expiring at the beginning of October, 2010 O&A still hadn't come close to a deal as time was running out. Eventually they both managed to sign a two-year contract, even though they have said they are not happy with it (Opie actually didn't sign until the morning of October 1). Also, O&A lost longtime producer Steve C, whose position was eliminated by the company.
However, as O&A have said time and time again, they always win in the end.
Heading into 2011, Opie's frustrations with management reached its all time high, with most shows beginning or having some sort of rant against their bosses and the things they did. Many of the problems they faced were not being treated or promoted as a top priority show, still not receiving their new studio or fixes for their current one, not being able to do what they want, and being hated by others. It was due to many of the stresses and problems, that Opie said he would not renew his contract with Sirius XM. In the later parts of 2011, management made their attempts to fix problems, but always fell short of what the boys really needed, becoming the topic of jokes and insults.
Though Opie has changed his attitude in 2012, he is still sticking with his decision to not renew with Sirius XM, which will likely be the end of O&A on satellite radio. The guys have already talked about moving their show onto the web, as many others have. Anthony, on the other hand, has spoken about staying with Sirius XM if Jimmy and the staff wanted to continue. Opie and Anthony will face contract signings in October 2012.
See Also
To get up to speed on The Opie and Anthony Show, the following pages are recommended:
- Opie and Anthony Timeline
- Opie and Anthony affiliates
- List of Opie and Anthony websites
- List of Opie and Anthony bits
- Catch phrases
- Movie Quotes and References
- Sound clips
