[bigred875]

People wonder why "right wing nuts" call democrats socialists and communists...

XM suspends Opie and Anthony
May 16, 2007

Add Opie & Anthony to the growing list of shock jocks who have behaved badly enough to warrant silencing. But at least the duo has the distinction of being the first to be bounced from satellite radio, where government rules restricting raunchy content do not apply.

In an ironic twist, XM Satellite Radio said Tuesday that it has suspended "The Opie & Anthony Show" for 30 days, though the pair will still do their program on CBS Radio, where speech codes are far more stringent than they are on pay radio.

Greg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia first raised the ire of listeners when they broadcast May 9 the rantings of a character they call Homeless Charlie, who fantasized about having violent sex with Laura Bush, Condoleezza Rice and Queen Elizabeth II.

They apologized two days later, but on Monday they called on their competitors -- most notably, Howard Stern -- to join them in defense of the right of shock jocks everywhere to be, well, shocking.

"Are you with us or against us?" they asked, referencing such recently fired radio talkers as Don Imus and "JV and Elvis." Then they told listeners that while they didn't have the FCC restricting their language, they still must follow XM's "dumb rules." That apparently was too much for XM to take.


"Comments made by Opie & Anthony on yesterday's broadcast put into question whether they appreciate the seriousness of the matter," XM said Tuesday in announcing their suspension.

The pair's Homeless Charlie bit came at a particularly thorny time as XM is trying to get permission to merge with Sirius Satellite Radio. Some on Wall Street predicted last week that XM eventually would have to punish Opie & Anthony if for no other reason than to curry favor among lawmakers, who are deciding whether to give the proposed merger the thumbs up.

Others are using the travails of the nation's shock jocks to make a stealth appeal for the resurrection of the Fairness Doctrine.

Several Democrats in Congress have been citing comments made by Opie, Anthony, Imus, JV and Elvis as proof that discourse on radio is so coarse that more government regulation -- by way of a new Fairness Doctrine -- is needed.

But the aim of the Fairness Doctrine, abolished in 1987, was basically to guarantee that broadcast licensees carried as much left-leaning political opinion as they did right-leaning opinion and had little to do with the vulgarity of shock jocks.

Such stars of talk radio as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh have been suggesting that Democrats -- including presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich -- who attack shock jocks are laying the groundwork for introducing stricter regulation of talk radio, a medium dominated by conservatives.

Radio talker Glenn Beck broached the subject Monday on CNN, telling an audience that liberal activists are "trying to shut people down. If you look at the people that are on the shock-radio list, you will see that Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and I am on that list. Gee, I don't know the last time that I was doing sex calls."

Some activists already have called for the sanctioning of Limbaugh for his "Barack the Magic Negro" parody song sung to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon." The song quotes from a Los Angeles Times opinion piece that called Barack Obama a "magic negro" for his ability to attract voters of all races.

Opie & Anthony's gaffe is the latest in a string of examples whereby offensive utterances made on radio find their way to the Internet blogosphere -- most notably onto the Drudge Report -- then are dissected by TV news broadcasters, who turn the comments into a national debate.

The now-infamous remarks made April 4 by Imus, for example, created a media firestorm that culminated in a Time magazine cover story and the canceling of his CBS Radio show and MSNBC TV simulcast.

More recently, Jeff Vandergrift and Dan Lay, known as JV and Elvis, were fired, again by CBS, for a segment that mocked Chinese restaurant employees for their English-language skills. Although that bit aired one day after Imus' "nappy headed hos" commentary, it didn't receive nearly as much scrutiny, and CBS didn't fire JV and Elvis until Friday.

Opie & Anthony have a unique arrangement in radio, broadcasting a portion of their show on CBS and XM and another portion -- deemed too controversial for free radio -- on XM exclusively. CBS said Tuesday that it has no plans for taking the pair off the air.

Stern, a longtime Opie & Anthony nemesis whose Sirius Satellite Radio show is far too raunchy for free radio, said publicly after Opie and Anthony signed their XM-CBS hybrid deal, "I can't imagine how difficult their job is going to be -- having to go on regular radio and deal with CBS since their act is edgy."

[highsider]

Its a bit of a stretch to blame that on Democrats, there are Republicans involved in various acts of censorship as well. Mike Powell, Colin Powell's son, was the head of the FCC for years, and he is a Republican and a huge censorship fan.

[bigred875]

is it?

Several Democrats in Congress have been citing comments made by Opie, Anthony, Imus, JV and Elvis as proof that discourse on radio is so coarse that more government regulation -- by way of a new Fairness Doctrine -- is needed.

the head of the FCC's job is to censor, we put him there and tell him to enforce what the pubic view's as "offensive". That has nothing to do with the Fairness Doctrine.

[highsider]

Originally Posted by bigred875

is it?


the head of the FCC's job is to censor, we put him there and tell him to enforce what the pubic view's as "offensive". That has nothing to do with the Fairness Doctrine.

Meh....regardless of who is behind it, censorship sucks. I'm surprised that Democrats are behind this, but historically, Republicans have done many of the same things.

I just dont think its a partisan thing.

[KillBill]

They are going through the same shit that Howard Stern went through. It sounds to me like they are just making an example out of them.

Opie and Anthony are friggen awesome.



Red = Me
Blue = FCC

[bigred875]

Originally Posted by highsider

Meh....regardless of who is behind it, censorship sucks. I'm surprised that Democrats are behind this, but historically, Republicans have done many of the same things.

I just dont think its a partisan thing.

republicans, historically have been less government control. Censorship is government control.

when the republicans do it is typically the christians and usually about porn. That is not in the same ballpark as the fairness doctrine. Bottom line is that the democrats want to shut down conservative talk radio because they do not agree with their views.

[highsider]

Originally Posted by bigred875

republicans, historically have been less government control. Censorship is government control.

when the republicans do it is typically the christians and usually about porn. That is not in the same ballpark as the fairness doctrine. Bottom line is that the democrats want to shut down conservative talk radio because they do not agree with their views.

For the most part, agreed. Although regardless of what one's reasoning is for censorship, its all the same.

But I dont think this is about conservative talk radio; Opie and Anthony aren't conservative talk radio.

On a somewhat related note, I met with a local representative here in VT named Bill Lippert last night. You may have heard of him, he was ambushed by some Fox News folks and Bill O'reilly in particular for sponsoring a bill that supposedly helped hide the identity of sex offenders. It was pretty amazing the way they went at him - while he was eating lunch at the statehouse. Personally, I think what Fox News was ridiculous, and most of their "points" were half-truths and the result was the Bill, an openly gay man, received a few thousand e-mails saying things he called "unspeakable."

So while I dont know much about this Fairness Doctrine, if there is something in it that would hold *reporters* to a level of decency, I might be ok with that.

[richw]

Got to play to the base audience

The sponsors are only interested on a positive result on the bottom line. If you do anything that lowers listener numbers or embarrasses a brand to be associated with you then you are and should be f*ckd.

1st amendment really focuses on political speech does not give you the right to do anything at all except not be criminally charged by the government. You are personally responsible for what spews from your pie hole and if it has negative consequences , you bear the brunt.

Now go find George Carlins 7 words

[katana0215]

now if they could only get O&A off my local sports radio station during morning drive

[highsider]

Opie and Anthony are the worst Howard Stern rip-off artists ever.

[WildBill]

Censorship should Start and End at Home.
Turn the Channel if you don't like what you see or hear. Period

The only place censorship should come into play is in the public, outside walking down the street or in a park,ect. where people have no control.

That is all, I will now return you back to the scheduled show all ready in progress.

[highsider]

Originally Posted by WildBill

Censorship should Start and End at Home.
Turn the Channel if you don't like what you see or hear. Period

The only place censorship should come into play is in the public, outside walking down the street or in a park,ect. where people have no control.

That is all, I will now return you back to the scheduled show all ready in progress.

The world must be coming to an end, because I agree with WildBill. Well said.

[TheIglu]

I agree too....

Kucinich? Who cares about what he says?

Radios have on/off buttons. It's easy to change the channel or turn it off. Everyone is always hemmin and hawin about personal responsibility until it isn't as ideal to their situation as they would like it.

This is all about conservative right-wing pressure AKA the moral crusades. Some dems are realizing that votes hang in the balance. The same republicans that seem to want to have all these freedoms and no government interaction also want to ban gay people from getting married and keep certain words off the airwaves (which can be turned off at any time by the listener). Sounds pretty liberal to me.

[Josephd14]

Originally Posted by TheIglu

I agree too....

Kucinich? Who cares about what he says?

I'm with you there.. The guy is a fruit loop, and the only reason he runs a Presidential Campaign is the same reason alotta of the wacko politicians do, to get $$$$$$$ ... They know they don't have a chance in hell, and if they don't know it, then they are fruitier then I thought..

[Luvanicebum]

Bottom line is this:
Freedom of speach is long gone...Now they're looking to
control your opinions, thoughts and ideals.
This old fact remains: 90% of all people are politically uninvolved untill
the damage is already done. Wake the fuck up people!

[zombie]

the last head of the FCC was colin powell's son and he went after stern with a vengance and he's no democrat, as for Glenn Beck a former junkie asshole who couldn't quit dope till he found god (didn't know he was lost if he even exists) is so convinced that his way is the only way and if you don't turn your life over to his god you are doomed . A complete fucking joke that wouldn't know a good debate if it jumped up and bit him in the ass.
I'm a tucker carlson and joe scarborough fan as they will let healthy debate from all sides air their views.

[bigred875]

thats spin man..the fcc went after everyone, stern couldn't take it and bitched the most, others were fired and others cope'd.

[richw]

The "Leaders" follow

Having had their moral compass surgically removed the Political Leaders can only react when enough of the peasants bitch.

I am for free speech and moral outrage. Tell me what to say so that you will not vote against me. Just wave and smile Jane just wave and smile.

[KillBill]

Originally Posted by WildBill

Censorship should Start and End at Home.
Turn the Channel if you don't like what you see or hear. Period

The only place censorship should come into play is in the public, outside walking down the street or in a park,ect. where people have no control.

That is all, I will now return you back to the scheduled show all ready in progress.

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!