Opie and Anthony
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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 Jay Mohr, Jim Breuer, Lewis Black 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.
The pair signed a contract with XM on August 5, 2004 and started broadcasting October 4th of the same year on a premium channel. In April 2005 the show was allowed be a part of the regular subscription service after receiving a listenership that warranted such a move. Their return to XM Satellite Radio took place over two years after their previous show had been cancelled (see below), and they had remained off-the-air during that time as Infinity Broadcasting, their previous employer, held them to their contract as well as their non-compete clause. On XM satellite radio, O&A are no longer bound by FCC regulations regarding language and content, thus pollitically incorrect humor is common on their show.
Their XM show features Jim Norton as a host of the show.
Radio Show (High/Low)lights
- Most famously, they "created" Whip'em Out Wednesdays (WOW), where they encourage women to flash motorists who have a WOW bumper sticker. In the absence of a bumper sticker, Opie and Anthony have suggested writing WOW on their dirty cars using their hands. Eventually, WoW applied to any day of the week ("Whip'em Out Whenever").
- They also invented the Tuesday Night Hummer Club where they encouraged their female listeners to perform fellatio on their significant others.
- They were fired in Boston after they pulled an April Fool's Day prank, telling their listeners the Mayor of Boston (Thomas Menino) died in a car accident (1998) while the mayor was away vacationing in Florida and was unable to be contacted.
- While on WNEW O&A made a rare professional friendship with Ron and Fez of "The Ron and Fez Show."
- They are professional enemies of Mancow, Tom Leykis, Rocko, and Howard Stern.
- Several members of their crew (including frequent guest Lewis Black and Jim Norton) were arrested for being on the see-through "Teen" Voyeur Bus where six young women were "flashing" all over Manhattan (2000).
- From 2001 - 2002 the duo was syndicated on WJFK in Washington D.C., where they took the #1 rated timeslot down to 18th place in one book but in the subsequent books became #1 in males 18-35. When "Sex For Sam" happened they were removed from all of their markets, including Washington.
- They are most widely known for being the "Wacky D.J.'s Who Had The Sex in The Church Stunt." This stemmed from an annual Sex For Sam contest, where listeners would perform sexual acts in different places around New York City at specific famous landmarks or tourist attractions for points for a trip to a party at Sam Adams brewery.
- When "Sex For Sam 3" took place on 2002-08-15, Opie and Anthony were suspended for the remainder of their contract (more than 2 years), and the show was cancelled. WNEW and Infinity Broadcasting were in danger of losing their FCC license over an incident where a couple allegedly had sex at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Opie and Anthony claim they were within the FCC guidelines for that day and claim that FCC rules are subjective and dynamic. This was one of the first instances of the FCC cracking down on TV/radio broadcasts due to susposed indecency.
- On 2004-10-04, Opie and Anthony returned to radio via XM satellite radio, where they reached a fraction of their original potential audience by narrowcasting to only their hard core fans and being on a premium channel until April of 2005 limiting their growth.
- In April 2005, the show was switched to a part of the regular subscription of XM after garnishing enough premium subscribers to warrant a switch. The potential of increasing the chances of increasing the listenership of the show within XM has significantly increased their core fan base.
- When Howard Stern announced that he was going to be going to Sirius Satellite Radio, he planned a November 2004 rally where he handed out free systems. About 30 O&A listeners attempted to crash the gathering of more than a 1000 Stern supporters, armed with placards and bumper stickers.
- Since returning to radio, they often like to make fun of Scott Peterson, Andrea Yates, Terry Schiavo, and other allegedly tragic criminals and victims in the media.
- During December, 2004, Opie and Anthony re-appeared for the first time on commercial FM radio since they were fired from WNEW. WAQX in Syracuse, New York was the first station to bring O&A back to commercial FM radio. The show on WAQX was a rebroadcast of the previous day's show on XM and was edited for content. It aired in the Howard Stern show's morning time slot while he was on vacation.
- On May 19, 2005, as part of their "Assault On The Media" campaign, where listeners are encouraged to get free advertising for the show by holding up signs during live news broadcasts, one of the show's interns, Nathaniel stepped behind CBS 2 reporter Arthur Chi'en holding an Opie and Anthony poster. He was joined, through sheer coincidence, by Crazy Cabbie of the Howard Stern show, who flipped off the camera. After finishing the last syllable of his report, Chi'en turned to Nathaniel and yelled "What the fuck is your problem, man?" before the studio could cut to the pre-recorded segment of the report. The obscenity was aired live, and despite his apology, Chi'en was fired later that day.
They claim to hate the name of their XM channel, "High Voltage XL" and are trying to get it changed to something else. Internet rumors claim that they have suggested "The Virus XL".
External Links
- Opie and Anthony's official site (http://www.opieandanthony.com)
- Foundry Music (http://www.foundrymusic.com) - The Unofficial O&A site, created by O&A's board technician Steve C. This site also caters to music and porn reviews.
- XM Satellite Radio (http://www.xmradio.com) - O&A's current employer.
- Wackbag.com (http://www.wackbag.com) - The Underground Opie and Anthony Message Board
- Eatabullet (http://www.eatabullet.com/) -Official Site of Jim Norton
- OpieAnthony.NET (http://www.opieanthony.net) - Media, News and Unofficial Messageboard
- WoWfans.com (http://www.wowfans) - Message Board