NEW YORK – When radio shock jocks Opie and Anthony considered their next career move after two firings in four years, the twisted twosome were ready to feign rehabilitation. Or at least that was the plan when they sat down with satellite radio executives.
“We were trying to convince them that we’re reformed now, we’ve learned our lesson,” recalled Greg “Opie” Hughes, one-half of the deposed radio ratings juggernaut. “And we heard over and over again, ‘Guys, just go crazy. Do whatever you want in there.’”
Welcome to the future of American radio.
O&A, as they’re known to a legion of fans, debuted last week on XM Satellite Radio, bringing their slice of boys’ locker-room life to every market from coast to coast. The industry’s other big player, Sirius, then announced a staggering $500 million deal with self-proclaimed “King of All Media” Howard Stern.
If satellite radio was off a lot of listeners’ radar before last week, it now looms as large as the antenna atop the Empire State Building. One industry watcher expects more and more big-name defections from the AM and FM dials if the Federal Communications Commission crackdown on content continues.
“The ancient regulations that the FCC is imposing on terrestrial radio are out of step with reality, and definitely striking a blow against AM and FM radio’s ability to remain culturally pertinent,” said Michael Harrison, founder of the trade publication Talkers magazine.
Translation: The post-Janet Jackson broadcasting world, with its increased government scrutiny and million-dollar fines for ill-defined indecency, is the best recruiting tool for satellite radio since it began broadcasting three years ago.
Like cable television, satellite radio is not subject to federal indecency rules because it is provided only to paid subscribers. In the case of XM, the 2.5 million customers shell out $9.99 a month; at Sirius, more than 600,000 buyers pay $12.95 a month.
Both Stern and O&A rejected lucrative offers to remain on traditional radio. Both said constant censorship from their employers and the FCC drove them off.
“I’m going because I choose to, not because I was forced out,” Stern said after announcing his January 2006 switch to his current 12 million daily listeners. “They’ve lured radio’s biggest star to satellite. It’s attractive now to do satellite.”
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