Howard Stern Situation Could Benefit Opie & Anthony
Some would say that the Howard Stern Show and Opie & Anthony Show are like oil and water. The two entertaining shows each have their own flavor that makes them unique and special, but if you polled each shows passionate fans, they would offer nothing but contempt for the other show. It is just the way it is. Likely, deep down in their collective souls, the shock jocks all carry a respect for the talent and offerings of the other show, but hearing that expressed is a rarity.
While most media attention is focused on the Howard Stern contract situation there is another contract that expires soon. Opie & Anthony have their contract set to expire in the beginning of October, only a few weeks from right now, and with Sterns status up in the air they could well benefit in their own negotiations.
Opie & Anthony are viewed by most as the show that would be most likely used by Sirius XM to replace Howard if he decided to move on. Because of this, O & A could well get themselves a better deal. Sirius XM needs an answer if the Howard negotiations fall through. They need a place for subscribers to tune in and get a similar flavor on their morning commute. Sirius XM has been promoting O & A lately as well as their channel counterparts Ron & Fez. It appeared that the company was already positioning the O & A show to be a solution.
To be fair, Opie & Anthony have a very good show. It is fun, edgy, and often has morning commuters laughing out loud in their cars. By the merits of their talent alone the duo deserve to get a new deal. The interesting part is that with Howard Sterns contract still up in the air, Opie & Anthony are needed by Sirius XM even more. Likely O & A are well aware of this, and they are using it as a negotiating point.
No matter what the situation Opie & Anthony are a talent that deserves a new deal and also deserves more attention and promotion like they have been getting from Sirius XM over the past few months. In a perfect world Sirius XM signs Stern as well as Opie & Anthony.
Position – Long Sirius XM Radio
per allaccessdotcom
The latest on OPIE AND ANTHONY’s contract negotiations with SIRIUS XM RADIO comes from a tweet from OPIE, telling his TWITTER followers that “(speaking for me) I want to continue, their current offer is a joke and an insult, waiting to see if they wake up, if not I have plans.”
The show’s longtime Exec. Producer STEVE CARLESI exited the show this week, and OPIE tweeted that “STEVE C wasn’t fired by SIRIUS. His position was eliminated! That’s right, folks, they eliminated the Producer position of our show!” He also said “STEVE was a soldier for 12 years and will be missed. Worked his ASS off!”
this show is the ONLY reason I bought an XM radio unit. Hope they do get a generous new deal… otherwise I am outta here
Same here, drop O&A and I drop my 4 subs.
“Dave McDonald, who left Sirius XM’s Ron & Fez show earlier this year despite the best efforts of the Save Dave campaign, still hasn’t been replaced. That makes two producers (the other being “Hurricane” Earl Douglas, who’s since become a published author) the Ron & Fez show has lost in as many years who haven’t been replaced. (Dave McDonald has since moved onto WPJB public radio in New Jersey.)”
It looks like all these guys want the $$$$. Let the chips fall where they may.
Sirius… this is some serious business here. If you don’t reup OandA’s contract my subscription is canceled. So is my dad’s. So is my friend’s. (He’s got Sirius in his car and also pays for Best of XM package JUST to listen to OandA.) When the merger happened all subscribers were told we weren’t going to get screwed… let’s see what we got in the deal as listeners: 1)Less channels to choose from (53 Fungus got pushed into Faction… and faction doesn’t play much punk). 2) No more free online listening 3) WAAAAAAY smaller studios for our shock jock rock stars 4) More B.S. If this thing doesn’t go through- then f it. I was an XM subscriber since the first month it came out. I’ve been through good times and bad with XM, but now that all the music channels suck all I use my XM for is OandA. No more OandA= no more satellite radio.
It seems to me that you would get rid of channels that are of name only, eminem,opray,willie,etc. and keep the channels that actually have people coming in and producing original, fresh content. Surely they wouldn’t pay the Grateful Dead or Willie Nelson a ton of money just for their name when their music or programming could be heard or absorbed by another channel. Besides these big name channels aren’t promoted so what are sirius/xm getting for their money. It’s really hard when you don’t know how many are listening to what channels. I love the sound of a big name channel. I’m just not so sure those channels carry big name content.
I subscribe to XM because of the O and A show. If they are dropped, I will not renew. Thought this was a accurate article. I love O and A and could care less about Howard.
There is some strange goings on at Sirius,along with what Sirius roadkill said above, the weather channel is now gone. As a truck driver I used that channel quite often.It appears cost cutting is what they are doing no matter who they aggravate, I for one don’t expect a lot from Sirius/xm when it comes to re signing high priced talent.
I love Howard,O&A and Ron and Fez and hope ALL come back but I’m not holding my breath.
If o and a dont come back i will cancel my subscription.O and a is the only reason i have sirius xm.
Sirius/XM is being run by old radio guys who may not understand the way the new market is heading. Why should I pay for a service I rarely use? ONLY if there is something there i really want. I can get music everywhere,and podcasts for general amusement but Howard or O&A are exclusive to sat. radio unless I want to break the law by stealing the show.
It has been said there is nothing new, so in order to separate your business from others you need a secret recipe or secret sauce. Shows like Howard or Opie and Anthony are sirius/xm’s secret sauce. Without them what makes sirius/xm different,not just now but in the future when the internet competition could become a real threat.
Without non music content Sirius will fail. Karmazin has ruined SiriusXM he turned it into KRock with less comercials…just awful. Stern will never get the contract he thinks he deserves. My bet is Sirius buys the rights to his catalogue and Howard will do an occasional live show. Ron and Fez even without a mentally healthy Fez are great and I hope their contract gets renewed. OandA have stopped trying and need some Sirius love. Eric Logan left and took the boys souls with him..If Sirius looses O and A and Howard they’re done. Pandora and 365 live are much better music alternatives. Let’s hope the XM OandA return and Karmazin leaves and Logan takes over…you can dream right;)
I care nothing about O&A or Howard. Probably 90% of subscribers feel this way. Let them all go concentrate on sports content.
Really? 90%
Hell my DAD has sat radio in his new truck, and he and his buddies like to listen to stern (no accounting for taste) I am an O&A fan. he is retired, and without stern would definitely cancel his sub. If O&A cancel, i know i would cancel, as would a few friends.
By my numbers though, i only know 1 guy who likes sports radio, so i figure it would make more sense to cancel all sports content and spen their money on good talk!
Bring on Adam Coralla!
I got a good laugh at this line… “Opie & Anthony are viewed by most as the show that would be most likely used by Sirius XM to replace Howard if he decided to move on”.
Viewed by most? Really??? Tell us who exactly has that view. Is it people like the “geniuses” who thought that Opie and Anthony would be a good replacement for Stern on terrestrial radio after he decided to move on? Has everyone already forgotten what a complete failure that turned out to be?
If anything is absolutely clear from fairly recent history, it’s the fact that Opie and Anthony are by no stretch of the imagination the cure for losing Stern.
I suppose that Opie and Anthony do a fine little show for their small but fiercely loyal fan base, but this delusion that some people have that they are somehow anywhere near to being able to fill Stern’s shoes in his absence from satellite radio or any other broadcast platform is nonsensical and absurd.
Stern is done. Hasn’t been good in yrs bababooey…. yuck
Oo what does that say about O&A’s complete failure to rise above Stern and take over his spot? They couldn’t even come close in their recent attempt on terrestrial radio, and that was after Stern had left that arena so they didn’t even have to compete with him there… yet O&A still failed miserably and were once again kicked off of terrestrial radio, only this time it was for not drawing enough listeners instead of doing some stupid stunt in a desperate attempt to get noticed.
That’s what’s so funny about the people who think that O&A are some kind of powerhouse in radio… they have a pathetic history of miserably failing to even come close to overtaking the position currently held by Stern even though they claim that he is over and no longer relevant. One has to wonder how bad O&A’s career has gone if they are still struggling to have a fraction of the success of someone who they claim is all washed up.
Stren has been done for years, he just doesn’t know it yet – how many times can he say the same stuff over and over and his ‘fans’ just eat it up. I was a stern fan until O&A came around – fresher take and more funny – As far a terestrial radio let see how Howard would fair with the restrictions that were placed on O&A – Stern was never told by the ‘lawyers’ not have naked girls on his show – WTF – keep living in the 80s with Stern. – Your moms box!!!!
Why keep it without. O&A i already got an ipod and local sports radio in Boston is better than that crap they got. No o&a no money from me
Opie and Anthony are a life saver. When our family were going through hard times they kept us laughing. Some family members have passed on and a new generation of listeners in our family love the show. Travis, Danny, staff and characters of the show are awesome. My family loves Jim Norton, Opie and Anthony.We cannot imagine radio without them. RENEW long live the Opie and Anthony Show.
Bo Bo’s mom and family we love you.
Opie and Anthony are funnier ande more entertaining than Howard Stern. Howard Stern has a bigger name and often attracts celebrities to his show, but Anthony and Jim Norton are hilarious. Howard is too obsessed with having naked women on his show. Naked women do not make intyeresting radio and if a man wants to see nudity, there is tons of hardcore porn on the Internet.
I am pretty sure Sirius can take the loss of a hundred or so people if Opie and Anthony leave. I am a Stern fan, have been for years but have tried a few times to listen to O & A and see if I might like it, I didn’t, even after a few times of listening to just them for a week or so.
They have never been as popular as Stern, thats not a knock against them, no many are as popular as him but it does show that they never could take the helm and be as important to Sirius as Howard is. If people looked at the failed attempt to go back into regular radio that O & A had that even tho they may be fans of them they just aren’t that popular to most people, just a select few.