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[skvorisdeadsorta]

I hate Sirius and I was about to get XM but now I'm thinking of holding off......

[chrisfan]

I'm done with XM. When I got it a year ago, for free, I didn't intend to keep it past the free period of time. I got hooked on Opie and Anthony, which led me to get hooked on XM online. Now that XM has fired O&A for doing exactly what they were hired to do, they don't deserve subscribers anymore.

[JACkory]

chrisfan said:

I'm done with XM. When I got it a year ago, for free, I didn't intend to keep it past the free period of time. I got hooked on Opie and Anthony, which led me to get hooked on XM online. Now that XM has fired O&A for doing exactly what they were hired to do, they don't deserve subscribers anymore.

I don't mean to sound "confrontational", but that's just bullshit. Opie & Anthony were not fired for "what they were hired to do". Sure they were expected to be controversial. From the few times I've listened to their inane show it would appear that they get an extra commision for every time they use the word "fuck".
But when they started joking about raping Condaleeza Rice they crossed the line. I've heard the comments and they are not only sickening and disgusting, they really creep me out and that kind of shit shouldn't be broadcasted by anyone, even on unregulated satellite radio. O&A tried to shift all the blame onto the guest that was on the show that day (so obviously even THEY have come to realize just how offensive, over-the-top and downright WRONG the whole thing was), but anyone who had heard that segment can tell you that the jocks were quite on-board with the guest.
As hardcore as Howard Stern is, I really don't think he would ever say something like what those two idiots did. Maybe O&A were, in the back of their simple minds, subconsciously trying to out-do Stern to become the "Champions of Satellite Radio Vulgarity". I'm not defending Howard Stern, who has had his share of very offensive moments. But rape is not a joking matter. It's taboo, and should be. Every woman in the world should be outraged by what these two bozos said in that segment, and honestly, Chrisfan, I can't for the life of me understand why you're ostensibly sticking up for these guys (so what if you were "hooked on their show").
Opie & Anthony's sorry excuse of a show is the most immature piece of shit on XM. It's more childish than the XM Kids channel (which I'd quite prefer over their program).
Moreover, they are part of the reason XM's rates went up from $9.95 a month to &12.95 a month. Yeah, it's just 3 bucks, big deal, right? It's not breaking me. Moving O&A from a paid tier show to the general line-up was the main reason for the price hike. But if all I get for the extra $3.00 they take from my credit card is Opie & Anthony's ignorant show, which I never asked for and would certainly never pay for if given a choice, I have to take it for a loss. They really should pay ME for listening to it, but I couldn't even take 'em up on that, because they're just fucking unlistenable.
So I'm glad they stuck their collective feet in their mouths and got the boot.
I only feel sympathy for any woman who has been sexually violated and happened to hear that stuff. I'm sure they can empathize with XM's decision to...uh..."fire them for what they got hired to do".
Sheesh.

[skvorisdeadsorta]

I, uh....*whew* shit man, I actually agree with Chrisfan on this one.

I personally think much of this shock-jock clean up is a witch-hunt.

[JACkory]

I'll stick up for the quality and integrity of XM anyday...
But I am PISSED because there's a problem with one of their sattelites right now and all subscribers have had no signal for the last day and a half. Apparently they were trying to upload some software into aan essential component and it caused some kind of breakdown.
They've sent notices via e-mail to subsribers and they say that the problem is "dillegently being worked on" and that service should be back to normal by "early Tuesday morning". Then I saw another press release on the XMFan website where they pushed it up to "mid-afternoon".
It's the first time this has happened, so I doubt they'll lose too many subscribers for it. I do hope they get it fixed pretty soon, because I listen to it every single day. You could say I'm addicted to it.
I know what you're saying..."Go read a book", right? But I always listen to Audio Visions when I'm reading. Or maybe "Go watch some TV". But about the only thing I watch anymore is baseball, and I almost always have the TV sound turned down and XM playing. "Go outside, then. Take a walk. Enjoy the beauty of nature". Well, ya got me there. That's a good idea. I should do that. But one has to come back home eventually, and coming home to no XM is a drag.
Ridiculous, I know.

[JACkory]

skvorisdeadsorta said:

I, uh....*whew* shit man, I actually agree with Chrisfan on this one.

I personally think much of this shock-jock clean up is a witch-hunt.

Well, I'm not in the mood to turn this into another "freedom of speech" monster thread like we did when Imus got shitcanned.

I stand by my comments as to the inappropriateness of "rape jokes", especially when one of the "shock jocks" says "I can just imagine the horror in Condaleeza Rice's face as you were just holding her down and fucking her".
Then the guest says "Punch her all in the fucking face, shut up, bitch".
Jock: "Bitch! That's exactly what I meant."
Guest: "Just, you know...and George Bush's wife? I'll fuck that bitch to death."
Jock: "Yeah?"
Guest: "Oh yeah, she needs a man."
Jock: "You diggin' her?"
Guest: "Oh, yeah."
Jock: "Hey woman! Hey woman! I'll show you a real man. Once you come by my blocks, I'll show you a REAL man."

Listen to it HERE

All I'll say is that if firing these guys for comments like these is a "witch-hunt", then give me a stake and a torch so I can be the first one to "fire" them.
He he.
But seriously, if it were a witch hunt they (the hunters) would have to be looking for reasons to fire them, or trumping up false charges with which to use against them and achieve the desired effect. These guys dug their own hole, nobody else did it for them. Nobody was even looking for an excuse to see them fired. So I don't see how anyone can see it as a "witch hunt".

Furthermore, if you were to make jokes about raping someone at your job, don't you think you'd get fired in a heartbeat? Why should it be any different for those two jackasses?

BTW, my XM reception is back again! HALLELUJAH!
Ahhh, the withdrawal symptoms are abating even as I type this.

[skvorisdeadsorta]

You feel really passionately about the issue, which is awesome, but I don't agree with you. I definitely respect your opinion so definitely don't take it the wrong way.

I'm glad your reception is back up.

[chrisfan]

Jac, with due respect, it is evident by your remarks that you're not entirely familiar with the style of the O&A show, nor are you fully familiar with the bit that got them into this mess.

Nothing about the bit went "over the line". If it had, then the bit would have stood out to listeners in a "Whoa, what did they just do" moment. Additionally, O&A would have walked away from it saying "What the hell did we just do?" (as they've both said multiple times they thought AS they were on the phone with the folks at St Patricks during the infamous sex for sam stunt) Neither of those happened. Why? Because the full bit was entirely in line with a normal day of the show. I listened to it, and when I first heard they were in hot water, I figured it was from something on a day I had missed, because I could not think of any out lf line bits they'd done.

Further, the day after the bit, before the firestorm began on line, Eric Logan, SVP of Programming for XM was in their studio raving about how happy the XM brass were with the show. He listens to their show every day. He heard the homeless Charlie bit as it was happening. And yet the next day, he declared on air how happy they were with the show, how excited XM was for what they could do to expand the show, and how they were gtetting ready to invest big money into a major construction project to re-build their XM studio. If the bit in question had been over the line for their show and for what they'd been hired to do, then NONE of this would have happened. But it was just another bit.

Further, the claims that they advocated rape are absolute poppycock. The word rape was never uttered. Yes, they talked about holding her down, but let's be brutally honest here -- there is consentual sex between adults which can involve holding a partner down, being rough, etc. Rough sex is far from rape.

Were O&A agreeing with the whole thing? Were they agreeing with Homeless Charlie declaring he was homeless because he hadn't paid his rent because his landlord was a "damn Jew"? Or, were they letting him talk, and letting him ramble on, because doing so illustrated just how wrong and out of it he was in his thinking? Since you offered the comparison to Stern, let's use it. Stern regularly features bits by KKK member Daniel Carver on his show. When he's laughing and goofing on Carver's words, are he and Robin endorsing and "in on" Carver's words? Or, are they letting him rable on because his stupdity speaks volumes and listeners get it? I don't see any difference between Stern's treatment of Carver and O&A's treatment of Homeless Charlie.

But all of that is side issues to what really matters -- XM advertises the channel as "uncensored". It's obviously not. (don;'t forget that per XM, O&A didn't get suspended for the homeless Charlie bit ... they got suspended for commenting on the reaction to the bit) They celebrate that O&A can do anything on the show they want -- only they can't. They warn listeners who don't want to hear it that the channel contains explicit language and can be channel blocked. But then they pretend that they must protect the airwaves. They brought in subscribers advertising a given product, and then suspended the employees who delivered that product.

Per Eric Logan, XM 202, the O&A channel, is the XM channel with the largest audience. XM turned their back on their single largest audience. It was a stupid business move ... as the number of subscribers they've lost over the past week (not to mention at least two advertisers) demonstrates.

[chrisfan]

I need to add one thing -- Jac, you know how frustrating it can be when you're listening to someone rail on and on against religion, Christianity, and/or the bible, and you say "How much of the bible have you read?" and they say "Bits and pieces, but not much". THen you say "Have you ever been to church?" and they say "For a couple of weddings and funerals?" It's a normal reaction to wonder how on earth such a critic can be so vocal and so firm about a topic they are so tremendously unfamilair with -- depending on misrepresented second hand sources rather than examining it for themsleves?

That's pretty much how I feel about people who make these broad sweeping declarations about a show they admittedly dislike and don't listen to. If you didn't hear the full bit, don't pretend you know what it was all about.

[JACkory]

chrisfan said:

Further, the claims that they advocated rape are absolute poppycock. The word rape was never uttered. Yes, they talked about holding her down, but let's be brutally honest here -- there is consentual sex between adults which can involve holding a partner down, being rough, etc. Rough sex is far from rape.

Okay, you make some valid points in you post, chrisfan. I certainly understand the concepts of parody and satire even when they're done in a less than subtle manner. After all, I was an avid reader of both the National Lampoon and Hustler when I was a teen, both of which often made their statements by pointing out the hypocrisy of the status quo.

And admittedly I don't like O&A's show. I HAVE listened to it, though I could never do so on a daily basis (I think the only guy I could listen to on a regular basis is Mark Levin...check him out on XM124 between 8:00-10:00pm central time every weekday...excessively conservative and a real hoot). It's cool that you find some humor value in it but I still think it's very juvenile fare (Stern is, too).
But that's my opinion based upon my personal taste. I mean no offense to anyone who enjoys it. I just wish I could get a refund on the 3 bucks a month I lose just because they decided to move them from tier to general. That REALLY wasn't fair. If they needed to raise the rates, that's fine, as long as it's not excessive (and 3 dollars really isn't) then do it. But don't blather on about how we're actually getting a good deal in the bargain because now we have O&A in the regular line-up. I'm sure they did it because of Stern's Sirius coup. I think it's kind of pathetic, because no matter how much anyone likes O&A they do not and never will have the popularity of Howard Stern.

I did want to make one specific comment on your post, in particular the one that I've placed above in a "quote".
No, consentual "rough sex" is not necessarilly a bad thing. I've got no problem with that. But somehow I doubt that a tryst between "Homeless Charlie" and Condaleeza Rice would be a consentual union. I don't think I really need to hear the bit "in context" to understand the inappropriateness of these particular comments. But if you can tell me the "true point" they were trying to make with such insensitive, degrading comments, well, I'm all ears.

[chrisfan]

Regarding your complaints on the rate hike and reason for them -- XM originally put O&A on a paid tier to measure whether or not adding them was a draw, and to protect themselves from complaints. Once they determined there weren't too many complaints and knew what the draw was, they were moved. I believe the rate hike would have happened with or without them. It's just standard for a rate hike like that to be accompanied with "Look what you're getting! It's more! It's not paying more for the same thing". That's a marketing tool. But the rate hike would have happened regardless. In fact, it could be argued that the rates are lower than they could be because of XM, for two reasons. First, O&A HAVE brought in more subscribers to XM - evident to their being the most listened to channel and the way the customer service lines were jammed with cancellations when the suspension was announced. Second, The Virus is a commercial channel. Ad revenue keeps the subscription price down. So in truth, O&A are keeping it from being a $5 or $7 rate hike.

Regarding Stern vs O&A -- You're absolutely right that the hey day of Stern's popularity is a height beyond what O&A have ever reached, or likely will ever reach. But if you compare the audiences of the two shows TODAY -- O&A's is larger -- much larger. They've got more listeners on XM than Stern has on Sirrius. On top of that, O&A has an FM audience in what is now between 15 and 20 markets I believe that Stern does not have at all. So if you're comparing audience and infuence TODAY, O&A win. Look at it this way -- O&A get Ozzy in studio to promote his new album. Stern gets an Ozzy imposter. Promotional visits go where the audience is.


Regarding your issue of rough sex and consentual sex ... You're absolutely right that sex between a homeless man who hates Jews and Condi Rice is never going to happen. Sex between a fat housewife in Iowa and Brad Pitt is never going to happen either ... but that doesn't mean the fat housewife doesn't fantasize about it or verbalize her fantasies. In the fat housewife's fantasy, it can be 100% consentual -- because it's FANTASY.

You absolutely need to hear the bit in context in order to understand what was going on. Becaue there was no one else to bring up that particular day for a studio audience, Opie invited up Homeless Charlie. They started talking to him, and his level of being "out there" was immediately evident. He ranted on and on about all sorts of things. O&A were letting him go on because 1) it was funny and 2) it illustrated what a nut the guy was. When they ran out of things to ask him about himself, they turned to current events. It says a lot that hte same nut job who would claim he was justified in not paying the rent because of his landlord's religion would look at politics in terms of who he wanted to f*!#. I don't think he had much motivation for what he was saying ... as I said, his mental state was evident through the whole interview. For Opie and Anthony, I think the humor at that point came from much the same place as the infamous Larry Flynt "ad" about Jerry Falwell. It was someone who was a member of the lowest of the low classes in the US makinga statement about a member of the most elite of the elite.

All that said Jac, I will point out that none of this has anything to do with my original point against XM which is that they suspended two guys (and the staff who works for them) because they delivered EXACTLY what XM had asked them to deliver.

[Thorngrub]

Man I don't have an XM radio but if I did, I'd be eagerly tuning in hoping to hear the new Korn song, 'evolution'/*koff*. Are they playing it, O XMers?

[JACkory]

I don't know, thorns...If they are it would be on Squizz, which I never tune in to. I listen to Liquid Metal.
If you had XM I bet you'd be listening to Liquid Metal AND Squizz, but more Liquid Metal. It is SO hard you can't compare it with anything else on the whole of XM's channel line-up.

Chrisfan. I think you'd get a kick out of the Mark Levin show.

[chrisfan]

I get a kick out of a wide variety of talk radio. I find Neal Boortz entertaining, even though he's been calling for O&A's heads this week and last. I adore Glenn Beck. I used to laugh at Howard Stern a great deal when he put effort into his show. Rush Limbaugh makes me laugh a great deal, and Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager make me thing. And Opie and Anthony (and little Jimmy Norton) make me laugh out loud on a very regular basis ... which is a good thing since Jim Norton told me oncethat I have a great giggle.

But Mark Levin doesn't really have a chance with me. Until June 15, my XM is turned off completely. After June 15, provided O&A are allowed to return, my XM will be tuned to 202 each day during those hours. In the event that they're doing a show one day that bores me, I may check it out. But as long as O&A are around, they are my top listening prority ... and if they're not around, I don't have XM anymore.

[Thorngrub]

jackory said:

I don't know, thorns...If they are it would be on Squizz, which I never tune in to. I listen to Liquid Metal.
If you had XM I bet you'd be listening to Liquid Metal AND Squizz, but more Liquid Metal. It is SO hard you can't compare it with anything else on the whole of XM's channel line-up.

Chrisfan. I think you'd get a kick out of the Mark Levin show.

Yeah, Liquid Metal sounds right up my alleyway.