Media World: XM is suspending Opie and Anthony for being themselves

Who heard the comments by Opie & Anthony? Does anyone actually listen to XM? Perhaps a few people in rental cars or those given XM as a Christmas gift and are afraid to switch to Sirius for fear of insulting Aunt Myrtle.

Besides, isn't non-censorship the crowning glory of satelite radio? Not to mention that I think O & P are paid to be copy cats of the Howard Stern show.
No one is listening to these shows unless they want to hear them.
O & P are horrible, but we should defend their right to be horrible.

pdm...no one listens to XM, if you don't count the 7 million+ with a subscription. I believe that number is more than Sirius' numbers - but that's hardly the point here...

I have XM, got it specifically for O&A. I PAY for XM. The article above makes great points, i.e. HBO. When are we going to stop treating the Constitution like it's directions - use it when you need it, otherwise, pretend it doesn't exist.

And shame on XM...they have several channels that allow "crude" or "improper" language, but because of the upcoming merger, the rich executives only see dollar signs...it's a shame

Wow... a Stern fan with a brain. Sir, you and I will never see eye to eye when it comes to what we find entertaining, but BRAVO! Thank you for seeing the real issue here, and realizing that now that this precedent has been set, Howard could very well be next. If the situation was reveresed, I'd be saying much the same thing.

its O and A not P stupid, that being first, second they have made remarks far worse then this it has also been hinted at that they will be fired from XM radio. will this result in them suing XM for wrongful termination? will their FM show being extended to a normal full length morning show now?
With all the horrible things they have said and done why has this one set things off?
and they arent a howard stern copy cat your an idiot if you believe so simply being a "shock jock" doesnt mean your ripping off howard stern. besides that howard isnt funny anymore he stopped doing that around the time private parts came out. on a day to day basis opie and anthony with jim norton discuss things and throw jokes in there as they go
many are in poor taste, but whats the point of having satelite radio and it being labeled as XL for explicit language if they cant make remarks about raping a few public figures which they themselves didnt they simply egged the hobo on for a little more of a chuckle and it worked. i laughed and so did many others.

I am one of the no-ones that enjoy listening to O&A (not O&P), I have my XM because of them. There comedy show is not for everyone, it is not only on a subscription based platform, but it is also on a Parental controlled channel. You can block their show and other shows that may not be to your taste. This is the sign of the end for XM. If they start doing this kind of censorship because of kowtowing to special interest groups, then they will set a precedent for the future of entertainment. What if HBO is pressured to censor the Sopranos? or whatever your favorite show is. We pay to listen to what we enjoy. I choose to hear them. And the real rub for people like me, who actually listened to the show and the skit in question, is that the comments were made by a guest. A pay service like this should only make this kind of decision if the people who actually support and pay for the material stop listening.

the opposite has happened here, people who have there own PC agendas have pressured this move. The fans and listeners of the show have not. The comments were not even memorable until they were reported on. The guest was a homeless man who was just ranting about current events and news items.

all that being said, the fans and supporters of the show are now canceling subscriptions to XM, and will not support XM until O&A are brought back. The rumor is they have been fired already. If you are a stockholder of the company, you may find that the subs for XM will drop dramatically.

if you believe in free speech here is a link to People Against Censorship.


I would hope you all speak out against this. Stockholders especially. If anything it looks more like Mel Karmisan and Sirius putting pressure on XM to fire O&A so they can get a better price for your stock.

-BONES

link didn't post, it is www.peopleagainstcensorship.org

I purchased my XM radio mainly for the O&A show (95% listening) and I'm going to fight XM to reimburse me for the 30 days I paid for. They have no right to throw them off the air for a paid service. They didn't throw Howard off the air when he did the same thing. I'm only one voice venting and there are millions more. Will my service with XM continue???? Sirius and XM will not get my support if something doesn't change.

I pay for the XM radio in order to listen to "O and A" not P. I will either cancel my membership, or get my money back for the 30 days they are suspended

Joshm - Thank you for pointing out my error. It is obviously O & A, not O & P. You are doing very well with your alphabet. Keep up with your studies.
Also, if you don't believe O & A are where they are at XM because XM needed something "similar" to Sirius in the "Shock Jock" category, you are mistaken. Perhaps with the merger O & A won't be needed any longer. Or, perhaps satelite is bowing to our government. We'll see.
Say hello to Aunt Myrtle.

XM facing huge subscriber losses over suspension and possible firing of Opie & Anthony

XM satellite radio has suspended and is rumored to have fired shock jocks Opie & Anthony over comments that a homeless man made during his appearance on their program towards Condi Rice, Laura Bush and the Queen of England. Fans are showing their support in large numbers for the show by canceling their subscriptions. The angry subscribers are being offered an average of 3 free months of XM satellite radio .The vast majority of the fans are turning down that offer and canceling their subscriptions. Many of the fans had multiple XM units on their accounts. The average wait time to cancel is 1-2 hours due to the large volume of cancellations by dissatisfied customers.

LINKS to Opie and Anthony message boards that have a thread with a list of cancelled subscribers .
http://fullblownaids.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12101
http://www.wackbag.com/showthread.php?t=67470

Yeah so I guess freedom of speech isn't important anymore, or something in the constitution...

I also purchased XM for the O and A show specifically, and as someone who was actually listening O and A were making a great point on their show on FM by having homeless charle say all of those things (oh and they missed the part about him saying how he would like to mug old women on REGULAR FM AND CBS ISN'T DOING ANYTHING yet on XM uncensored they have been suspended).

What was dumped from FM wasn't homeless charles urges to rape rice, or any of those other people. What was dumped was his use of the N word and the F word.

All the people choking down heeping spoonfulls of "news" the media dishes out better start thinking about who and what is gonna be next if stuff like this continues.

Pdm - If you do your research you will clearly see that Opie and Anthony moved to XM before Stern, implying that - following your logic - Sirius wanted something "similar" in the "Shock Jock" category. Joshm's comments have nothing to do with the alphabet and everything to do with the fact that you have almost no idea what you are talking about. I subscribe to XM only to listen to O & A and I will stop listening to XM if they drop the program. I don't think it's fair for you to judge the show as being "horrible" when you obviously aren't a listener or even know what the show is about (as per your O & P comment). Keep up with your studies.

Dave- You don't think XM new Howard was going to Sirius long before he got there. My judgement of O & A comes from listening long before satelite, even before they were kicked off the radio in Boston.
Those who choose to listen to them have their own likes.
My original point was how can censorship hit a place where censorship supposedly does not exist.
I support XM subscribers who are canceling. To be really effective it must hit Sirius as well.
We can not let the XM/Sirius fears of the government not allowing a merger control our freedom of speech and our right to choose what we listen too.
Peace to Aunt Myrtle

Yes they are listening to XM and O&A.. and also to Howard I suppose.. Al Sharpton wants the U.S. to be a G rated country.. He's the watch dog for us.. And for a nation that needs to be saved from this show which people pay for.. I pay for it.. I want it.. If I didn't want it I'd either block it or just not listen to it.. or cancel my subscription.. it's pay radio..

Correction: What aired was not "a man's rant about sex." It was Opie and Anthony egging someone on to fantasize and joke about raping women. Get it straight.

If Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson represented women as well as the African American community, Opie and Anthony would have been fired within 5 minutes.

What folks need to keep in mind is that this isn't simply a matter of what O&A/Imus/whomever has said that is so terribly offensive, it's that freedom of speech is being limited. People have the right to offend others. People who are offended have the right to not listen.

Commentors have made mention about if HBO were to decide to censor The Sopranos - this is an exact metaphor as to what XM is doing to O&A. It is also setting precident for those who want to limit the speech of liberal OR conserative talk show hosts because they are offended (personally, I find Rush Limbaugh offensive on many levels, therefore I don't listen to him). This is Big Brother coming.

I don't know why I even bother to reply to Howard Stern fans but here is a little piece of information that you might have looked at before coming off as uninformed and biased.

From CBS.com

"Howard Stern made his highly-publicized announcement on October 6, 2004. Opie and Anthony began their XM show two days earlier, on October 4, 2006. Public Eye regrets the error."

The thing to remember is that we pay for this servce,no matter if you are a o&a fan or that other guy on that other sat radio. Every one should cancel until thier back....I did..let them know we pay for and we can cancel when they do something stupid(let give the big guys thier 30 day susp.)

LISTEN -- Whether you think O&A are a howard stern copy or whether you think Howard is a dried up old cunt who hasnt uttered anything remotely funny in over a decade is beyond the point. THE ENEMY OF YOUR ENEMY IS YOUR FRIEND!!!!! So O&A fans and Howard fans, while despising each other, should really both be on the same page and come together. It's not about who's funnier or who was first or sucks. It's about OUR GOD DAMN FREEDOM TO ENJOY WHATEVER THE HELL WE WANT. This sets an aweful president and as an american none of us should stand for this!!! it's not about us fighting each other anymore, it's about ALL OF US fighting censorship, the government, special interest groups and the suits that cave in to them... they all want to take away our right to do and listen to whatever we want. They want us to live in their bubble, if we dont keep this country free ourselves, who will keep it free for us?