XM Suspends Opie And Anthony
On Thursday, I wondered whether the controversial remarks on the XM Radio show "Opie and Anthony", where the two shock jocks joined an in-studio guest in joking about raping Condoleezza Rice, would result in the same kind of sanctions against the hosts as Don Imus received for his idiotic remark about the womens' basketball team at Rutgers. We have our answer now; XM has suspended the show for 30 days:
"XM Radio deplored the comments aired on “The Opie & Anthony Show” last week. At the time, the company strongly expressed its views to Opie and Anthony, and they issued an immediate apology,” the company said in the statement.“Comments made by Opie and Anthony on yesterday’s broadcast put into question whether they appreciate the seriousness of the matter. The management of XM Radio decided to suspend Opie and Anthony to make clear that our that our on-air talent must take seriously the responsibility that creative freedom requires of them,” the company added.
CNN's Paul La Monica appears to disagree with the decision:
It just goes to show that even for satellite radio, where hosts can curse and use other objectionable language since they are not being broadcast on free “terrestrial” radio, racy comments can get on-air personalities in trouble.So at the risk of angering many readers who flamed me when I suggested that there was no way Sirius or XM would hire Don Imus after CBS (CBS) fired him for his racist and sexist remarks about the Rutgers college women’s basketball team …I told you so.
I think it has more to do with the fact that consumers control the market to a greater degree than they realize, whether indirectly by pressuring advertisers, or more directly, by threatening subscriber rates. People have limits for bad taste, and XM just found out where they exist. And while the subscribers who complained may not have been O&A listeners, they still pay XM a monthly fee -- and apparently exist in large enough numbers to make a difference.
As La Monica points out, that was not the only pressure XM faced. They have inked a deal with rival Sirius to merge, which requires FCC approval, and Congress already has deep skepticism about the deal. Any controversy at this point hurts the merger, and especially one in which two emotionally stunted hosts start fantasizing about raping the Secretary of State. If Congress wanted an excuse to torpedo the merger, then O&A handed them the hook they needed.
Suspension is the proper penalty, and CBS would have done better to apply that penalty to Imus as well. It imposes limits on their tolerance for bad taste and gives the show the opportunity to exist within those limits, and it keeps their audience happy in the long run. All publisher make editorial decisions, and XM may have looser boundaries, but they still have to decide how best to keep their subscribers. It's the right decision, applied in the right manner, and it leaves the more permanent solution as a disincentive.
And this is not a free-speech issue. Opie and Anthony can start airing their show on the Internet tomorrow and become their own publishers in a heartbeat. They want a big salary, though, rather than relying on the uncertain income stream that would bring. If XM finds them offensive, or if they feel their subscriber base does, then they can dump the show whenever they want, within their contractual obligations. It's a free-market issue, not a free-speech issue. Those who disagree with XM's decision are just as free to drop them as XM is to drop immature jerks from their lineup.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on May 16, 2007 6:59 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)
Comments (14)
Posted by rbj | May 16, 2007 7:54 AM
"racy comments"?
Rape and assault are not "racy," they're crimes. Paul La Monica should know better.
Posted by Jo | May 16, 2007 8:06 AM
I agree rbj -- what they were discussing was a physical violation of a women; Imus was name calling only.
I do not believe Imus should have been fired either.
But what is typical and most disturbing is that there is nothing out of Jackson or Sharpton ... why? Because Dr. Rice is a republican. If she had been a liberaly black women, they would have been front and center on those. They label of Hypocrite still applies.
Posted by Bookworm | May 16, 2007 9:15 AM
As I opine at greater length at my blog, I think it also has to do with the Jerry Falwell legacy. Jerry Falwell's case against Hustler Magazine was the last nail in the coffin for public figures (especially political public figures) insofar as it came to having any legal rights to quash obscene and denigrating personal attacks. XM Radio simply has way less exposure from an angry Condi than CBS (with Imus) had from an angry Rutgers' basketball team. The market matters, but the fact that XM Radio isn't a legal target also matters.
Posted by ubermosher | May 16, 2007 9:45 AM
Sigh, whatever.
It's absolutely not a free market issue. It is about special interest groups becoming as shrill as possible to control content they disagree with. You can hear and see more vulgar and offensive things everyday on cable tv. If they were suspended because their comments risked the merger, my belief is that this became an issue only because critics baselessly posed this as a possibility right after this gained national attention (see the Wired blog comments) for no other reason than to scare shareholders.
"And while the subscribers who complained may not have been O&A listeners, they still pay XM a monthly fee -- and apparently exist in large enough numbers to make a difference."
I'll bet any amount of money that the suspension leads to far more subscription cancellations than occurred by those whom were offended. Far more. I cancelled my XM subscription today, and an organized effort by fans of O&A will lead to thousands more (not to mention we are flooding their customer service lines with complaints against the suspension). If it's a free market issue, they'll be back on by next week. We'll see.
Furthermore, You can make the strawman argument that XM has a right to do as they please or that "a large enough number" of people complained, but make no mistake, whatever the official reason, that official reason was the result of special interest groups, a vociferious yet small minority, rattling their sabers. If people just minded their business and didn't care what I watched on cable tv, what I listened to on satellite radio, or which sites I viewed on the Internet (because I agree that PUBLIC airwaves are different), this wouldn't be an issue and the country would be less hostile.
Posted by John | May 16, 2007 1:51 PM
Everybody talks a good talk here. Im a loyal Captins reader and I am shocked at what was written and said. My question to all of you is did Opie and Anthony say those things or did someone else? Then Ed if you think XM consumers called and asked for these 2 to be suspended you are very wrong. This is a joke and you should all be very worried about your "contract" with anyone. XM hired these guys for this reason. I pay for it, I want to hear it, and I will now cancel my XM!
Posted by NoDonkey | May 16, 2007 2:23 PM
"It is about special interest groups becoming as shrill as possible to control content they disagree with."
No, it's about a responsible corporation not wishing to be associated with this kind of gratuitous slander.
So you cancel your little subscription, so what? XM is in it for the long haul. If they're smart, they don't want to be associated with two complete idiots like this.
"You can hear and see more vulgar and offensive things everyday on cable tv."
I can hear and see things worse than glorification and glee over rape every day? Where? C-SPAN? - might agree with you there, particularly when Pelosi or Reid is speaking.
What exactly is your evil "special interest group"? I haven't heard of one. And what exactly is the matter with people organizing to speak out on an issue they care about?
Or should we just leave issues to our all-knowing masters in the MSM, who refer to "special interests" when it comes to people they don't agree with, and "grass roots" when it comes to people they do agree with.
Posted by Achillea![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/nav-commenters.gif)
| May 16, 2007 4:56 PM
Far more. I cancelled my XM subscription today, and an organized effort by fans of O&A will lead to thousands more (not to mention we are flooding their customer service lines with complaints against the suspension).
Speaking of 'shrill special interest groups' ...
Posted by LenS | May 16, 2007 10:56 PM
There is only one special interest that mattered here -- Howard Stern. There was no way in Tartarus that he would let Opie and Anthony work in the same company as him again. Since he's a significant Sirius stockholder and the most prominent DJ on either system, to make the merger work, XM needed an excuse to move O&A out asap.
I doubt that O&A really mind. They're quite content to move totally back into terrestrial radio and concentrate on Stern's old markets.
So everybody wins -- Stern doesn't have to deal with his old competition, O&A get to focus on terrestrial radio (which they've been praising for many months now), XM and Sirius get some peace and quiet to work on the merger as well as some more publicity.
Posted by Shark | May 17, 2007 10:16 AM
"especially one in which two emotionally stunted hosts start fantasizing about raping the Secretary of State"
---Except that didn't happen. I know you will dismiss anyone saying this as one of the "pests" but you need to learn before you comment. The remarks came from a homeless guy, and O&A were certainly not "fantasizing" about it.
I expect better of you.
Posted by NoDonkey | May 17, 2007 10:24 AM
"The remarks came from a homeless guy, and O&A were certainly not "fantasizing" about it."
He was their guest and they were laughing about it.
They are responsible for their guests.
I hope these two clowns join the homeless guys in eating out of garbage cans, that's where they belong.
Posted by shark | May 17, 2007 12:53 PM
"The remarks came from a homeless guy, and O&A were certainly not "fantasizing" about it."
He was their guest and they were laughing about it.
They are responsible for their guests."
If you want to use that argument, go to it. But the point- that the Captain ignorantly said they were "fantasizing" about it is wrong, as you yourself admit.
Thanks
Posted by LilColin | May 17, 2007 3:49 PM
A couple of facts:
1. Opie and Anthony made NO comments about Dr. Rice, Mrs. Bush or the Queen of England - their guest did; and
2. At no point did the word Rape come up in the segment, nor did the guest talk about doing his deplorable acts against these women's wills. You just assumed, because he was homeless he must want to rape these women, maybe he just likes rough sex.
Further - O and A were not suspended because of the comments or the bit, they were suspended because XM Radio found them to be disingenuous in their apology on Monday's show. What does that mean? The comments on Monday's show centered around the BROADER censorship issue in Radio (Imus, JV and Elvis, et al).
That should scare EVERYONE. They were suspended because they spoke out about censorship. Not because of the bit that you all found offensive - shouldn't you be upset with XM just as much as the O and A fans?
Posted by bob | May 18, 2007 8:33 AM
I am very offended by the comment made by NoDonkey
"I hope these two clowns join the homeless guys in eating out of garbage cans, that's where they belong."
that is a very hate filled statment and I cant belive captainsquartersblog would allow such a comment. I think this site should be pulled from the net! (someone give me a hug)
Posted by Hipster | May 18, 2007 10:08 AM
Opie and Anthony may not be to everyone's taste, but for those of us who consider ourselves fans of the show, we enjoy what they do - even, especially, when it transcends the mainstream boundaries of good taste and proper decorum. If you don't like what you hear, change the channel, but I resent, and will always resent others legislating, either de jure or de facto, what I can and cannot hear and enjoy in my own home or automobile.