XM suspends Opie and Anthony for 30 days

[froglady]

I personally would not listen to the shows mentioned, but no one is asking me to, nor would I accidently stumble upon them. (and if I did, I would just change the channel)

ITA that cancelling your subscription(or at least letting them know how you feel) is the way to go. The companies are in business to make money, pure and simple. If they thought they would lose listeners (and money) by not censoring the shows, convince them that they are wrong, and that it's actually in their best interest to continue with the "not suitable for general audiences" programming that many listeners prefer.

It's as someone mentioned; most listeners know EXACTLY what they're in for when they tune in, that's WHY they tune in, and that's why they're willing to pay for it.

 

[maddhatir]

It's getting so bad, that pretty soon Leno and Letterman will be reduced to telling knock knock jokes for fear of offending somebody.

geeze- Those two are like Mr Rogers compared to satellite radio- Can you JUST imagine if SOMEONE found something they said offensive-

Where so some of these complainers live, in a bubble???....BUT then again- those are the people that are TOTAL freaks behind closed doors and they are telling us what is right and wrong

 

[JoeEpcotRocks]

I heard a "DJ" on Sirius say (and this sums it up)

"WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO...STICKS AND STONES???"

The "sticks and stone" expression is one of the lamest expressions around.

Words DO hurt people. People, especially adults, should be accountable for what they say.

 

[maddhatir]

The "sticks and stone" expression is one of the lamest expressions around.

Words DO hurt people. People, especially adults, should be accountable for what they say.

accountable- as in going to therapy for hurting someones feelings- get over it and go on with your life- that is how you handle it.

 

[hentob]

The "sticks and stone" expression is one of the lamest expressions around.

Words DO hurt people. People, especially adults, should be accountable for what they say.

I do not want to live in a country where hurting someone's "wittle feewings" results in a job loss

This is out of control.

 

[maddhatir]

Just listening to Howard and this is a perfect example---

They are having a roast today- they are roasting Andy Dick-and the things they are saying are just WOW, very offensive! but it's funny- MOST PEOPLE CAN TAKE A JOKE AND GO ON.

Imagine if people had to be accountable for what they say.....the entire world of comedians would collapse b/c of these complainers.

 

[RadioNate]

Censoring satellite radio is going to put it under. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the FCC has to approve the merger of the Sirius and XM. That's how I'm undersanding it.

Not just the FCC but I think the FTC because they are both publicly traded companies. I seriously could be confusing my acronyms though!

What I do know, however, is that the buzz w/in the industry is that the merger won't be approved as it currently stands. That isn't to say it will never be approved but there are some problems w/it going through as is.

The other industry buzz about O&A is that they are stunting. Insiders are speculating that on CBSs part that a format flip is coming to the "Free-FM" stations and that XM is trying to drum up publicity for itself.

A planned 'suspension' over something controversial while the talent goes on vacation is a old school radio stunt.

I'm no O&A fan (or Stern fan for that matter) but I do think the firings and suspensions have gotten out of control. People are losing their livelihoods over something that was acceptable. And while I get that the rules change, it is sort of hard to make that change when no one tells you about it.

The biggest issue I have is that there is no line. There are no hard and fast rules. They could have done the same bit 6 months ago and been fine. A producer here in Texas was fired over a bit that was full of stereotypes however an almost exact copy of the bit was aired in another market w/not as much as a listener complaint. There are no uniform standards and you don't know you broke an unwritten rule until after the fact.

And on satellite forget about it. This is a pay service, people are paying for Stern and O&A w/out regulation.

I do subscribe to XM and while I don't listen to O&A, I may ask for my monthly fee back for the month they are out.

Furthermore, I don't think we should actively cultivate stereotypes and their should be some sort of accountability but as times change people need time to adapt to the new norm.

All I know is that I'm of Polish decent. Tell me how many Polish jokes have you heard? Told? I never got bent out of shape or outraged. No I didn't find them very funny but it wasn't something for me to get all worked up about. What about Blonde jokes? Same thing. I never saw someone getting fired over a blonde joke even if it is just as stereotypical as Shrimp Fried Lice.

 

[shirleyb]

I listened to them for a few minutes yesterday on XM - and I wasn't paying attention, it could have been a "worst of" but they were talking about the Honeymooners, and how Jackie Gleason couldn't get away with threatening to "take Alice to the moon" because of people complaining about domestic violence, when everyone knew he never would touch her. And I thought they had a good point. When did we all become so darn sensitive?

 

[Mono~rail]

Not just the FCC but I think the FTC because they are both publicly traded companies. I seriously could be confusing my acronyms though!

I think you are right. The FTC being in on the merger makes sense.

I don't like the idea of the merger because I think competition among companies makes better products for consumers. If there is only one satellite radio company then, obviously, there is no competition.

I think this is a really interesting thread. I appreciate that there is someone in the radio business, Sirius listeners, XM listeners, some who listen to both, and some who listen to neither. From my interpretation, none of us like the censorship of subscription radio.

 

[LoraJ]

Wow! If Sirius did this to Howard, we'd probably cancel our subscription. So would half of the Sirius subscribers, which is why I would doubt this would happen. But who knows.

 

[D&R love Disney]

I used to love O&A when they were originally in Boston on WAAF and actually played music. I hated when they went all talk so I wouldn't even pay to listen to them but I thought satellite radio was the place to do that type of show and not get censored for it.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I sent an EMail to XM yesterday expressing my displeasure with this move and censorship in general. I'm just not sure it got there--there was no "message sent" window or anything when I clicked "send", the letter writing window just disappeared.
I would be tempted to cancel if they are fired except for the Detroit Tigers games. I could put up with DJ talk listening to oldies and classic rock on local stations, but it's hard to get the Tigers on a station here--everyone likes the Indians.
I found O&A on a Detroit station this morning since XM is only doing Ron and Fez rebroadcasts--but it was all staticy and stuff! That's why I switched to satellite!
Robin M.