Posted on 08/23/2002 7:07:05 AM PDT by ELS
Opie and Anthony are over and out. The New York-based shock jocks, criticized by Catholic groups for broadcasting a live account of a couple allegedly having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral, had their nationally syndicated show canceled Thursday.
The station, owned by Infinity Broadcasting, offered no further comment. The pair had been pulled off the airwaves Monday, three days after the stunt was aired.
The cancellation was announced shortly after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell directed the agency's enforcement bureau to investigate the broadcast. The FCC had been flooded with hundreds of complaints about the show.
The Greaseman (anyone remember him?) made a really stupid comment about the James Lynch story and was fired - and he hasn't resurfaced, probably because his comment was a racially insensitive.
Religion in America won't be served the same way. They'll be back, as stupid as they are because there's a market for religous bigotry.
I'm thinking L.A....this incident is sooooo Fornicalia...and very tiring (yawn).
This was not the radio station's decision. This was Viacom's decision which has larger concerns than Infinity Broadcasting. Like when Bob Grant went too far on WABC-AM the decision to can him came not from WABC but from Disney, which had larger concerns than WABC ratings.
They'll never be picked up again. Their show SUCKS! Like I said on a previoius thread about this incident, they're a lame rip-off of the Don and Mike show.
They'll be picked up by the end of the month, and they'll not only be picked up at a higher salary but they'll also have a big chunk of change from Infinity, who will have to pay out their current contract.
Big win for everyone except of couple of exhibitionists who got arrested, and who knows? They'll probably find some way to capitalize on this too, after they're done in court.
There is NO WAY Opie and Anthony could have gotten such a "contest" onto the air without the approval of higher-ups. Hell, the higher-ups no doubt encouraged them to come up with the most outrageous, over-the-top, push-the-envelope sort of thing they could do.
Opie and Anthony, good little programming geniuses that they are (or rather, were), may have come up with the idea, but "the suits" would have had to have approved of it.
The suits walk. And that is manifestly unjust.
And it also means that those same suits are still in a position to poison our airwaves with more filth.
Touche!
Jim Koch, owner of Sam Adams Beer, sponsored the "Sex for Sam" contest for the third year in a row.
You can e-mail him at:
response@samadams.com
You can also reach them by phone at 1-800-372-1131 or write to them at:
The Boston Beer Company
75 Arlington Street
Boston, MA 02116
"We look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers!"
-The Boston Beer Company
Jim Koch,
Your sponsership of O&A Sex for Sam is disgraceful and vile. FAO Swartz? A church? Come on man, have you no decency? No need to answer; I happened to be listening and heard your voice (which I associate with your beer from your many commercials) and I heard you kick it off. As the events unfolded I was pissed (in the American sense) to no end. Right then and there I decided no way would I 'sponser' your beer any more.
And futher more, I suggest you remove any and all referances to Samuel Adams, the patriot, from your overpriced beer. I think he would be ashamed to have his name tied to this immoral contest.
It's also quite ironic that you state on your site that only 'no one but his enemies called him "Sam"' and yet your site is 'samadams.com'. Jim Koch enemy of Samuel Adams.
I am sure that the tea that was thrown in the harbor tasted good too maybe even won awards, but the principle behind the gesture was just and with that same spirit I will toss your proverbial beer into the closest river and of course recycle the bottle... Good ridance.
Forever Disgusted, CJ
P.S. For the guy or gal processing this mail and the rest of the employees, I hope you are proud of your boss.
Mine was along the same lines. (I started off by asking him just how much Samuel Adams he had to drink before he thought this was a good idea?)
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