Quote:
Originally posted by SteveDallas
Whatever happened to Opie & Anthony? I assumed they'd get handed their walking papers, maybe pay a fine, hang out in radio purgatory for a couple months, and be hired back by some eager-for-ratings station.
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As far as I know, O&A themselves are still under contract with Infinity Broadcasting, which prevents them from shopping themselves to other stations or broadcasters. The rest of the O&A crew (Jim Norton, producers, etc.) are now off the payroll.
Infinity is still under the FCC's microscope over the Sex For Sam III/St. Patrick's Cathedral incident, which carried the potential for the revocation of WNEW-FM's license; in the aftermath, the WHOLE STATION ended up changing its format to Adult Contemptuous^H^H^H^H^Horary. Of course, Infinity is no stranger to the wrath of the FCC -- Howard Stern's broadcasts have led to stunning FCC-imposed fines, and the "Deminski & Doyle" show in Detroit recently received a $27,500 fine of its own and suggestions that THEIR station should have its licence revoked.
As a result, Infinity seems content to simply sit on their O&A assets, rather than (a) put them back on the air and witness the media firestorm to follow, or (b) buy them out, only for someone else to bring them in to take daily potshots at Infinity over the airwaves.
It's not just the right wing that wants to censor America. Fritz "I work for Disney" Hollings is a Democrat, and his wife was one of the PMRC creatures. Al and Tipper Gore built their public image around "protect the children from this FILTH" rhetoric in the 80's, including the infamous PMRC, "porn rock" Senate hearings, and Tipper's multiple books on the subject. They toned their output down a bit when Al prepared to run for the Presidency, only to select a running mate (Joe Lieberman) who'd picked up the return-America-to-the-1950's banner and waved it as (or more) vigorously as Tipper used to wave it.
All of the above were Democrats, but described the evils of rock music in terms that would make Christian conservatives proud: they hired a ordained minister to write their literature and minister over their traveling dog-and-pony slide shows, counted Pat Robertson and his 700 Club among their supporters, had Tipper's book published and distributed by evangelical organizations and booksellers, called for the firings of artists that failed to abide by the PMRC's standards for "obscenity," declared "porn rock" responsible for a wide variety of society's perceived ills (including teen suicide, pregnancy, Satanism, and the dreaded Destruction of our Moral Fabric), and demanded a letter-grade rating system for music (including an "O" for "Occult" rating, which raised more than a few eyebrows).
I held my nose twice to vote for Bill Clinton in the 90's -- one of my primary concerns being that Tipper Gore would be in a prominent position to crank up her crusade once again, and (in the event of a Clinton vacancy) could end up as First Lady. When Lieberman was selected as the Veep nominee, putting Al, Tipper and Joe on the same ticket, _that moment_ was when I ruled out voting Democratic in the 2000 election. Lieberman's subsequent campaign rhetoric about "no freedom from religion" and "we are all products of the same awesome God" and such served only to reinforce my decision.