Posted on 05/16/2007 12:51:17 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Apparently, you can't go too far on satellite radio. In what seems to be a very sketchy 'suspension', XM Satellite Radio has pulled the plug on Opie and Anthony satellite-only show for the next 30 days. According to XM's press release, the pair did not sound sincere enough in their on-air apologies following last week's crude comments made about the Secretrary of State, Queen of England and the First Lady by "Homeless Charlie" on their satellite-only program.(BRW 5/11).
For the past year, CBS Radio has been airing the terrestrial version of the show which serves as a marketing platform to promote pay-to-listen model for XM Radio service. However, CBS announced today that it will continue running the 6am to 9am program on close to two dozen of its stations around the country including WBCN 104.1FM in Boston. As of now, CBS lost one national advertiser according to NY Times report.
That kind of defensive move by XM wasn't supposed to be required in the satellite radio industry because it operates beyond the rules and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission. Indeed, a good part of the original lure and selling point of XM and its rival, Sirius Satellite Radio, was the way hosts like Opie and Anthony, Howard Stern could finally say whatever they wanted without worrying about fines, suspensions, firings, etc.
Moreover, XM's 30-day suspension doesn't make much sense in this corner. While XM execs scolded their star employees, why will the satellite radio company allow them to work and promote the show on CBS during their suspension?!
The story didn't get much play in the media outside of conservative-leaning Fox News Channel and Drudge Report. Opie and Anthony seemed to be in the clear until XM first apologized for them last Thursday, then made them apologize on Friday and then finally deemed that the pair didn't sound sorry enough in their apologies and suspended them on Tuesday.
In an e-mail to this space, one veteran radio industry observer questioned whether the whole controversy is nothing more than XM-generated publicity stunt :
"It sounds to me more like a publicity stunt for the XM executives to apologize for something that no one was complaining about. XM put its money on O&A hoping that their "shock" value would generate publicity. Much the way Howard Stern does for Sirius, even though O&A went to satellite first.
When that didn't happen they agreed to let O&A simulcast on CBS radio in hopes that people would hear them and want more. That failed miserably as O&A failed to get back lost Stern ratings and, in some major markets, pulled in an embarrassing 0.0 rating. Now they, themselves, are trying to create something that would generate some buzz for O&A and for XM. It appears that isn't even working as the major networks are ignoring it."
In this round, the role of Bernard McGuirk will be played by Homeless Charlie.
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