Opie and Anthony Returning to Terrestrial Radio (1 Viewer)

[WillG]

Like them or hate them this seems to be pretty huge for them. It's been a big story in the last couple of days and is bound to get them and XM a great deal of exposure.

Incidently, I love the Stern quote. Such wisdom from someone who constantly mocks the religious, especially Christians.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Wow, this kind of move is made out of fear, not strength. Maybe it'll work out but this really validates that things haven't been going well for them.

 

[WillG]

I guess it's how you choose to look at it. I wouldn't say things aren't going well (and O&A love to mock how O&A haters use every move that they and XM make as "validation" that they are failing). XM had O&A signed to one year contracts, so they did have to option to opt out of keeping them around if things weren't going well. CBS is desparate for talent and O&A were a proven talent for them in the past. I think it's a good deal for XM as, I think part of the deal calls for O&A to be perfectly free to mention XM on CBS, so it's constant publicity. Everybody wins. Of course, we'll never know what the real motivating factors are.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

This is a huge deal for them. The fact that they could go back there proves just how successful their XM show has been and how terrestrial radio needs actual radio stars back on the air after the DLR fiasco.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I'd say it shows that they simply are too small potatoes to draw actual subscribers to satellite radio and that there's no money to be made locking them up as an exclusive.

 

[KyleC]

Their deal with XM was already extended awhile ago. XM gets free advertising and OnA gain a whole new audience. They said this morning their show might be 6 hours now (an idea). So that would be 3 hrs for terrestrial radio and 6 full hours on XM. I don't see how we as XM subs lose out.

This also let's OnA talk to XM subs and regular listeners. Something Stern can never do.

 

[WillG]

It's being said that Howard brought only 10% of his terrestrial listeners to Sirius. Some could take that as "Not going well" either. Yes, realistically, things are probably going well for Howard, but that's how some people could see it.

Maybe it is all because it's a good business deal where everybody wins. CBS gets proven talent, XM gets a daily, 3-Hour commercial in, so far, three major markets and O&A get to bring their show back to a much broader audience.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this is a bad deal for XM. The old deal (Opie and Anthony exclusive) didn't make any sense, as meaningful portion of any national demographic really cares about O&A. People don't even know who the hell they are.

This deal makes a lot more sense for XM.

CBS Radio, that I don't know about. They'll get better ratings in the short term (they have nowhere to go but up), but they are basically running a commercial for satellite, and that's not really in their long term interests. Then again, we've seen CBS not making the best decisions of late.

 

[WillG]

Before they got kicked off of regular radio, they were doing pretty well in some major markets. Getting kicked off the air did hurt them. If that never happened, then, they could have been a big draw for XM, but who's to say that they haven't brought over a good amount of listeners? XM's head of programming, Eric Logan, seems to be pretty happy with them. Also, XM has never been huge on promoting them either (once again, fallout from their little error a while back). But at least now they will get another chance to build a broader audience again. Good Luck, Bros!

 

[Jeff Gatie]

As Howard said at the time, there is a big difference between criticizing religion and openly desecrating a church. Especially when it is due to a bit that requests people to break the law. Sex in public is illegal, after all. Howard has done a lot of things, but he never asked/requested/suggested/hinted that his listeners break the law.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Oh please!

A great point was brought up that XM really never put money into
properly promoting Opie and Anthony.

This is a GREAT move for the boys and for XM. With Opie and Anthony
playing over FREE radio, they will bring in an entirely new audience --
including Stern's thousands of listeners who never migrated to Sirius.

With nobody worth listening to on FREE radio, O&A are going to be huge!
Those people who don't want to listen to the sanitized version of their
show will certainly opt to pay for an XM subscription to hear the uncensored
version.

This is a win/win situation for XM and O&A!

 

[dailW]

so ron those thousands of stern fans in those 3-6 markets will go my god i've been missing this and go to xm.dont think so.and ron if those two are great and xm loves them so , how come they are not on the main page of xms web site?they will be off xm by the end of the year.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dail,

I take it you have some "inside knowledge" that O&A will be off
XM radio by year's end? Please share this information with us.

As for those thousands of Stern fans you were concerned about....

I predict that there will be many that will be exposed to O&A
for the first time and realize that there is something out there
that's more fresh and humorous than Howard Stern. Imagine...
an entire new audience tuning in to O&A. The people that become
fans will certainly look to XM to hear the unsanitized version of
the show.

...but you have inside information that may throw my entire
theory down the toilet, and I'd love to hear it.

 

[Brent T]

Living in Philly I was able to hear OnA on WYSP in the afternoon several years ago and didnt find them any different then all the other so called "shock jocks" don and mike, kid kriss, barski and so on.

All I know is that XM spent a ton of money in advertising this past quarter (which didnt pay off) and they will continue to do so when they could have signed Stern to an exclusive deal for an estimated 500 Mill and had alot more pub. I would have a hard time paying for XM if I signed up with them to hear OnA, when I could now hear it on Free FM with bleeps.

I hope that XM comes out well in all of this so that XM and Sirius continue to fight for our dollars. It will only benefit us.

 

[James St]

This seems to be the biggest gripe against what has been announced but people don't understand that its only half the show. O&A will do another 2-3 hours of uncensored radio on XM in addition what is heard on FM/XM from 6-9. Anthony mentioned that it would be from 9-11 possibly to noon for XM only.

It will be interesting to see how they handle commercial breaks. Do XM listeners get to listen in on FM breaks much like Paltalk users do now or will XM just do some best-of bits while FM gets commercials?

 

[Joe McCabe]

Why, because that's the answer Howard gave you?
Christ, how anyone can actually buy the spin he puts out there at this point, is beyond me.

How is huge exposure in the terrestrial market...PLUS their satellite show...AND the return to DirectTV less than a week after being removed...a move of FEAR?

It would be nice if this garbage that the Stern fans throw around actually made sense once in awhile.

 

[Joe McCabe]

Oh I can answer, it's because it's what Bubba The Love Sponge has been saying.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Factually incorrect, as can be seen by simply looking at XM's subscriber numbers.

The spin that Howie is putting on this is from a guy who realizes that 90% of his audience doesn't care about him and are waiting for something else to come along. After 10+ years of sub-par radio, what did he expect? He is hating the fact that they got this deal and he couldn't.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Sorry, but Howard has put no "spin" on anything. He said that he does not understand why CBS would hire them after they had to fire them, but he thinks CBS is just desperate. As far as O&A are concerned, he thinks it's a good move and he wishes them luck. Robin said they weren't doing anything for XM so they had to go to FM, but Howard said he didn't care about FM and wished them good luck. I just heard it on my S50, no spin, no nothing ,and they spent maybe 5 minutes on it (they spent more time feeling bad for DLR). As for "hating the fact that they got this deal and he couldn't", Howard could have had the slot, he turned it down so he could be uncensored on Sirius. Why would he be jealous of O&A going back to be censored?

 

[dailW]

1/3 comes from bubba the other 2/3 comes from gut.i keep hearing that they sign one year contracts and looking at xms website they have them burried also they would make more money on old boring radio.