Save Opie and Anthony!

“You have the right to free
Speech as long as you're not
Dumb enough to actually try it!
Ha!”
-The Clash, “Know Your Rights”

I suppose it was just a matter of time before the self-appointed watch dogs came after them, but Free FM/XM Radio hosts Opie and Anthony are the latest radio personalities to be embroiled in controversy. Their entrance into the censorship fight comes because of an incident that occurred earlier this week.
To fully understand the context of what happened, one must understand the duo’s broadcasting format. The first half of the Opie and Anthony show is simulcast on both XM and fifteen or so terrestrial radio stations. This is a cleaned-up version of the show, and is broadcast from the Free FM studios in New York City.
Once that portion is completed, they then walk to the nearby XM Radio headquarters for the non-censored portion of their marathon broadcast. When weather permits, the “walkover” is broadcast on XM, and the pair is joined not only by comedian Jim Norton but fans, friends, and the occasional celebrity or two.
They also obviously encounter New York City residents that are on the streets at that time of the day. Some of these folks are people on their way to work, but a number of them are also homeless people who are regularly found at the exact same spot everyday. A handful of these people have become semi-regular contributors to the show, and a number of them were bused to an affluent shopping mall last December for a “Homeless Shopping Spree” broadcast.
The walkover was not broadcast this past Wednesday, but the pair came across an interesting homeless guy named Charlie. He was invited up to the studio, where he provided no-holds barred opinions on Al Sharpton, whites, Jews, Queen Elizabeth, and many others.
When asked about Condeleeza Rice, Charlie went off on a fantasy about raping the Secretary of State. After a couple of other comments, Charlie moved on to other topics. The entire exchange lasted less than 45 seconds.
The next day, a previously unknown website forwarded an out of context audio clip to Matt Drudge, and now Opie and Anthony find themselves in the same position as Don Imus, JV & Elvis, and an ever-growing number of other radio personalities. Most damaging is the errors included in most of these presentations. For example, more than one commentator has claimed that Charlie was actually a paid comedian portraying a homeless man in a scripted bit. Others have attributed Charlie's quotes to either Opie or Anthony.
Even if that was the case, the Charlie incident is much different than the situations involving Imus and JV & Elvis. While those incidents were also overblown, they did occur on commercial, advertiser-driven, traditional radio. XM Radio is subscriber-based, is labeled as raunchy, and XM provides channel-blocking software to “protect” children and the easily-offended.
One can certainly be offended by Charlie’s comments, but that is not reason enough to force XM to fire the duo. To do so would be a horrible precedent that could really alter the landscape of satellite radio, as the PC police would inevitably move on to provocative material aired on not only the other comedy channels but also the rap, metal, and punk channels. It could conceivably provoke these people to move on to cable television programming. Goodbye, Sopranos (oh wait, they’re done in a month anyway). Goodbye, Cathouse. Goodbye, Taxicab Confessions.
Broadcasters today have almost no chance to survive if they want to attract the young adult audience that traditionally craves “edgey” material. This audience demands raunchy non-PC entertainment, yet management has put such a tight noose around these entertainers that even the most popular personalities can be fired if the wrong person hears a line or two that they don’t like. Earlier in the week, Opie and Anthony railed against a Free FM handbook they were given entitled “Words Hurt”. How can a duo notorious for their non-PC look at the world survive with these restraints?
The good news is that there are signs that the broadcast community is beginning to realize that this is a witch hunt. Fox’s Sean Hannity and Shepard Smith are just a couple of the unlikely people who commented negatively on the calls for the pair’s firing.
Also assisting in the fight is a new organization, People Against Censorship, which was formed a few weeks ago to keep people informed of these witch hunts. Tomorrow afternoon, a few hundred of these brave folks will gather in New York City’s Union Square to demonstrate “against censorship, against special interest groups who attempt to censor, and to support free speech on commercial radio”. For more information, please check out http://www.peopleagainstcensorship.com.