Thursday, April 20, 2006

Opie and Anthony to Replace David Lee Roth

GROUP

The whole Stern versus Moonves versus CBS Radio feud got a lot more interesting this morning, as Opie and Anthony, nemeses to the Stern Radio Show, are booked to compete in morning drive time as early as May. As if that weren't intense enough, Opie and Anthony will remain on XM Radio, the direct competitor of Sirius satellite radio (Stern's gig), running an FCC-friendly sanitized version while promoting the rival station on terrestrial airwaves. According to Blabbermouth.net:

"According to Hits Daily Double, CBS Radio's Joel Hollander has made a deal with XM Radio to replace David Lee Roth with Opie and Anthony. Look for the High Voltage duo to return to the terrestrial airwaves on CBS' N.Y., Philly and Dallas' Free-FMs as well as WBCN Boston, WNCX Cleveland, Pittsburgh's K-Rock and West Palm Beach's The Buzz. They will also continue to be heard on XM channel 202."

This, from a Corsair February 21 post:

"The relatively serene space of satellite radio is about to be filled with the cacophony of insane violence. (The Corsair pours himself a glass of Chateau D'Yquem) Here's the backstory: Howard Stern was the primary influence on Opie and Anthony, their symbolic radio father, but when the two brash radio pranksters started gaining buzz and ratings -- mostly by talking on-air about the goings on on the Stern Show, extending his bits -- Howard angrily demanded of Mel Karmazin that the duo be barred from mentioning his show on air. Soon afterwards they were kicked off of Infinity radio to the gloating of an obviously pleased Stern. In that time, the talented Opie and Anthony, who regard themselves as the heirs -- pretenders? -- of Stern, have grown bitter and remarkably resourceful.

"In the old days there would be no competetion between the two. On terrestrial radio, Stern had over 10 million loyal listeners. That was then, this is now; Howard Stern is, essentially, starting from scratch (he has now about 2 million satellite listeners; Opie and Anthony, who have been in the space almost a year, have probably about the same, perhaps a whisper less). The young and ambitious Opie and Anthony are the rogue-rebellious Shakespearean Princes trying -- perhaps in vain -- to dethrone the rightful King of all Media, Howard Stern, whom, they contend, is past his prime."

And what does Howard Stern think? Other than his telling Sumner Restone to Shut his F**ing Mouth? From Marksfriggin:

"Howard explained how Opie and Anthony were fired from CBS a few years back because they had some fans having sex in a church one time. That really pissed off the catholic church and now CBS is going to put them back on the air and it looks like four Jews, Sumner Murray Rothstein (Redstone), Steve Lehrman, Joel Hollander and Leslie Moonves putting them back on the air and ignoring what they did to the Catholic church. Howard said that those guys are underestimating what that means and it's a real surprise to him. He said that it will be the ultimate end to Joel Hollander's career.

"Howard said that he hands it to Clear Channel because they rebuilt their company in a new way by going in a new direction. CBS isn't doing that, they won't just move on and forget about him and his show. Howard said that they will probably get some ratings going over there at FreeFM but it won't last in the long term. He said that they didn't even give David Lee Roth a chance to get any ratings before they revamped his show and buried the guy.

"...Gary said he has a friend who was offered some work with David Lee Roth's show and he was told that they were guaranteeing that they were going to keep Roth on for 3 years. Now, just 4 months in, Roth is gone."



Oh, it's on, it's on like Gray Poupon it's so on.

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