Reader Al writes in to appraise us on the satellite radio backlash that is currently going on. Satellite radio is a hot mess! Al writes:
As you probably know, XM has touted their service as uncensored radio with the ability by the user to block specific channels. A method of self censorship that they constantly promote in their advertisements. These channels are tagged with the “XL” moniker showing the subscriber that they can put parental controls.
Recently XM has censored “The Opie and Anthony Show” for some comments that a guest made towards two governmental officials. XM made the hosts apologize and subsequently suspended them for 30 days because they (XM) did not believe they were sincere in their apology. Many believe that XM took these steps in order to look good in front of the congressional committees that are reviewing the unwanted merger between Sirius and themselves.
This has angered many XM subscribers and loyal fans of the Opie and Anthony Show and has caused them and I to cancel our subscriptions to make them understand that we will not stand for censorship and the degradation of Free Speech on a PAID service that markets itself as uncensored. This action has and will cause a hurt in XM’s bottom line and will force shareholders to take notice that XM answers to their paid and future subscribers, not advertisers or organizations with an agenda.
I would like (hope) that you post this on your site and show everyone that the consumer is the one whose voice needs to be heard!
Thank you,
Al
No problem, Al. It seems that lots of people are canceling their XM radio subscriptions lately. What’s going on XM? —MEGHANN MARCO
XM Radio Suspends Opie & Anthony [XM]
***NEW***List of things YOU can do to help O&A [People Against Censorship]
XM subscribers backlash over O&A suspension [Digg]
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@oldhat: This issue has nothing whatsoever to do witn whether or not they are funny.
It’s all about advertising uncensored content, then censoring said content.
holy shit!!! you mean xm actually polices the infrastructure it owns? i’m shocked. absolutely shocked.
oh, & Sonnymooks – i was having dinner with your secretary last nite & she called you an asshat. fire away, cheeky fellow!
@The Meathead: exactly!
This is also a problem potentially for Stern (whom I listen to on Sirius). Even though he brings in a lot of revenue from subscribers, he still supplements it with commercials. If he loses advertisers, he can be forced off. That was the Imus situation… advertising revenue. If Advertisers can be found that will not be affected by this (like he had with his NYC channel 9 show), that will ultimately make Satellite talent “bulletproof.”
Also keep in mind that the airwaves used by XM/Sirius are “publicly owned” and could be regulated in the future.
@The Meathead: OH! You wanted to discuss THE issue!
(I take it this means you admit they are a bunch of losers?)
So the company is still correct: They are not censored (by the FCC, which does the censoring), but clearly the company will not give up its rights to editorial control or otherwise.
So a company run advertising that is technically correct, but you chumps read too much into it.
That might be like demanding your hamburger look exactly like the picture. Good luck.
@DreamWalker81: Not Really!
I can’t believe some of you people. As I recall O&A promoted anticapated rape of 3 women. And you are up in arms about ‘censorship’? Don’t you think that promotion of bodily harm should take prescedence over someone saying this, even if it’s a joke? In fact if it was a joke, that makes it even worse.
Our XM subscriptions (and we have two of them) get billed yearly, so it’ll be 7 or 8 months before we could express our discontent financially.
But if we do cancel, it’ll be over something other than shock jocks being pulled. We actually chose XM over Sirius because Sirius had Howard Stern.
I almost cancelled this past year because they took away Music Lab, but I’m more into XMU nowadays anyway. All talk radio makes me want to stab myself in the eardrums. I even tried to get into Air America when I first got XM, only to find that liberals can be just as annoying as Coulter and Hannity and Limbaugh.
Anyway, for those keeping score, it’s true that private property rights trump First Amendment rights. However, the free market trumps private property rights. XM can do whatever they want with their system but their property loses its value if they hemorrhage customers as a result. So keep on spreading the word, O&A fans. Word of mouth, whether good or bad, is a great example of free speech that doesn’t even need a constitutional lawyer. Show them that sucking up to the FCC will cost them more than it’s worth.
Unfortunately, I’m expecting there to be one satellite radio company left at this time next year. Their content will be FCC-regulated as a condition of their merger, and it’ll be just like listening to a bland Clear Channel FM station but more expensive and with worse reception. And that’s when our two XM receivers will go into the dumpster.
Satellite radio may have already failed. Hope they can prove me wrong.
I subscribe to XM for the music, not the talk radio. And despite the moral outrage being exhibited on behalf of two irritating, talentless hacks and their right to be obnoxious, I don’t feel in any way compelled to cancel. XM may not be the promised land of total freedom and immunity from social sanction you thought it was. And if that gets your panties in a wad then by all means, unsubscribe. I really think that the venom being spewed is more about the overall climate of censorship in the country (largely due to the Bush admin and its cronies) than about this particular case. If you want to get mad about something, how about the many injustices being perpetrated on completely innocent American citizens. O&A can take care of themselves.
@mac-phisto:
It must have been my last secretary, who, ironically, was fired for making offensive statements.
Seriously though, I did fire my last secretary for making making statements that were offensive, I doubt she would have had much of a free speech case, or at least no more then this joke of a news story is.
I don’t listen to O&A but I’m thinking of canceling my 2 year standing with XM because what used to be talk free radio is now riddled with annoying commentary between songs. I pay for music. Pure music. Not talk and other peoples opinions of what I have heard or about to listen to.
@JohnMc: A joke is WORSE than genuinely condoning rape?!?
Please, rethink that statement.
@Sonnymooks: lollerz. what are the chances?
Violent Acres, whose site I discovered from a few other stories on Consumerist, seems to be one of their pissed off listeners that has cancelled the service.
http://www.violentacres.com/archives/183/now-that-xm-radio…
Cancel XM? Nope. Be pissed off about censorship, sure. But cancel XM? Have I ever listened to “Opie and Anthony”? That’d be a big, fat, unqualified not on your fucking life. But I do love Lucy and Fred, the two alternative stations; the BBC World Service; and the myriad of classical and jazz stations.
Those of you who want to send a message, go ahead. But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Or the Dead Kennedys.
@loquaciousmusic:
I’ll just buy an Ipod for music. Uncensored talk is the only reason I (and many, many others) bought XM.
It’s really a shame that our country is ruled by the few who complain – effectively ruining for everyone else who can take a joke, albeit one in poor taste.
Freedom of speech does not = freedom from repercussions. Just to see that in action walk into a airport and say you have a bomb, you have the right to say it, But I’m sure you will not like what happens next.
Joking about rape works about as well as me saying, I’m going to cap your SO if they don’t do what I want. Doesn’t sound very funny and could cause me beat down if I said that to someone.
There are limits to what you can say, the government can’t tell you what they are. But everyone else can.
I’m an O&A fan who canceled his two subscriptions. Some clarifications:
- They did not “make jokes about rape”. It was a 5 second unscripted response to the comments of a homeless person. That’s 5 seconds out of 25 hours of radio in a week. The reports make it sound like it was the “O&A Rape Variety Hour”, and the clip taken out of context sounds worse than it is.
- I’m glad that Stern fans enjoy their show. Stern commonly claims that other shows, including O&A rip him off. I don’t agree with that. Even so, I hope you support O&A on principle even if you prefer Howard.
- Lastly, I watched Family Guy this weekend. There was a 30 second joke about a woman in torn, bloody clothes identifying her rapist in a lineup. The cop told her than unless she agreed to vote for Lois for mayor, she would be put in jail herself, and her rapist would go free.
Wow, that’s a MUCH MUCH worse joke about rape than O&A made, and that was on the PUBLIC airwaves, (Fox), with no warnings, before, or after about adult content.
Where are the protests getting Family Guy off the air for advocating rape? There are none, since for some reason, we support comedy in some formats but not in others. It makes no sense.
O&A weren’t “censored.” They were allowed to say whatever they wanted. And now they’ve learned that there ARE consequences that go along with the right of freedom of speech. Lack of censoring does not mean they have no responsibilities. If they attacked XM and attempted to harm the business, would XM not have the right to suspend them? If they fomented overthrow of the government, would you say that XM shouldn’t be able to suspend them? If they incited a race riot, would you say they had no right to suspend them? If they defended the Al Qaeda attacks in the WTC would you say XM couldn’t/shouldn’t suspend them?
XM’s “non-censorship” is tacitly understood to mean profanity, sexual topics, and politics. It does not mean antisocial behavior will be allowed or tolerated. It does not mean that XM is obliged to broadcast their show, no matter the content or consequence. Just as with your public right of free speech, it does not mean they can say whatever they want, whenever they want, and not have to take responsibility for it. And advocating violence, especially rape, crosses a very bright, bold line and they knew that. It was their choice, and they knew there were likely consequences.
I dropped XM months ago because they started to suck. After being a subscriber for a couple of years, I got sick of the really narrow playlist during drive time.
I wouldn’t have canceled over the O&A thing. It’s stupid but if I had some other reason to want to stick with XM, that wouldn’t have been enough for me to unsub.
The people saying that this is not a censorship issue and that a private company can suspend employees if they say something they dont like, YOURE MISSING THE POINT.
The apology in which raised this entire controversy is the censoring. XM FORCED O&A to read a pre-written apology on air for the original rape comments. They were forced to apologize for being “outrageous”, when thats how they were advertized.
People are angrier that they had to apologize in the first place, when xm202 is a supposed “uncensored” channel. THAT IS the issue that angers me. Of course O&A mocked XM for forcing them to apologize over something they should not have had to apologize about in the first place. THATS THE ISSUE.
THE APOLOGY IS THE ISSUE.
Now I listen to O&A on FreeFM because I am too cheap to pay for a XM subscription. Because of this I did not hear the comments live nor did I hear their comments on Monday (they made no mention of it this morning). However, I did hear a clip of the infamous show. Know what … not ONCE did I hear the word “rape” or the advocacy of rape. The homeless dude said that he would ‘ef Condi Rice and the First Lady. And he did refer to them with the B-word (why am I self-censoring myself?!?). Then he called the queen a horseface B*itch, or something like that.
So I ask all of you, where was the “rape” business?!? Is there a chunk of the audio that I missed or is this being overblown way out of proportion.
Regardless of what happens, I will be looking forward to hearing them tomorrow morning.
Hi, Kevin here – you may remember me as the guy who smashed his Tivo on YouTube back in February.
I am frustrated and disgusted with the current state of radio in general, and the O&A/XM situation in specific. I’ve canceled my two subscriptions in response and, once I see how things play out, I promise an entertaining sequel to the Tivo smash.
Ok… here’s the thing. As has been stated numerous times before, O&A were not censored. This 5 seconds of content everyone is up in arms about was pretty awful and they had the option to END the bit, and probably could have dumped it via a delay system. In radio, delays are common and are used to prevent more than just obscenity from getting on the air, especially in the case of an unscripted show. O&A made a choice…perhaps under this shared misconception that free speech extends to private business…
Free speech is not guaranteed in areas not regulated by government influence. Go ahead and check the Constitution, I’ll wait…
The fact of the matter is this. O&A made a choice to allow an antisocial tirade on the air. It offended people. They apologized. Had they left it at that, the furor would have died out. But alas, they bloviated(http://www.answers.com/bloviate) themselves into a suspension for not taking seriously the fact that free speech comes with responsibility. Plain and simple. They made fun of their company and their apology and THAT is what got the suspension. Prior to this XM was on the record as saying they stood by the hosts and accepted the apology. O&A’s arrogance did the rest. Censorship doesn’t even come into play.
Free FM stream: http://bdcast-infinity-wfny-fm.wm.llnwd.net/bdcast_infinit…
A few people I know canceled their XM already.
XM has been getting worse for the last 6 months or more. All top 40, pop & rock stations play the same stuff over and over from the same people. Whats the point to having 200 channels if half of them play the same thing. They are just like commercial radio anymore and afraid to play anything different.
They sold some of there channels to clear channel so they now have commercials like and free radio but we are paying to hear them.
I think O&A and dumb and never listen anyway. XM advertises them as extreme and they might say something just like they did, but thats what XM is paying them for. They were looking for something shocking to match howard stern and thats why they got so what did they expect.
Thanks, Gannoc. Some very good points. Oddly, I was listening to it “live” (on my iPod thru Audible) and I don’t remember even hearing it. I do recall hearing the part about the Queen, which was not “I want to F the Queen.” It was “F the Queen. You lost the war, go home”. It’s a minor point, but it shows how the media gets things wrong (such as the name of the show).
Anyway, I’m going to cancel XM and my audible subscription to O&A. Why? Because I want to hear O&A. If they come back, I’ll come back.
I’m highly amused that thousands of people are agitating to quit XM because O&A can’t say Carlin’s 5 Words or whatever 13-year-old puerile boytard mouthings-off that they do.
Yet they don’t quit AT&T or any of the other telecoms that handed over every single bit of consumer data to the NSA, then tried to hide it.
WAY to keep priorities and perspective, guys. Awesome!!
dresden: It’s great that you’re all banding together to support two dimwitted bigots (Opie and Anthony).
Way to stick it to the man.
Morons.
dresden, you’ve completely missed the point. It has nothing to do with those two particular dimwitted bigots and everything to do with the fact that XM advertised a private, pay service where consumers pay money to listen to uncensored, dimwitted bigots saying whatever they like. Basically, the ringleaders XM have undermined the entire point of the service for a lot of people. Uncensored radio is what landed XM a ton of its followers in the first place.
At the end of the day, this isn’t about O&A; it’s about a business not delivering what it advertised and sold its consumers. False advertising is false advertising, period.
Kudos to those who canceled their service because they are no longer receiving what they paid for. That’s being a good consumer, and as good consumerists always say, money is the only language the business speak.
I’ve passively considered upgrading to satellite for a while now, but considering XM’s shenanigans and the upcoming merger, there went that desire. I can listen to censored, homogenized neutered radio for free, thank you very much.
Audition? For Free Speech? Well I guess my comments won’t be posted. I’m a HUGE fan of Opie and Anthony. And a PROUD member of http://www.peopleagainstcensorship.org . I HATE censorship. AND more so.. Political Correcetness. I’m not so sure I agree with you on this. I mean ..can’t we all be heard..even those that are stupid..and missinformed? My point.. even the stupid people have an oppionion, Are they silenced here? I want to be consistant. Regards, Karl Bissett
@trai_dep: HUH? Spell check is yor PAL
Cancel my XM SUB? Huh?
Smash my XM…wait what? Sorry Pals. I love Opie and Anthony. I listen twice a day.EVERYDAY. Once in the mornings on XM and PALTALK..then catch the show ,un-distracted on XM while I drive my nightly 532 miles, to catch what I missed in the morning. Sorry.. NOT gonna un-sub!
I chose to use my time PROTESTING ( being that I live 900 miles from CBS in NYC) writing people that can help the cause. I Write everyday to CBS..MSNBC..FOX, ( Hannity and Colmes),and every newspaper I can.
Am I gonna smash my 200 dollar INNO? Thats about stupid. NO! I listen to the NEWS..talk radio. and more. Why should I shoot myself in the foot because of all of this?
Hmmm..I listen to Ron and Fez Replays. Don’t get that on FM down here in the south on FM.
Point being..Pals.. If someone don’t cancel their Xm SUB over this..don’t think they are not supporting O and A
Regards…Biscuiteater from Paltalk
Don’t cancel your XM. Just switch to channel 152 and listen to the Monsters. They are funnier then O and A.
DJMarc pretty much summed this one up.
you don’t diss your employer. period.
@biscuiteater: “@trai_dep: HUH? Spell check is yor PAL”
So is a functional vocabulary. How about trying to get one?
…just b/c you’re not familiar w/ 3-syllable words doesn’t mean they’re misspelled, friend.
my 2 cents
Rush, Imus, O&A have targets on their heads and when they show a weakness the lions come out. I find O&A a bit harsh and mean at times so i dont listen. But should they fall i do believe then the show i really love Ron and Fez may be next. I mean Ron jokes about eating babies. That has to be wrong, i think. Right, you cant eat babies?
I called in to cancel as well, but i was just looking to see what they would offer me to stay. They gave me a free month. Even if your not willing to cancel at least nail them for a free month of service. It all adds up, and then maybe try to cancel next month as well. Thats my plan.
O&A fills a vital media need for the people who enjoy hearing sexist and racist humor, enjoy jokes about female political figures being raped — and who are resentful at movements in society that make sexism and racism less socially acceptable as say it was in previous decades (or centuries).
They want to be able to laugh about Condoleezza Rice being raped, in the free way that perhaps in the 1930s or 1930s no ‘politically correct’ law would have prevented their grandfathers and great-grandfathers from snatching her, raping and killing her.
Besides while they understand if it was their mother, their wife, their sister, their daughter being talked about in this way, it would also be a big joke that they wouldn’t mind their friends, co-workers, neighbors laughing about, and they’d enjoy the laughter too.
Free speech right?
It would be an interesting survey to find out what else motivates such people to outrage in this way. Genocide? Child abuse? Corporate greed? Environmental Pollution sanctioned by our government? Corrupt U.S. foreign policy? Global financial resources diverted away from feeding the and housing the extreme poor? The medical insurance and security system in this country?
Oh no, it is the right to enjoy rape jokes.
Long live the American Dream!
Probabl
If you don’t defend the right to joke about rape, why is what you say any more valid? It’s either the freedom to say what you want (in the context of humor) without fear of backlash for everyone or freedom for none. If you take the rape jokes away, that sets another precedent to take away something next.
Let’s say the list is rape, sexist, vile, ethnic, government, religious.
Take out rape, next is sexist. Next is the right to joke about dead babies. Next it’s taking the right to joke about blacks or the irish drinking too much. Then you can be fired for saying jokes about Bush. Then if you mock any religious institution you’ll be blacklisted. Eventually everything on radio is safe. Why do you want to be sanitized and told what is right for you? Why do you crave being sheltered? If you don’t like it, change it, no one’s forcing you to listen. I like my humor black as night and I don’t want that taken from me.
I give to my society, yet I get demonized and stigmatized for what jokes I think are funny? I may be a social deviant, but last time I checked that wasn’t illegal.
@ sonnymooks…you are a fine example that money does not equal intelligence. Reminds me of the owner of the company I work for. Goes around spouting he can fire anyone with ease, and he will, at the drop of a hat. Thing is, he loses a LOT of good talent this way (and harms overall morale), and his production suffers for it. Ah well, you both feel like big men, and that’s all that matters right?
As for the O&A thing..sure XM can fire them, do what they want. It’s their company. When they lose millions in subscription fees afterwards…you know what? You can’t get those consumers back. Have fun folding.
I don’t care about O&A one iota. I do care that I am supposedly buying uncensored content, and apparently that is not what I am getting. I don’t care for being taken advantage of.
@Saboth:
Money does not equal intelligence, and being a fool does not proclude one from having an opinion.
I fired the employee in question because their offensive (and sometimes sexist, and racist) remarks were hurting morale among employees.
I do not know where you work, but if firing people who are intentionally rude and offensive is considered losing talent, then I feel very sorry for your co-workers.
And yes I felt like a big man being told its nice to have somebody do something right and stand up for someone then look the other way when offensive behavior occurs.
@Sonnymooks:
Sonny, Sonny… You’re spouting a “red herring” with an apologist’s accent when you justify the O&A suspension with your firing of one of your subordinates.
Firing a subordinate for sexist and racist remarks may be justified in your occupation, since the norm provides that verbal discriminatory remarks are non protected speech in the workplace.
However, O&A’s contract gives specific provisions that allow them to use provocative language within the means of their broadcast during broadcast hours. Add to the fact that it is language and behavior that is an expected norm of the show, and the promise to consumers of a product that is uncensored, and you have the justification of several seethed consumers, myself included.
I had a Pioneer Inno… Had, since I used it for target practice with my .50AE Dessert Eagle. That’s me exercising my 2nd amendment on a product that failed to deliver the goods. I guess you can say I fired it for lack of performance and productivity?
The point is that unlike your workplace, O&A, and others labeled “shock jocks”, and “social commentators” are hired on for the explicit purpose of entertaining with a sense of differing views and, sometimes, provacative material. I find no need to apologize for XM’s dealings with O&A, since the consumers ultimately gave what they felt was needed for their employed pay radio station in question… Suspension or Termination.
And I must say that I also applaude the consumers discussions on here, since it further exercises the belief that free speech STILL DOES REIGN, so long as there are those willing to exercise it.
How you might be able to relate: Call them morons or whatever you will, but at least they are something fundamentally sound, like product promises. It’s like hiring a receptionist that claims they do everything from typing 110WPM to fast summations, only to get a person who just sits their and talks to her friends on the phone all 8 hours of the workday. Would you be angry too?
I just called to cancel my XM Service. I found I was only listening to a couple channels and the $13 a month they were charging me just wasn’t worth it. I had to call twice to get through. I then was transferred three times and had to give my account information each time so they could look me up over and over.
Then, a represenative who was very hard to understand kept reading scripts about “how valued” I was and “how sad” she was I was leaving them as if she was reading from a cue card. She tried to keep me on the line as long as possible suggesting channels I may like (as if I hadn’t already checked the channel line up) and making new price offers down to 50% off but only if I prepaid them for a year. I take it they are hard up for cash and I wasn’t biting.
At the end of the call she asked me to hold for a “Customer Satisfaction Survey” (where I intended to tell them exactly how poorly that call went) and got disconnected instead! Good work!
At this rate Sirius XM should be out of business by end of the year! Who’s running that train wreck??