What don't you get? The show is built around hate. Everybody on the show hates each other and everyone and everything in their lives. Hate is the thing that put the show together in the first place (hate of OJ). Look at the show over the years, it's hate hate hate. They've never said a nice word about anyone who doesn't have something they want. They are terrible fucking people and we enjoy listening to them hate each other because it makes us feel less sad about our own pathetic lives.

Not to mention they also outright hated their fans. And it was fine because who gave a shit, the show was entertaining. But now it's all coming out since the entertaining side is gone

Thanks. That is an excellent explanation. That makes sense.

The ones you love hurt you the most

You find this with almost any long-running show. Just go to the boards for Stern, Carolla, Rogan, etc. Everyone ends up disappointing everyone. That's life.

It's inevitable, really. The fans you make on the way up are the ones that like what you're doing at that very point. As you age and mature, you're going to change and lose those who were with you from the start. The key is to appeal to new audiences as your skills develop and you grow older. The problem for Opie, Anthony, and Jim is that they aren't finding those new audiences, just slowly losing the fans they had. Or, if they do manage to find a new audience, they are so on the fringe that the numbers cannot possibly compare.

At least for Stern, he's going for a completely new audience, his numbers might be lower, but he's managed at least to remain successful as his days of shock jockery fade. It's an interview show. A Larry King for a slightly different crowd, and Howard can be quite a good interviewer. Carolla is a totally different beast, but goes to show that too much talk of politics will turn anyone off, even if they agree with you.

Yes. And the long-time fans can be the most critical because they have the greatest sense of when the host is phoning it in, or relying on a crutch, or repeating old stories.

It's hard to provide that much content on a daily basis and not get stale. But that's why they call Opie "The Radio Mailman" because he delivers fresh shit each day for decades.

We're not fucking calling him "The Radio Mailman." I'm telling you, that shit is going to be slapped on a mug and sold on opieradio.com in no time.

As you age and mature, you're going to change and lose those who were with you from the start.

Tits, the Pedo and the Worm have not matured at all.

I was using "mature" as a synonym for change. For example, Anthony's change from a funny person in a neo-con. I'm sure he'd describe that as part of his maturing process. That closemindedness didn't seem to exist when O&A was at its peak.

He was always a racist fucknut. People rarely change, especially alcoholics who drink heavily for 6 decades.

Probably true, but he's certainly gotten more vocal about it as he's gotten older. Not everything out of his mouth was about race until late period O&A and his awful podcast.

John Lennon is a different ballgame. He was a piece of shit behind the scenes, but you'd never know that at the time since they didn't have a Twitter or TMZ with real time reporting. Eventually though, his lifestyle didn't match all the goofy "love" stuff he was preaching on camera, and Mark Chapman got his feathers ruffled about it. However, he had one or more mental issues that made him delusional enough to murder someone.

I don't believe the O&A fans are "delusional" as Ant so ironically put it, as the hosts are, for thinking they are creating quality content their former fans would find entertaining. If anyone is killing Ant, it's his addiction to alcohol, unstable young women, and aggressively racial tirades. One of the three will probably end up killing him. He's also killed his fan base, and so has Opie, effectively killing two shows that potentially could have been popular if done properly.

Personally, 99/100 times if I like someones music or body of work, I could give a shit what kind of person they are. John Lennon was a garbage human for the majority of his life, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate that they made some choice tracks / albums. However, O&A built a fortune on making fun of corny celebrities, and taking the piss out of other radio shows who did hack material. Now, they are corny Z-list celebrities and do hack radio shows. If they had gone on to do something great or the least bit notable, their fuck-ups would be less of an issue.

I don't consider myself a "fan" of any of the three of them, they all repulse me at this point. I come here now to see the hilarious trainwreck, because most of the people on this sub create funnier content than the hosts do.

"This is my statement" -Holden Caulfield

Was Chapman actually a fan of John Lennon's? I thought the whole thing was that he just hated Lennon, not that he was some kind of spurned former fan. He just hated Lennon's hypocrisy and egoism.

[deleted]

I stand corrected.