The landscape in terrestrial radio has moved from a couple years ago.
Male Hot Talk is no longer considered viable due to the possibility of special interest activist micro-groups being able to mobilise quickly against a radio station's advertisers.
These stations who base their income on advertising cannot take the risk of having a couple of hosts like O&A or even Ron and Fez. These guys can implode an advertiser base from a comment take out of context and distributed through social media by individuals who have never heard (and never will) hear the show.
Talk is dying in the US. Hence the rise of podcasts and the number of talk hosts who are scrambling for a smaller pool of jobs. Eastside Dave is a perfect example.
Right. Plus the fine structure makes it scary to risk violations.
O&A explained this once I believe, but basically the FCC used to fine broadcasters say 100k per infraction, no matter how many stations it was broadcast over. So if WNEW era O&A did something that got them fined, they cost the company 100k and it was considered part of the cost of doing business.
Now however, the FCC will fine you per occurrence too, meaning that if that offensive comment went out over 10 stations they could, in theory, fine you 1 million. That is why the KROCK O&A show had so many restrictions vs. the NEW one.
Now the "cost of doing business" is getting harder and harder to justify paying when you can switch to a format that, while it may not be as profitable, has far less risk of offenses.
They screamed that WNEW's parent company did not correct the media that they were not part of the massive fine deal struck when Howard's fines were paid.
This is not about the FCC, rather it is small groups that exchange clips of shows when something that they feel is objectionable is stated. One Million Moms tried this with Ellen and JC Penney but they failed due to the message.
O&A would be tougher to defend - even though HTG did pull off a decent job of it.
I wasn't saying THEY got fined, I was comparing the way the fine structure used to work during O&A's WNEW tenure vs, the way it worked when they were at KROCK.
IF they got a fine at NEW it would have been one fine for the violation.
IF they got fined at KROCK, they also would have been fined for every affiliate that content went out over: A fine for every station they were on that broadcasted that violation live (most syndicated shows are on tape delay in at least a few markets and it would make sense that they may edit it out)
I have to disagree with the "Talk is dying in the US" comment. Maybe the "shock jock"-esque style of talk that the average adult male between the ages of 18-45 listens to is slowly passing away, but one of the absolute biggest markets is political talk. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Michael Savage, Neal Boortz, Laura Ingram; those names are massive and commanding the monster majority of radio listeners to date. We're talking, on average, 60+ million listeners per week just to the shows above.
Don't even get me started on sports talk with people like Jim Rome, Mike & Mike, Tony Kornheiser and Dan Patrick.
I agree, but OnA aren't political talk, no matter how you slice it. If they split, I can see Anthony doing that kind of political "talk radio", but OnA are steeped did in shock jockery and their love of hot, gay radio. And I say that because not even Sirius/XM will let them have naked women in studio or even mention them, so they are resigned to doing gay radio most of the time.
Terrestrial radio is in bad shape. In Farmingdale, NY for example you have 4 or 5 radio stations run out of one small office right across from Dave and Busters.
If Vos can set up a podcast, it certainly would not take O&A much effort. (After all, Opie is a broadcast GENIUS!?!) I imagine they would use Riotcast, Carrolla's or Rogan's network to start with and then set up their own soon after. If they can figure out a way to monetize a podcast, they'll be a lot happier and make more gooder shows.
Yeah I mean very easy to them to do a free podcast lets forget about that. I'm talking about doing one for money. There is so much shit they have to do and they (O&A) are kind of lazy. They scream and yell at listeners over the littlest thing. Imagine the blow ups they will have when someone who is paying say $14 a month can't download the podcast because their website is shitty.
I don't think it's far-fetched but it doesn't seem likely to me for a few reasons:
--The genre just isn't very popular on terrestrial anymore. You don't see many non-political or non-sports talk stations anymore so where do they go? A station could definitely take a shot to stand out but the K-Rock era doesn't help their cause.
--I am sure they'd command money that ad revenue couldn't justify spending. You don't put Opie and Anthony on only 1 station as the revenue couldn't provide enough return...so you'd have to syndicate over a few markets. ClearChannel's model is to program a few different music genres and press play in all the markets, CBS is going local (and they already pulled the plug on O&A pretty recently)...who would be able to offer enough markets to justify the cost?
I honestly think the K-Rock experiment really hurt their brand; it wasn't because of content, but because only doing 3 hours and then putting the midday show for the 4th hurt their overall ratings. That didn't help to increase the revenue the stations could get from advertisers which removes their leverage to ask for money they may find appropriate.
I think SiriusXM is the last stop for them as a show. I really think SXM is making a big mistake by not putting them more front and center and helping the brand. Damn merger...
27 comments
17 mrlithic 2012-08-27
The landscape in terrestrial radio has moved from a couple years ago.
Male Hot Talk is no longer considered viable due to the possibility of special interest activist micro-groups being able to mobilise quickly against a radio station's advertisers.
These stations who base their income on advertising cannot take the risk of having a couple of hosts like O&A or even Ron and Fez. These guys can implode an advertiser base from a comment take out of context and distributed through social media by individuals who have never heard (and never will) hear the show.
Talk is dying in the US. Hence the rise of podcasts and the number of talk hosts who are scrambling for a smaller pool of jobs. Eastside Dave is a perfect example.
6 krahzee 2012-08-27
Right. Plus the fine structure makes it scary to risk violations.
O&A explained this once I believe, but basically the FCC used to fine broadcasters say 100k per infraction, no matter how many stations it was broadcast over. So if WNEW era O&A did something that got them fined, they cost the company 100k and it was considered part of the cost of doing business.
Now however, the FCC will fine you per occurrence too, meaning that if that offensive comment went out over 10 stations they could, in theory, fine you 1 million. That is why the KROCK O&A show had so many restrictions vs. the NEW one.
Now the "cost of doing business" is getting harder and harder to justify paying when you can switch to a format that, while it may not be as profitable, has far less risk of offenses.
3 mrlithic 2012-08-27
O&A were never fined by the FCC.
They screamed that WNEW's parent company did not correct the media that they were not part of the massive fine deal struck when Howard's fines were paid.
This is not about the FCC, rather it is small groups that exchange clips of shows when something that they feel is objectionable is stated. One Million Moms tried this with Ellen and JC Penney but they failed due to the message.
O&A would be tougher to defend - even though HTG did pull off a decent job of it.
2 krahzee 2012-08-27
I wasn't saying THEY got fined, I was comparing the way the fine structure used to work during O&A's WNEW tenure vs, the way it worked when they were at KROCK.
IF they got a fine at NEW it would have been one fine for the violation.
IF they got fined at KROCK, they also would have been fined for every affiliate that content went out over: A fine for every station they were on that broadcasted that violation live (most syndicated shows are on tape delay in at least a few markets and it would make sense that they may edit it out)
2 gunzor 2012-08-27
I have to disagree with the "Talk is dying in the US" comment. Maybe the "shock jock"-esque style of talk that the average adult male between the ages of 18-45 listens to is slowly passing away, but one of the absolute biggest markets is political talk. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Michael Savage, Neal Boortz, Laura Ingram; those names are massive and commanding the monster majority of radio listeners to date. We're talking, on average, 60+ million listeners per week just to the shows above.
Don't even get me started on sports talk with people like Jim Rome, Mike & Mike, Tony Kornheiser and Dan Patrick.
1 drunk8gods 2012-08-27
I agree, but OnA aren't political talk, no matter how you slice it. If they split, I can see Anthony doing that kind of political "talk radio", but OnA are steeped did in shock jockery and their love of hot, gay radio. And I say that because not even Sirius/XM will let them have naked women in studio or even mention them, so they are resigned to doing gay radio most of the time.
6 lolwut314 2012-08-27
Terrestrial? More like to-sleep-trial or sumthin tsst tsst
2 [deleted] 2012-08-27
Homerun cumia
2 letsdisinfect 2012-08-27
Take us to break Fat boy!
5 Chibi_Kaji 2012-08-27
Why would they go back to that wasteland?
If they did leave Satellite, it sounds like they would probably look into podcasting.
3 not_AIDS 2012-08-27
no
3 Ptone79 2012-08-27
I hope not, the KROCK days weren't very good for the show.
1 MepMepperson 2012-08-27
not a chance.
1 stferago 2012-08-27
No way. They don't want want to walk on eggshells every day, and no company wants to hire them at the risk of losing advertisers over controversy.
1 TilDuh 2012-08-27
No
1 Thecardinal74 2012-08-27
They can do a lot more on Satellite Radio than they ever could on Terrestrial Radio, and even here they are restricted so much they are miserable.
1 captainregularr 2012-08-27
I don't think they'd even be on in a few years.
1 jdlyga 2012-08-27
Terrestrial radio is in bad shape. In Farmingdale, NY for example you have 4 or 5 radio stations run out of one small office right across from Dave and Busters.
0 [deleted] 2012-08-27
They're going podcast ala Adam Carolla.
3 Fidena 2012-08-27
They're going to be really late to the game.
0 [deleted] 2012-08-27
They'll legitimize it though. Fuck Carrolla.
5 SpaceEdge 2012-08-27
Carrolla is pretty legitimate and if they are going to podcast they sure are waiting to the last min to set things up.
1 QballDude 2012-08-27
If Vos can set up a podcast, it certainly would not take O&A much effort. (After all, Opie is a broadcast GENIUS!?!) I imagine they would use Riotcast, Carrolla's or Rogan's network to start with and then set up their own soon after. If they can figure out a way to monetize a podcast, they'll be a lot happier and make more gooder shows.
1 [deleted] 2012-08-27
I dont think they'll be on anyone's network but their own. Ant already has the setup, opie has the pride.
1 SpaceEdge 2012-08-27
Yeah I mean very easy to them to do a free podcast lets forget about that. I'm talking about doing one for money. There is so much shit they have to do and they (O&A) are kind of lazy. They scream and yell at listeners over the littlest thing. Imagine the blow ups they will have when someone who is paying say $14 a month can't download the podcast because their website is shitty.
0 [deleted] 2012-08-27
No.
0 ryanpjoyce 2012-08-27
I don't think it's far-fetched but it doesn't seem likely to me for a few reasons:
--The genre just isn't very popular on terrestrial anymore. You don't see many non-political or non-sports talk stations anymore so where do they go? A station could definitely take a shot to stand out but the K-Rock era doesn't help their cause.
--I am sure they'd command money that ad revenue couldn't justify spending. You don't put Opie and Anthony on only 1 station as the revenue couldn't provide enough return...so you'd have to syndicate over a few markets. ClearChannel's model is to program a few different music genres and press play in all the markets, CBS is going local (and they already pulled the plug on O&A pretty recently)...who would be able to offer enough markets to justify the cost?
I honestly think the K-Rock experiment really hurt their brand; it wasn't because of content, but because only doing 3 hours and then putting the midday show for the 4th hurt their overall ratings. That didn't help to increase the revenue the stations could get from advertisers which removes their leverage to ask for money they may find appropriate.
I think SiriusXM is the last stop for them as a show. I really think SXM is making a big mistake by not putting them more front and center and helping the brand. Damn merger...