XM Satellite, while not subject to FCC scrutiny, has suspended the radio team of Opie and Anthony for 30 days for sexual comments made about a number of prominent female figures. First of all, I've never listened to them, though I've heard of their on-air antics. I'm assuming when they signed up with satellite radio, they believed it would finally free them from FCC rules, fines, and censorship. And yet it hasn't. Howard Stern must be paranoid by now. Having been fired before, they must have thought they had a lifetime, get out of jail free card, with satellite radio. And so they must be feeling like a brick hit them in the side of the head: Why should they be suspended; folks buying satellite radios are making an added choice to listen to them, no matter how inane it might be.
I say, wake up!
We've stretched the boundaries of decency and openness so much that perhaps it is time to be more pc and pullback. Still, groups will argue both sides of this point, the right of expression and the right to respect others. The line has grown hazy over time and even pay radio can't protect its stars from public opinion. Perhaps it is time for simple common sense to prevail; if you wouldn't like it said about you or your loved one, perhaps its best to say nothing. And in the case of Opie and Anthony, people pay for good entertainment, not cheap laughs. Like Don Imus, you are being paid a lot for your talents and abilities to entertain on radio, work harder to earn it.
I say, wake up!
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