Howard Stern Vs Opie and Anthony

On Satellite Radio

    I started listening to Howard Stern back in 1993.  Since then I read his books and bought into his propaganda. Being that I was 23 at the time I thought he was the shit.  But I'm sure like a lot of his listeners I moved on or as he said to one lady who called in "I graduated"  Not that I won't listen to him now.  I still cruise by the FM channel to see what's going on. But most of the time I just keep dialing.  I really don't like his celeb interviews anymore.  The interviews seem to boil down to some sex question that the guest won't answer and Howard will spend the rest of the bit trying to get the answer.  The strippers and lesbians also do the same song and dance when they come in.  Howard will ask them to undress and then he'll say things like "Oh yeah baby" or "You look hot"  And for Christ sake can he drop the whole FM Emmys.  Shit, that and the Black History Month bit are so old.  After listening to that part of his act for over 10 years it does get boring.  The best part of his show to me was when he was married and he would talk about his marriage or even his day to day life.  Sure his marriage fell apart, and in retrospect his movie Private Parts now comes off lame.  But I used to love listening to Howard after a Thanksgiving or Christmas Holiday.  He would talk about all the craziness that happened around his house with his wife and his in laws.  To me that was the best part of his show.  But after the separation and divorce his show didn't focus on his personal life anymore.  Sure, he talks about Beth (his current girlfriend), but not with the same intensity that he once had.

    Opie and Anthony I started listening about 6 months before they were kicked off the air for the Sex for Sam bit.  From what I've read about them they have been in radio for a little more than ten years.  I'm not sure if I like them over Howard or not.  They are a lot younger and in my experience more edgier then Mr. Stern.  This shouldn't surprise anyone.  A comedian once said that stand up comedy is for the young and angry.  I find this true because I grew up with comedians like Eddie Murphy.  Just seems that when your young, broke and have nothing to lose you go the extra step to get noticed.  Opie and Anthony must know this because I find their show raw.  They may not get the same star powered guests that Howard does, but who cares. 

    At this point in time I now subscribe to XM radio for 9.99 a month plus 2 dollars more for the High Voltage Channel (Opie and Anthony Show)  So it's costing me 12 bones a month for the service.  Sirius subscribers say that Howard won't charge for his show when he comes aboard.  But basic service is 12 dollars?  This doesn't make any sense, Sirius subscribers will be paying for Howard's show, but not as a Premium Channel.  In my world, 12 dollars is still 12 dollars, despite the spin.  I'm giving Opie and Anthony One year to make me laugh.  If the show becomes the shit recycled, I'll change over to Sirius for the uncensored Howard Stern show.  But even now when I tune into Howard I don't hear any new bits, he complains he can't do the show he wants to do because of the FCC.  This is crap.  I believe that Howards best days of radio are behind him.  He's coming up on 60 in the next few years,  Sirus has paid him half a billion dollars for the next five years.  A golden parachute by any standard.  The Howard you hear, is not the Howard of ten years ago.    In case you don't know this, Howard listens to other local shock jocks, steals their bits, then makes them his own.  Then he tells his audience that the local guys are stealing them from him because he's syndicated.  What a chump.  He even stole balloon knot from Opie and Anthony.

    Remember when Howard was hawking his VHS videos 15 years back.  Videos like "Open Sores" and "Butt Bongo Fiesta"  Telling everyone they were going to be worth a lot of money in the future.  Well, I did a search on Ebay.  And they aren't going for shit.  They are worthless.  Why no one has turned them into torrent files I can't guess.  Howard has talked about releasing them on DVD but thought he would be disfranchising his listens who bought the videos for 30 bucks 15 years ago.  Hell I'm tempted to buy the videos just so I can rip them and put them to dvd.  When I tell Chris Cross from my work about this, his reply is so what.  The guy was just selling a video.  Being that Chris Cross was only 10 at the time he doesn't understand.  But fellow Stern listeners you must agree.  Howard spent days on his radio program telling everyone how great these videos were.  He was nothing less than a whore.

    The one thing that both the Opie and Anthony and Howard Stern camps are trying to spin is regulation.  Both sides are saying that the government has no jurisdiction over Satellite.  At this point in time, yes.  But correct me if I'm wrong?  I believe that Congress has decided by the year 2009 all TV stations must be broadcasting in HDTV.  And all TV's sold must output in high definition.  Of course if you have a old TV you will need to get a converter box to unscramble the HDTV signal.  But how can this be?  They can't regulate such things.  Who are they to say what the standard will be?  What goes out over the public airwaves is one thing.  We sure don't want jr. to hear the F bomb.  But the last I checked, a HDTV signal can't be seen by a standard TV with no cable or satellite hook up.  The government will step in when more people have it, then those who do not.  It will happen.  When corporations start losing money because no one is listening to their advertising because no one but the poor are listening to broadcast radio, the lobbyist will step in and laws will be changed.  And instead of "Public Airwaves" being the keyword for regulation, "Public Standard" will be.  If the majority of the public uses satellite radio, then a standard is present.  And with a standard one must police the standard because the majority listens to it.

    If you were able to follow that terrible bad flow of grammar then props to you.  I've re-read that last paragraph about a dozen or so times, and yes, it is confusing, but I feel a point was made somewhere in there.