Don & Mike v. Opie & Anthony.

May 28, 2002 1:43 PM

Don & Mike v. Opie & Anthony. O&A are hot in New York, but D&M are doing poorly there. The opposite is true here in DC. At the risk of perpetuating a lie by posting this story here, I can't help but think that the on-air fight between these two radio programs from Infinity Broadcasting seems a little contrived. Anyone on metafilter, or any other online forum, knows that a flamewar and controversy breeds interest.
posted by crunchland (25 comments total)

I detest O&A with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. I thought Stern was bad, but O&A are the most infantile, mysoginistic, sexist, idiot-enabling shitheads I've ever heard on the radio. It blows my mind that people listen to that garbage.
posted by starvingartist at 1:52 PM on May 28, 2002

simply for the sake of disagreeing with starvingartist, i will say that i truly enjoy opie and anthony. even though they did leave boston, thereby forsaking us, the masses (no pun intended), for new york. i say O&A for emporer (emporers?).
posted by christian at 2:05 PM on May 28, 2002

Hey, bitter antagonism sells in America. Who doesn't like to listen in on neighbors screaming at each other in the privacy of their own homes?

Same concept, wider audience.
posted by jeremias at 2:07 PM on May 28, 2002

Opie and Anthony make me laugh, laugh, laugh. Are they mean and obnoxious? Hell yeah. But Goddamn are they funny.

But I don't get to listen to them anymore - the Seattle station they were on switched formats...

Here's to hoping O & A come back in Seattle and take Tom Leykis' spot, who is every bit as rude without one-tenth the entertainment value.
posted by vito90 at 2:37 PM on May 28, 2002

I have no particular hatred for Opie and Anthony. But my god they have a boring radio program.
posted by tingley at 2:42 PM on May 28, 2002

I ¢¾ Don and Mike. I practically grew up listening to them. I hope they win. And smash their competion. And stuff.
posted by benbrown at 2:46 PM on May 28, 2002

What the heck? That was supposed to be a little heart! foo. ♥ ♥ ♥
posted by benbrown at 2:47 PM on May 28, 2002

Don and Mike are my radio gods.
posted by uftheory at 2:59 PM on May 28, 2002

How I love my PV-119.
posted by owillis at 4:43 PM on May 28, 2002

Is this one of those threads where I say "Uhh... who & who?" and everyone rolls their eyes?
posted by majick at 4:48 PM on May 28, 2002

I detest O&A with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. I thought Stern was bad, but O&A are the most infantile, mysoginistic, sexist, idiot-enabling shitheads I've ever heard on the radio. It blows my mind that people listen to that garbage.

I agree with 1000% with starvingartist. It is astonishing how offensive Opie and Anthony are. Just today I heard about twenty seconds (that's about as long as I can ever manage to listen to their show) of a song that they played that extolled the pleasures in raping babies. Raping babies! Gosh, what a laugh riot!

It is very sad that anybody listens to them. But that's capitalism, baby! That's corporate citizenship. Anything, and I mean anything, for a buck. USA! USA! USA!
posted by mrhappy at 4:55 PM on May 28, 2002

As The Simpsons so accurately summed up morning radio teams in one sentence:

"Two grown men who can't get enough of each other."

I do a lot of traveling and make it a point to find the local "rock" station to get a flavor of, say, Nashville's version of the "naughty" morning guys. Same everywhere:

1. They think they're clever.
2. They think they're funny.
3. They go on sponsored diets.

No matter how clever, how funny, or how skinny they get, most program directors have them by the balls, and I suspect that they hate themselves for that reason.
posted by sharksandwich at 5:06 PM on May 28, 2002

Hey guys! I'm a major fucking star!
posted by Dennis Murphy at 6:10 PM on May 28, 2002

O & A are boring. I heard them do one funny bit, but I tried to listen to them after that, and after about the 209573rd time they did an enlongated bit impersonating Andrew Dice Clay, and after the 10,000th time they impersonated Mike Tyson, I switched to Scott and Casey (not as cutting-edge, but funny enough, and a decent news report in there too for NJ people). But now that my commute is 1.7 miles, I don't even have the time to get through the commercials before I am home.
posted by adampsyche at 6:20 PM on May 28, 2002

all this makes me wish janeane garofalo would kick stern off the air and become the new goddess of drive-time and the queen of all media.
posted by pxe2000 at 6:55 PM on May 28, 2002

Majick: Is this one of those threads where I say "Uhh... who & who?" and everyone rolls their eyes?

Probably so, but at least you're not alone.
posted by tippiedog at 7:24 PM on May 28, 2002

This seems like a setup to try to boost Don & Mike's horrendous ratings in NY (and O&A's in DC). For a somewhat less irritating take on this format, I find Ron & Fez (on WNEW after O&A) to be generally funny. It's still a shame that 'NEW has gone from being a music station (which had periods of being very good) to an all schlock-talk station...
posted by andrewraff at 7:53 PM on May 28, 2002

Hey guys! I'm a major fucking star!

You signed on (and apparently paid for the privilege) just to say that? Well, anyway - welcome, Dennis.
posted by yhbc at 7:57 PM on May 28, 2002

Thank ku vewwy muuch.
posted by Dennis Murphy at 12:32 AM on May 29, 2002

In general, I am not a fan of this type of radio show. Give me music on my radio any day

However, I used to listen to Don Geronimo all the time when he was a DJ in Chicago back in the mid-80s or so. I think he was on B96.
posted by SisterHavana at 7:31 AM on May 29, 2002

i wonder if there will be a day when the media outlets of america will ever say, 'okay, enough of this elevating misogynist idiots to obscenely high positions of influence'?
posted by maura at 8:29 AM on May 29, 2002

I'm definitely a fan of Don & Mike and have missed listening to them since they switched to middays here in DC.

I will also say that I think Opie & Anthony are about the bottom of the barrel -- being offensive is one thing, but making fun of children with debilitating diseases and cancer ... is there anything even the slightest bit funny? The only time O&A are remotely worth listening to is when Brian and Dennis Regan are on -- they're hilarious enough to make even the boring, repetitive, and unfunny nature of the O&A show bearable for a few minutes.
posted by laze at 10:07 AM on May 29, 2002

Don & Mike and Opie & Anthony get "suspended" for a few days. Convenient that it happens right after a long holiday. And considering the number of days Don & Mike resort to tape replays, I don't buy the whole bit about how the listener loses out.

Ratings whores!
posted by crunchland at 9:42 AM on May 30, 2002

i listen to imus during the morning drive because i'm turning into my father.

and funkmaster flex during the evening drive because i don't ever want to turn into my father.

by the end of the workday, i have no use for talkers. opie & anthony? don & mike? puhleeze. mike & the mad dog occasionally... but boring, unfunny imitators of the style stern stole from imus? no way.
posted by mlang at 7:11 AM on May 31, 2002

so I might need to retract my opinion about Don & Mike... they're back on today, but they're doing nothing but playing records. Records that have some sort of meaning like "We've Got to Get Out of This Place" and "It's the End of the World as We Know It."
posted by crunchland at 11:11 AM on May 31, 2002