Shock Jocks in Winter

To follow up on my previous post about Rising and Falling, I recently saw that someone viewed a post I wrote about Opie and Anthony in 2009. 

O and A were radio shock jocks who bounced around the NYC airwaves and satellite for more than 15 years. They were a sometimes hilarious, sometimes idiotic, and always foul duo who were, after Howard Stern, easily the most popular shock jocks in NYC ever. Unlike Howard, however, who's been dominating NYC radio (both on regular radio and satellite) for nearly 40 years, O and A rose and fell relatively quickly. They actually rose and fell thrice -- once, in 2002, when they sent a couple of dopey fans in St. Patrick's Cathedral to have intercourse, then again 2009 when they were fired due to a station format change, and then they continued on satellite radio until 2014 when Anthony got fired for racist Tweets (and their relationship subsequently fell apart).

When I blogged about their firing in 2009, I wondered if they'd ever hit the NYC airwaves again. A decade later, the answer is clear -- no.

What's most interesting to me, however, is not what happened to Opie and Anthony but that the whole genre of radio they worked in -- shock radio -- is apparently on life support if not dead altogether. After Anthony got fired in 2014, I heard someone else on the radio say "The shock jock thing is dead."  

Once upon a time, radio DJs said outrageous things on the public airwaves, pushing up against the line of decency and often legality, doing crazy stunts with listeners (like the St. Patrick's thing), and getting big ratings and money in the process. Howard, O and A, and others like Tom Leikus were even syndicated, bringing their shtick to cities around the country. 

Oh, and there was lots of public hand wringing by public moralizers and media commentators. Was this the lowering of the bar for decency and cilivilty in society? What did this say about us as a country that so many people loved this naughty radio? Wasn't the fact that it was so profitable just disgusting? And on and on and on and on ...

These days, podcasts and the Internet have content that's WAY more outrageous (and obviously uncensored) than anything a shock jock might say or do. And the current POTUS is almost like a shock jock himself -- how could any guy on the radio compete?

The reign of shock jocks was relatively brief and their fall was due not to any public morality or pressure but technology. Oh sure, Howard's still around but his act is much calmer today than back in the day.

That's why you should listen to this episode from 2002 where Howard talks -- and frankly gloats -- about the firing of O and A after the St. Pat's stunt. He complains about how all of these other shock jocks are ripping off his act, how the whole radio sounds like him today. While his rant is obviously completely dated, it's always a fascinating artifact of history from a moment in time that no longer exists. 

Today, not only does the radio not sound like Howard Stern but Howard Stern doesn't even sound like Howard Stern today!

NYC radio ain't what it used to be.

UPDATE: This post appears to have been prescient -- here's a long analysis about how shock radio has moved from the airwaves to the halls of government. Something that began as entertainment is now shaping public policy. It's scary to realize this but, hey, that's America.