The comeback is nearly complete for Opie and Anthony.
It was just four years ago when the raucous radio duo became shocked jocks, yanked off the air for their infamous “sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral” stunt. The pair are back now as satellite radio stars and terrestrial radio saviors — doing shows in both formats, and luring back listeners lost by David Lee Roth.
“Oddly enough, our goal a few years ago was just to get work,” said Anthony Cumia, one-half of the once-reviled team. “We wanted to get a job.”
Now they have two. From 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., they host a syndicated terrestrial radio program for CBS. And then, for the next two hours, Opie and Anthony bring the act to their home of the last 20 months, XM Satellite Radio.
The move made them the first broadcasters to make the shift from satellite back to terrestrial radio. And it allowed them to take over some of the stations where their nemesis, Howard Stern, ruled the ratings before his jump to Sirius Satellite Radio.
“It's the best of both worlds,” said Greg “Opie” Hughes. “We wanted to do this 18 months ago, when we heard Howard was leaving, but unfortunately CBS was still a little too scared of us. They had to fail miserably to see things our way.”
The high-profile failure was Roth, and the former Van Halen frontman disappeared less than four months after stepping in for Stern. In their first full month back on terrestrial, Opie and Anthony repaired much of the ratings damage left by David Lee.
In New York, Philadelphia and Boston, according to Arbitron, the number of listeners aged 18 to 34 basically tripled in all three markets during an average 15-minute stretch of show — although they're not at the Stern level yet.
Cleaning up their act — sort ofThe pair was dumped by CBS Radio after an August 2002 stunt where they aired a live account of listeners having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral. When they finally returned in October 2004, Opie and Anthony bolted for the unexpurgated environs of satellite radio.
But Cumia said the pair never doubted they could make their show work under the watchful eye of the Federal Communications Commission.
“On the XM show, the content we were putting across wasn't really outside FCC boundaries,” he said. “The subject matter itself, if the stories were told the right way, was fine for FM radio.”
The duo initially returned on seven stations at the end of April; on Monday, WJFK-FM in Washington will become the 11th station to carry the syndicated program. More stations are expected to join soon.
“I'm not at all surprised about O&A's rapid recovery of their audience — they're talented pros and they have very strong name recognition,” said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio.
Opie offers another explanation for their sudden success: “It just shows there's nothing to listen to. How starved were these people?”
Either way, the success provides vindication for the pair.
“We're happy to be in this position, it's the best of our careers,” said Cumia. “A couple of years back, I never thought I'd be saying that. Our goal is to make what we call the greatest comeback in radio history.”