So Howard Stern is having his last day on regular radio today and have a parade and all that great crap. Big deal. For those not in the know, and well you should be, the real entertainment value on satellite radio is on XM. “Shock jocks” Opie and Anthony have been kicking out the jams for over a year now over on the XM network (they’ve had an illustrious radio history pre-XM as well, which you can read about on their site). Their show is hilarious, and has the feeling of hanging out with a few of your best pals and having a good time. Howard Stern, on the other hand, has ceased to be funny for years now, and all this media hype is all for nothing. Sirius has lagged behind in the satellite radio biz since its inception, and there’s no way this is going to make that much difference, especially when they have to foot a $500 million invoice for Hoo-Hoo.
The other day on O&A, Anthony said it best. Strippers on the radio stink like shit on ice. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been channel surfing and every time I’ve gone by Howard’s show on E! he’s had another stupid bimbo talking about her tits and wanting to know if she’s hot enough to be a centerfold for Playboy. Who the hell cares? Howard’s only other shtick is to talk about his lack of penis length and oh boy, isn’t that side splitting comedy right there? Hardly. His crew are a drag, his guests are never interesting, and having the big idea to weigh some guy on the show’s bowel movement is about as retarded as any radio - satellite or regular - as it can get.
So if you need to make a decision, go with O&A. Li’l Jimmy Norton’s there, Stalker Patti, Big A, Rich Vos, Bill Burr, Patrice O’Neal, and plenty of others that have the funniest four hours of radio on the planet. And if that’s not enough, you also get Ron and Fez on right after ‘em. God bless XM. God bless O&A. Howie can keep on measuring his penis and other peoples’ crap and try to come up with half a billion dollars’ worth of funny. This dude’s allegiance lies where it’s at, however.
I’ve never heard O&A, but I’m a longtime Stern listener and you’re mischaracterizing his show. Sure, when you turn on the E! show, you’re going to see hot chicks, because that makes better television than what the rest of the show is – which is good radio.
Howard pioneered this type of radio, and while I like Jim Norton and Patrice O’Neal (are they regulars?), I’m much more likely to subscribe to Sirius than I am to XM.
Yes, they are regulars. And go for it. I was a Sirius subscriber last year, and they had about two stations I liked, and their customer service was shit. The radio I had was also shit, but that was more the fault of the manufacturer’s than Sirius. Still, it’s readily available at most stores that carry the things.
Even without O&A I would enjoy XM more. But really, I’ve never found Howie that funny, and it’s nothing to do with his brand of humor or what he does on the show. It’s just….ehhhh. And Jackie the Joke Man has gotta be one of the most annoying comics ever. And Artie Lange…guh.
I like Artie. Not so much Jackie.
What makes O&A so great? You don’t really describe what they do in your post other than to say they are better than Stern.
I’m looking around trying to find an O&A show to download, but everything appears to be more than a year old (on the p2p services, anyway).
I’ve heard XM in a friend’s truck and it seemed all right - though all he had was country stations programmed.
It’s hard to explain everything they do in such a short amount of space, but I just think that they tend to be more entertaining in an all around way instead of just always going for the obvious laughs. Howard has said a lot of bullshit about them lately in regards to his move to Sirius and how the whole courting with satellite radio came about, much of it lies. They played a clip just yesterday in another matter regarding some guy Howard’s going to be having on his station on Sirius whom he was totally insulting in all seriousness in the clip from a while back. I just think it’s funny how half a billion can change things.
I’m not trying to take anything way from Howard or his fans. I used to listen to the guy as well and watched his show from time to time, but I think his routine is old, and even according to him he’s said his last 10 years of radio have been subpar. I think the whole move to Sirius is going to be a lot less of a big deal than everyone thinks, and I don’t think it’s going to get them out of XM’s shadow in the long run as far as subscribers, etc.
What i liked on Sirius was a great station called the Underground Garage which played a whole lot of everything, and I enjoyed the comedy channel, but I can get 2 comedy channels on XM plus a bunch of other stuff I enjoy.