Opie and Anthony was an American radio show hosted by Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia that aired from March 1995 to July 2014, with comedian Jim Norton serving as third mic from 2001. The show originated in 1994 when Cumia took part in a song parody contest on Hughes' nighttime show on WBAB on Long Island, New York. After subsequent appearances, Cumia decided to pursue a radio career and teamed with Hughes to host their own show.
The show began with a three-year stint in afternoons at WAAF in Boston. In 1998, after an April Fools' Day prank led to their firing, Hughes and Cumia relocated to afternoons at WNEW in New York City. They gradually reduced the amount of music and adopted a talk format, incorporating "shock jock" humor and regular appearances by stand-up comedians. The show became the highest rated afternoon show in New York City, and was nationally syndicated from 2001 to a peak of 17 stations. In August 2002, the show was cancelled for a controversial incident during their annual Sex for Sam contest. Infinity Broadcasting kept the hosts off the air for two years, preventing them from being hired elsewhere.
In October 2004, Opie and Anthony returned to the air in mornings on the uncensored subscription-based XM Satellite Radio from New York City. From April 2006 to March 2009, the first half of the show was simulcast on as many as 24 terrestrial radio stations owned by CBS Radio and Citadel Broadcasting. On July 3, 2014, the show abruptly ended after SiriusXM fired Cumia for posting remarks on social media about a black woman who assaulted him. Cumia started his own show, The Anthony Cumia Show, and Hughes and Norton remained at SiriusXM and hosted Opie with Jim Norton until 2016, when the pair split to pursue their own shows. In 2017, Hughes was fired from SiriusXM for filming an employee as he defecated.
History 1994–1995: Origins and WBAB Long Island
In mid-1994, Gregg "Opie" Hughes was the host of The Nighttime Attitude, a late night music radio show on WBAB on Long Island, New York. In an effort to capitalize on the extensive media coverage of the murder trial of O. J. Simpson, Hughes held a song parody contest for listeners to submit entries based on the trial. Among the thirty or so submissions that he received, one of them was "Gonna Electric Shock O. J." to the tune of "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding, performed by Rotgut, a local band featuring Anthony Cumia, a construction worker, on vocals and his brother Joe. The latter travelled to the station while Hughes was doing his show to submit a cassette tape of the parody, and only allowed Hughes to take it.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:06:23–00:07:34 The parody became a hit with the audience, who asked for the song to be played each night. As a result, Hughes invited the Cumias to perform the song live in the studio in September 1994. Recalled Hughes, "Ant and I instantly had each other the rest of the show. I was like, 'Holy shit, dude. That went pretty well. Why don't you come in next week?' Slowly but surely, he started coming in every week". Using the little funds available at the radio station, Hughes secured a small budget for Cumia to be paid for his appearances, though to Cumia, the money was not an issue as he "just wanted to get a foot in the door" in radio.
After Cumia made several more appearances on Hughes' show, the two entered discussions to become a full-time radio team. Hughes had wished to evolve his show to "more than just me on the radio", and knew it could be achieved with Cumia's on-air personality. Cumia accepted, and Hughes pitched the idea to WBAB management with the intent of moving to the morning or afternoon slot, but it was declined.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:12:14–00:12:35 During this time Ron Valeri, the program director at rock station WAAF in Boston, Massachusetts, went to Long Island to visit family and heard the two on the air. He called Hughes and offered them a spot on WAAF. Hughes then assembled an aircheck from tapes of their first shows together, and sent them to WAAF and another station in Dallas, Texas. Both stations wished to hire the duo, which led to their departure at WBAB.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:13:00–00:13:20 WAAF general manager Bruce Mittman recalled that he "almost drove off the road laughing" from listening to them, and subsequently hired them to take over afternoons from Liz Wilde.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:19:56–00:20:19 Before they left WBAB, the station offered Cumia to take over Hughes' night shift, which the two later saw as "a scumbag move" as their bits (excerpts) were being played on the morning show without their permission.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:13:00–00:14:21 Hughes was cautious about moving as he felt unsure if the show's success would translate to a new radio market.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:15:47–00:16:01 Cumia ended his manual labor job, and threw his construction tools out of his car window while driving in hope of never returning to it.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:18:00–00:18:30
1995–1998: WAAF Boston Hughes and Cumia launched their new weekday afternoon show, Opie and Anthony, at WAAF in March 1995. To their surprise, Valeri left the station soon after their arrival, and the duo came to disagreements over their show with the new program director, Dave Douglas.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:19:12–00:19:45 Cumia recalled the desire to ignore the rules and advice from management and began to play less music and talk more, which changed the dynamic of the show "within months".O&A20: Unmasked at 00:20:20–00:21:37 One of their most notable stunts during their time at WAAF was 100 Grand, a staged giveaway of $100,000 which was hyped on the air for several weeks. When it was time for the duo to give away the prize, the "winning" caller instead received a 100 Grand chocolate bar instead of the money. It was at WAAF where the show started its long running Whip 'em Out Wednesday segment that involves women flashing their breasts to drivers with a "WOW" sticker on their car. In June 1997, nine weeks into the promotion, the show was suspended for two weeks after Hughes and Cumia read out a confidential memo written by the station's management about the campaign on the air. Mittman put an end to the promotion after police contacted him over public safety surrounding it, but claimed the suspension was unrelated and over an "internal matter". In addition to their radio show, Hughes and Cumia hosted the television show Real Rock TV on WABU and released Demented World, a compilation album of their radio bits which was released in October 1997 and sold 40,000 copies. A late 1997 broadcast where Hughes threatened to punch WBCN personality Nik Carter and encouraged listeners to harass Carter was subject to a complaint and reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but no action was taken.
In April 1998, Hughes and Cumia were fired from WAAF following their April Fool's Day prank whereby Hughes and Cumia announced that Boston Mayor Thomas Menino had been killed in a car accident in Florida in the company of a Haitian female prostitute. The prank included reports from a fake police officer and news reporter, the latter a friend of Hughes.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:29:50–00:31:55 The stunt and firing received national attention from the press, and many listeners believed the story as Menino was on a flight during the prank, so he was out of contact while the event unfolded.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:32:05–00:32:22 Menino was made aware of the prank upon his arrival and responded with a letter of complaint to the FCC, pointing out the commission's broadcast regulations prohibit the broadcast of knowingly false information if it causes public harm. The FCC took no action against WAAF or Hughes and Cumia over the prank. The station's management suggested the duo have pies thrown at them in a stunt held at the city's square, but the idea was dismissed by the Mayor's office. After WAAF faced the possibility of its broadcasting license challenged for removal, the station fired Hughes and Cumia within a week after the prank, and suspended Mittman for one month and Douglas for one week.
Shortly after their firing, Hughes called the prank "a stupid bit", but both later admitted that the prank was done on purpose so they could leave the station after management offered them a disappointing raise in their salaries.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:22:43–00:24:05 In addition, the pair had hired Robert Eatman as their new agent and entered secret negotiations to move to New York City, the country's largest radio market, before going ahead with the prank. Hughes maintained he never intended to leave Boston, citing the city's growth as a radio market, the show's rise in the ratings, and plans to release a second radio album and enter a national syndication deal. The pair also had an offer to work at a station in Atlanta, Georgia which included a visit to the station, but they declined the offer.
1998–2002: WNEW New York City Rise in popularity and Norton's debut After their firing from WAAF, Hughes recalled that he and Cumia became "a wanted commodity" as they received offers from one station in Atlanta, Georgia, and WXRK and WNEW in New York City. As WXRK was already the flagship station of the popular syndicated morning program The Howard Stern Show, they chose WNEW to make it easier for them to build an audience. They entered a deal with the station's newly hired program director Garry Wall, who wanted them for their talent and ability to attract ratings, which required a meeting with management Infinity Broadcasting, the owner of WNEW, in Washington, D.C.O&A20: Unmasked at 00:35:47–00:37:12
On June 17, 1998, Hughes and Cumia had signed a three-year contract with Infinity Broadcasting, and Opie and Anthony began in afternoons from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. later that month with Rick Del Gado assigned as their new producer. The show grew in popularity over the next two years to become a top-10 rated show. In June 1999, the hosts received a Radio and Records Achievement Award for Rock Air Personality of the Year. When WNEW switched radio formats from classic rock to talk in September 1999, the show held an on-air mock funeral to bury the records the station no longer played. The show then changed its starting times from 3:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
December 1999 saw the show's first annual Homeless Shopping Spree, a segment that involved homeless people going on a shopping spree in a mall with money donated by listeners. The event was stopped by security, who had the twelve contestants removed from the building. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino declared the segment degraded and humiliated the contestants, and that it was immoral to hold such an event on the same day the city was to do a census count of the homeless townspeople. The 2008 edition of the spree was planned, but was shelved by lawyers who argued it could only take place if a mall gave permission.No holiday humor in radio pair’s jollies over degrading homeless Boston Herald
Opie and Anthony continued to grow in 2000, receiving increased industry exposure and became a top rated show in the 18–34 male demographic. In January 2000, WNEW began to air a four-hour best of program, The Worst of Opie and Anthony, on Saturday mornings. Also that month, the show won an award for Best Evening Show at the annual Achievement in Radio Awards held in the New York City area. In November 2000, the show won a Radio Music Award for Air Personality of the Year Award in the alternative rock category.