As you may know, eleven days ago I had a rather unique experience with XM Radio customer service. I ended up getting a great deal on my satellite radio service.
Today, I cancelled the account for both of my XM radios. Tonight, I will remove all of the "in-car" equipment for the radio. Why?
Because XM Radio does not respect my right as a subscriber to chose who and what I wish to listen to.
XM Radio announced today that the company has suspended Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia, hosts of "The Opie & Anthony Show" and ceased broadcast of the show for 30 days, effective immediately.
XM Radio deplored the comments aired on "The Opie & Anthony Show" last week. At the time, the company strongly expressed its views to Opie and Anthony, and they issued an immediate apology.
Comments made by Opie and Anthony on yesterday's broadcast put into question whether they appreciate the seriousness of the matter. The management of XM Radio decided to suspend Opie and Anthony to make clear that our on-air talent must take seriously the responsibility that creative freedom requires of them.
As a company, XM provides customers with tools to control what they listen to on XM. "The Opie & Anthony Show" appears on one of XM's explicit language channels (XL). Whenever a radio is tuned to an explicit language channel, the letters "XL" continuously appear on the screen. XM frequently mentions on its explicit language channels that the content may be inappropriate for certain listeners and tells how to "block" channels that feature this type of content. Channel blocking is available through xmradio.com or by calling 1-800-XMRADIO.
Were the original comments made on their program offensive? Yes, they were. Was their apology sincere? Probably not. Should that dictate whether or not XM should take away my option of listening to them when the mood strikes me? No, it doesn't.
Yet, XM Radio still felt the need to make that decision for me and that is totally unacceptable.
I paid for XM radio because it offered the types of programs I wanted to listen to. If I didn't like something I heard, I changed the channel. If I found something offensive, I changed the channel. If I didn't care for something I was listening to, I changed the channel.
In addition to XM, I pay for DISH. I pay for many channels on DISH and have seen many programs that I thought were too graphic, too violent, or just too stupid. Guess what I do when I encounter them on my TV? I change the channel.
Opie and Anthony are shock jocks. They are paid to be controversial. Why suspend them when they do what they are paid to do?
Would they cancel the "Sopranos" because a few people were offended by the dialog? Of course not. Did they cancel "Six Feet Under" because of the homosexual scenes with some of the characters? Of course not. Why not? Because people were paying to watch the very things that offended some people.
When I pay for premium services, I expect to be the one in control of what I watch or listen to. Why would I pay for a premium service if they are going to dictate what is "appropriate"?
When XM Radio suspended Opie and Anthony, they became the type of company I no longer wish to do business with.
Read more at: Orbitcast, which has the audio in question, and Turning 25.
Chip Flowers
