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N.Y. Shock Jocks Fired in Wake of Church Sex Stunt
By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 23, 2002; Page C01
The shock jocks who dreamed up a radio stunt in which a couple purportedly had sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral got a shock of their own yesterday: They were fired by their radio company and stripped of their syndicated program.
Greg Hughes and Anthony Cumia, aka "Opie & Anthony," were sacked by Infinity Broadcasting Corp. a week after they broadcast a play-by-play of a Northern Virginia couple's activity in a vestibule at the famed New York church. Their lawyer says they were simulating sex, but a transcript of the incident is unclear about what happened.
The stunt outraged Catholics and brought more than 200 calls and e-mails to the Federal Communications Commission demanding action.
Infinity acted yesterday after FCC Chairman Michael Powell announced that his agency, in an usually swift move, would investigate whether the show violated a federal rule prohibiting the broadcasting of "indecent" material. Hughes and Cumia, along with another Infinity personality, Howard Stern, have been fined repeatedly for violating the rule, but no station has ever lost its license.
The "Opie & Anthony" show originates from New York's WNEW-FM and is heard on 17 other big-city stations, including WJFK-FM in the Washington area between 3 and 7 p.m. WNEW said in a statement that the program would be replaced by another, unspecified show starting today.
Hughes and Cumia, who were suspended after the incident, were unavailable for comment yesterday. In addition, Infinity also suspended WNEW's general manager, Ken Stevens, and program director, Jeremy Coleman.
The firings were lauded by William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which filed the first formal complaint with the FCC last Friday.
"I'm very happy," said Donohue, calling Infinity's action "an example of corporate responsibility in an age of corporate irresponsibility." He added, "I don't believe the best remedy now is to revoke [the station's] license. I am not some idiot right-winger who's never satisfied. The fact is [Infinity] did exercise some responsibility. You've got to know when to get into the ring and when to get out of it. This is closure. It's over."
The firing will likely shake up programming at WJFK (106.7), which is also owned by Infinity. The "Opie" program occupied the late rush-hour shift, the second most lucrative time period in radio after morning "drive." With "O&A" gone, WJFK hosts Don Geronimo and Mike O'Meara, whose raunchy-but-tamer program preceded "Opie & Anthony," will probably move back into the late-drive shift -- a slot they abandoned last year to make room for O&A. WJFK executives were unavailable for comment yesterday.
It's unclear whether the couple involved in the incident, Brian Florence, 37, of Quantico, and Loretta Lynn Harper, 35, of Alexandria, actually had sex in the church or were merely pretending to, as their lawyer has said.
A transcript of the 14-minute stunt, provided by the FCC yesterday, implies that sex took place but does not spell it out in detail.
Most of the transcript chronicles the efforts of security guards and New York police to arrest the couple and Paul Mercurio, a staffer on the show who provided on-site descriptions via cell phone.
After the police arrived, Cumia and Hughes refer to "alleged sex" several times in the transcript. "They go in there [the church] because obviously everybody knows . . . that they're just simulating the acts . . . [laughter] . . . right?" says one of the hosts, unidentified.
"They wouldn't be stupid enough to actually have [inaudible] sex in a church? Right? . . . That's what we're trying to say here," his partner (also unidentified) replies.
The firing was the second in four years for Hughes and Cumia, who were also canned by a Boston station in 1998 after announcing on April Fool's Day that Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino was killed in a car crash.
By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 23, 2002; Page C01
The shock jocks who dreamed up a radio stunt in which a couple purportedly had sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral got a shock of their own yesterday: They were fired by their radio company and stripped of their syndicated program.
Greg Hughes and Anthony Cumia, aka "Opie & Anthony," were sacked by Infinity Broadcasting Corp. a week after they broadcast a play-by-play of a Northern Virginia couple's activity in a vestibule at the famed New York church. Their lawyer says they were simulating sex, but a transcript of the incident is unclear about what happened.
The stunt outraged Catholics and brought more than 200 calls and e-mails to the Federal Communications Commission demanding action.
Infinity acted yesterday after FCC Chairman Michael Powell announced that his agency, in an usually swift move, would investigate whether the show violated a federal rule prohibiting the broadcasting of "indecent" material. Hughes and Cumia, along with another Infinity personality, Howard Stern, have been fined repeatedly for violating the rule, but no station has ever lost its license.
The "Opie & Anthony" show originates from New York's WNEW-FM and is heard on 17 other big-city stations, including WJFK-FM in the Washington area between 3 and 7 p.m. WNEW said in a statement that the program would be replaced by another, unspecified show starting today.
Hughes and Cumia, who were suspended after the incident, were unavailable for comment yesterday. In addition, Infinity also suspended WNEW's general manager, Ken Stevens, and program director, Jeremy Coleman.
The firings were lauded by William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which filed the first formal complaint with the FCC last Friday.
"I'm very happy," said Donohue, calling Infinity's action "an example of corporate responsibility in an age of corporate irresponsibility." He added, "I don't believe the best remedy now is to revoke [the station's] license. I am not some idiot right-winger who's never satisfied. The fact is [Infinity] did exercise some responsibility. You've got to know when to get into the ring and when to get out of it. This is closure. It's over."
The firing will likely shake up programming at WJFK (106.7), which is also owned by Infinity. The "Opie" program occupied the late rush-hour shift, the second most lucrative time period in radio after morning "drive." With "O&A" gone, WJFK hosts Don Geronimo and Mike O'Meara, whose raunchy-but-tamer program preceded "Opie & Anthony," will probably move back into the late-drive shift -- a slot they abandoned last year to make room for O&A. WJFK executives were unavailable for comment yesterday.
It's unclear whether the couple involved in the incident, Brian Florence, 37, of Quantico, and Loretta Lynn Harper, 35, of Alexandria, actually had sex in the church or were merely pretending to, as their lawyer has said.
A transcript of the 14-minute stunt, provided by the FCC yesterday, implies that sex took place but does not spell it out in detail.
Most of the transcript chronicles the efforts of security guards and New York police to arrest the couple and Paul Mercurio, a staffer on the show who provided on-site descriptions via cell phone.
After the police arrived, Cumia and Hughes refer to "alleged sex" several times in the transcript. "They go in there [the church] because obviously everybody knows . . . that they're just simulating the acts . . . [laughter] . . . right?" says one of the hosts, unidentified.
"They wouldn't be stupid enough to actually have [inaudible] sex in a church? Right? . . . That's what we're trying to say here," his partner (also unidentified) replies.
The firing was the second in four years for Hughes and Cumia, who were also canned by a Boston station in 1998 after announcing on April Fool's Day that Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino was killed in a car crash.
