How much money were Opie & Anthony making throughout their run?

[BenDovid]

@ Daniel Ross, what were the salaries like for the staff? Why won’t you answer? I’m not of the opinion it’s embarrassing if you didn’t make much because you did something you were passionate about and even if it didn’t pay off you tried, which is more than most people do.

was it really super shit, like 30k?

Than, Travis, Derek & I were the first interns to get hired at XM. However, they didn't want to pay full time, so we were allowed to report 20 hours a week for pay, but in reality we were easily working 40+ hours especially back then. We were all at $15/hr to start. That went on for a little too long. Then, Derek figured out nobody was actually checking our timesheets and he would report (and get paid for) all the hours he listed. The four of us discussed this and went to Ben. We told him that all four of us were working together and either all four of us get full time / benefits or O&A can prep their own show starting Monday. We were hired the following day at $52K/yr. This was like, early 2006? Sam came along after us, so I'd imagine he was in the $35K-$40K range to start. I left making $65K. There was always speculation between us over Erik's salary considering he was hired from day one at XM, so he was definitely getting more than us from the start. I do remember one year around raise time where Erik was super pissed and Sam found out that the SXM bosses told him that he pretty much "maxed out" his salary for what he does and he wouldn't be receiving any more money for his position. Which is accurate, I mean, say he was making $20K more than what we got to start. $72K/yr in 2004 and then managed another 15K in raises to max him out at ~$87K-90K seems about right in 2010. That was pretty good cash to sit around looking at bikini girls and eating sandwiches. None of us got anything additional during the time with CBS, despite the additional workload and hours. O&A also barely gave any kind of Xmas bonus, a $500 check if anything at all. The company also gave no wage increases in the 2008/2009 years.

 

[NoBacon]

Than, Travis, Derek & I were the first interns to get hired at XM. However, they didn't want to pay full time, so we were allowed to report 20 hours a week for pay, but in reality we were easily working 40+ hours especially back then. We were all at $15/hr to start. That went on for a little too long. Then, Derek figured out nobody was actually checking our timesheets and he would report (and get paid for) all the hours he listed. The four of us discussed this and went to Ben. We told him that all four of us were working together and either all four of us get full time / benefits or O&A can prep their own show starting Monday. We were hired the following day at $52K/yr. This was like, early 2006? Sam came along after us, so I'd imagine he was in the $35K-$40K range to start. I left making $65K. There was always speculation between us over Erik's salary considering he was hired from day one at XM, so he was definitely getting more than us from the start. I do remember one year around raise time where Erik was super pissed and Sam found out that the SXM bosses told him that he pretty much "maxed out" his salary for what he does and he wouldn't be receiving any more money for his position. Which is accurate, I mean, say he was making $20K more than what we got to start. $72K/yr in 2004 and then managed another 15K in raises to max him out at ~$87K-90K seems about right in 2010. That was pretty good cash to sit around looking at bikini girls and eating sandwiches. None of us got anything additional during the time with CBS, despite the additional workload and hours. O&A also barely gave any kind of Xmas bonus, a $500 check if anything at all. The company also gave no wage increases in the 2008/2009 years.

Opie and Anthony allowing people to work unpaid for them is pretty scumbag shit tbh.

52k starting in New York at that time sounds fair to me, the progession does also. I’m surprised.

 

[gassers]

Opie owns his condo and another house but the annual upkeep is definitely not cheap, so I doubt that those last generations in his family, and they will likely move before his kids are adults. Though he will be able to sell both of those properties at a high value. FH Riley's made way more money than he ever put into it so he took care of his siblings in a responsible way by giving them the opportunity to run a successful business. His biggest expenses in his life were probably his children, his wedding and honeymoon, and Citadel stock (which was just $100K, but still hilarious).

They also got money from things like their terrestrial deals and decent money from stuff like the XFL even. And early in their careers their live appearance fees were probably a few grand at a minimum. And we know that Opie lived with roommates and lived in tiny apartments, and drove used cars until married basically, and saved all of his money. He probably never really spent big money in his life until FH Riley's which is why he was so paranoid to keep plugging it on air.

Anthony is down probably $2million from the divorce alone between paying her and the lawyers (UNDER PROTEST). Who knows how many millions in gambling and sports betting. Artie Lange said he lost over $3million gambling in his entire lifetime, but he is an untrustworthy junkie liar, so the losses could be way higher. Anthony is a few years older than Artie is, and made more money, so the losses would be higher if they had similar gambling habits. And Anthony had the casinos sending him free limos and free hotel rooms because his losses covered all of those easily. Plus the costs for extra custodians to clean his spit off of the floors. I could see $5million or more in gambling losses across his Sirius-XM years alone. But who knows if something like $10million or more is reasonable? He certainly bragged about his gambling quite a bit.

Renting sports cars on various weekends is another thing Anthony did, as well as buying lots of expensive cars (and crashing a few). His siblings' allowances could be close to a $1million at this point. His upgrades to his mansion that he already sold at a loss like the pool, generators, and broadcast studio. And then factor in the losses over at Compound Media since day one which could be staggering. Plus paying Keith's salary and the legal fees of beating his girlfriend. The failed book tour. The feeds of his publicists and agents over the years. Sue Lightning's breast implants.

I would love to know exactly what the financial situation at Compound really is. He had to have been beyond desperate to offer Opie half of the business on at least three occasions that we know of. And he almost assuredly offered Norton something similar if he went over to Anthony's media network full time. No way that the company was making money at any of the times he literally begged Opie like a bitch to come over and help him run Compound Media.

Between paying the various shows. Renting the studio. Renting or purchasing more broadcast equipment. Paying all of the employees behind the scenes. Paying for promotion. And then massive blunders like hiring Artie Lange. It cannot have been a profitable venture. If Compound Media did not even pay for itself then that is beyond pathetic.

Don't forget Keith the Cop, I wonder what he paid him to bury all his dirt and keep Keith quiet all this time.

 

[Meownaw]

That’s not that tacky for a bathroom.

Pretty sure it's the entire house. I remember him talking about it on da show.

 

[NoBacon]

Even if you give Opie the benefit of the doubt and estimate contracts at the highest amounts and assume he saved and invested wisely and he hasn’t got a mortgage on either residence - he’s still living a lifestyle that’s unsustainable on his YouTube superchat panhandling.

Property taxes and management fees alone are insane, then he’s got two kids and a wife with a high lifestyle to maintain. I think if you’re being generous he’s worth the 5-10mi range.

Anthony is almost certainly not a millionaire anymore. His slumlord apartment and tacky shitty new build nigger town house is clear on that. He never flaunts cruises, gambling, cars, expensive guns anymore. CP media has enough pedophile enabling ballwashers to give him some revenue but he will never be rich again. Releasing another book is also a desperate move for cash, considering his others sold about 80 copies.

 

[Voscabulary]

I think if you’re being generous he’s worth the 5-10mi range.

yeah, that sounds like plenty of money to coast off of for the rest of your life. it won't last into other generations like someone else here said, but that's more than enough to sustain opie's fairly lowkey upper class lifestyle

 

[NoBacon]

yeah, that sounds like plenty of money to coast off of for the rest of your life. it won't last into other generations like someone else here said, but that's more than enough to sustain opie's fairly lowkey upper class lifestyle

Not if he’s dropping 6 figures a year in property taxes alone with nothing coming in. I imagine he’s got a large nut with those places and the size of his family.

 

[LingerLonger]

Opie and Anthony allowing people to work unpaid for them is pretty scumbag shit tbh.

It was not their choice. Sirius and XM forced them to keep an intern program. Because if O&A said on air "hey unpaid interns doing all this work is criminal" then it would open Sirius and XM up for legal liability with all of the other shows that used interns. And interns were a major workforce at Sirius and XM for all shows including the Stern Show. But O&A literally used interns to do stuff like fish shit out of the toilets or have them bang hookers and other nonsense off of the air because they didn't actually need the interns.

And one thing that O&A internships had that no other show did was allow the interns on air. Some interns literally got hours of time to learn how to actually be a broadcaster. Imagine ESPN letting someone have their own show like Intern David. Or allowing an intern to wear a pig costume and say "We are Nagel-ing it up in this bitch!". Or allowing interns to work with monsters like Ladi Di for an entire week. When you interned for O&A you got real experience and on top of that tons of interns were actually hired on the show which never happens anywhere else. People would intern for O&A because there was an actual chance of getting hired which was unlike all other shows and programs.

Stern Show however? Stern treated his main intern at KROCK Steve Grillo so badly that it is still talked about today. At Sirius, Howard and his staff would continue to use the interns for slave labor, which lead to a lawsuit against Sirius that Sirius lost. One of Stern's interns was a food gopher for Robin and was hit by a car fetching food from some deli for Robin. She was told by Sirius "we don't cover injuries for interns" and had to sue them. She ended up dropping out of the class action lawsuit and Intern Matt from O&A became the lead representative when a large group of former interns sued Sirius. The Stern intern's name was Melissa Tierney if you want to look the case up and find out more details.

 

[Single Action Army]

Intern Adam completely redeeming himself in the show's eye, after being completely grilled and broken down as a bold-faced liar, but putting on a pig suit and making fun of Erock lmao.

Perhaps not the most deplorable member of OnA, but certainly the most pathetic, hoagie boy.

 

[BenDovid]

It was not their choice.

No. We would always be asked if we wanted interns. The answer was always yes as there always needed to be people to make runs for coffee and food.

And one thing that O&A internships had that no other show did was allow the interns on air.

Stern had interns on the air all the time. Ron & Fez as well.

tons of interns were actually hired on the show

They had to hire us, we we were all about to quit simultaneously. The only hires after that were Sam and Sal. Oh wait, Butcha got hired too, but hated working for the show so he somehow transferred out to another SXM channel.

Stop making stuff up.

 

[SexGodFireBrand]

Than, Travis, Derek & I were the first interns to get hired at XM. However, they didn't want to pay full time, so we were allowed to report 20 hours a week for pay, but in reality we were easily working 40+ hours especially back then. We were all at $15/hr to start. That went on for a little too long. Then, Derek figured out nobody was actually checking our timesheets and he would report (and get paid for) all the hours he listed. The four of us discussed this and went to Ben. We told him that all four of us were working together and either all four of us get full time / benefits or O&A can prep their own show starting Monday. We were hired the following day at $52K/yr. This was like, early 2006? Sam came along after us, so I'd imagine he was in the $35K-$40K range to start. I left making $65K. There was always speculation between us over Erik's salary considering he was hired from day one at XM, so he was definitely getting more than us from the start. I do remember one year around raise time where Erik was super pissed and Sam found out that the SXM bosses told him that he pretty much "maxed out" his salary for what he does and he wouldn't be receiving any more money for his position. Which is accurate, I mean, say he was making $20K more than what we got to start. $72K/yr in 2004 and then managed another 15K in raises to max him out at ~$87K-90K seems about right in 2010. That was pretty good cash to sit around looking at bikini girls and eating sandwiches. None of us got anything additional during the time with CBS, despite the additional workload and hours. O&A also barely gave any kind of Xmas bonus, a $500 check if anything at all. The company also gave no wage increases in the 2008/2009 years.

How can you afford to live in NYC making 40-50k a year?

 

[BenDovid]

How can you afford to live in NYC making 40-50k a year?

We're talking about 2006 dollars. Also, NYC isn't just Manhattan. I had a two bedroom with garage in Queens for $1300. Same apartment now would be 2600+.

 

[SexGodFireBrand]

Wasn't Steve C making like 300k a year?

 

[BenDovid]

Wasn't Steve C making like 300k a year?

lmao no way. based on what the rest of us were getting, if he was top dog he had to be making 100K-120K. Don't forget, CBS hired their own guy for 6-9. Remember "StuntBrain"? So it's not like he could make an argument for additional work. And then by the time we moved into Sirius, we had access to their booking department and Steve was no longer needed. Steve really got fucked when Ben left/got fired. Steve was always a production/imaging guy.

 

[guyincognito2.0]

You can drop the M.

Fuck that’s a good joke. Legit laughed out loud

 

[Mick_Mickerson]

Opie and Anthony allowing people to work unpaid for them is pretty scumbag shit tbh.

52k starting in New York at that time sounds fair to me, the progession does also. I’m surprised.

Yeah I'm surprised. Using inflation calculator that means they hired on interns for just shy of $80k for entry level jobs and Nagel was making around $120k in today's dollars

I understand it's new York and that isn't a ton of money but you guys weren't getting shanked either

 

[DieNortonDie]

Why was the American radio market worth so much?

I understand that Hollywood has always exported a lot of content around the world.

But radio?? Where was the money coming from?

Car companies+ enough dedicated subscribers in the blue collar industry. Truckers, laborers, workers of any kind. But most of it came from GM and Ford at first, then every other car company got involved. Now they all have 3 months of SiriusXM free. And anyone older than a millennial is too stupid to just listen to podcasts so they subscribe. But most people do not and just let the 3 free months expire

 

[LingerLonger]

No. We would always be asked if we wanted interns. The answer was always yes as there always needed to be people to make runs for coffee and food.

Interns were not supposed to be doing that. They were not supposed to be fetching video games for Anthony. Hence the lawsuit that Sirius lost which involved multiple O&A interns and Stern interns and was initiated by a Stern intern. There was never a need for interns for any radio show based on how Sirius was using them. This all came out in court. No one needed unpaid college students to run errands for them.

You were signing up for a media internship for college credit. The entire purpose was to learn about working in media. Not to work as a personal assistant for millionaires getting their egg white and mustard omelettes and yogurt. If the hosts on Sirius-XM needed interns they would have not lost all of their lawsuits including a class action lawsuit that retroactively punished them.

Stern had interns on the air all the time. Ron & Fez as well.

Yes but he never gave them their own radio shows and segments. Or let them take over the air by dressing as a pig and mocking the producer of the show. Or devoted endless hours on the air to them like what happened at O&A. Intern David got his own entire show produced with co-hosts and guest appearances and call screeners. Stern never did anything close to that. This is why when the class action lawsuit happened a lot of people were upset that former O&A interns joined the lawsuit. Because at least they got to be on air and do media related things.

The only hires after that were Sam.

Sam spun an internship into hosting his own show and basically having his own channel. He went from O&A intern.....to channel host. Also a few interns were blocked by staff from being hired when they were absolutely in line to be hired. Pat Duffy was already telling people he was going to work for O&A but ended up getting denied.

 

[DieNortonDie]

Remember when he was bragging about how high his electricity bill was from heating his pool? White trash wop idiot.

It was because the pool wasn’t installed properly and it was leaking water. So he spent shitloads pumping in way more water than he needed. Lmao

 

[LingerLonger]

It was because the pool wasn’t installed properly and it was leaking water. So he spent shitloads pumping in way more water than he needed. Lmao

It was both. The pool when it was made was the largest private pool in NYC or Long Island. But it was not lined properly and began leaking despite Anthony bragging that he had "world class" companies construct his pool. Anthony had set it to auto fill to the top, so if it would lose a gallon, it would refill a gallon of water to cover the loss automatically. But it was losing a gallon a minute or whatever, but because it would instantly refill it, you couldn't tell that there was a leak somewhere.

And so this went on for an entire month and Anthony (probably Keith) noticed the water bill and realized something was wrong. And the company had to come back and patch the pool and find the leak. Then they told Anthony to keep the auto refilling pump off so that if it was leaking they could know about it immediately. What's hilarious is that if you are sucking up tons of water, or far more than you usually do, the government or water company usually visit you to check for a leaking hose or pipe or at least call you. I wonder if the water company contacted Anthony and he ignored it.

The heating thing was another issue. Anthony would keep his pool at surface of the sun temperatures. Norton once said that Anthony's pool water was actually hotter than his hot tub and not in a sarcastic way. Like Anthony was heating his ocean sized pool to hot tub levels without actually thinking about how insanely wasteful it was.