Opie didn't do that. Opie wanted to keep the energy of the old show alive, but he didn't need Norton. Remember K-Rock and SXM wanted to downsize their involvement in The Norton Business. Most stations wanted Norton gone, why would it be any different on Opie Radio? Every management team including Tim Sabean wanted Norton out. It didn't have to be Opie, but could you blame him? Norton was not as funny as he or his fans thought. Jim had his moments in the early 2010's, aside from that, he just copied other people.
What I was addressing is specifically Opie with Jim. Opie and ELO asked Jim if he’d be ok with doing 3 days. This was after the DL Hughley fight i’m pretty sure but definitely after their huge blow out. At this point SXM wasn’t out of the Norton business. Not even a year later they would give him his own show, the morning show, with Sam. This is not the same as when KROCK or Sabean wanted to get rid of him. At least in those situations getting rid of Jim leaves you with O&A.
And thats the thing…I don’t blame him. That’s exactly what I said. They weren’t getting along and Opie had every right to want him not in for as many days. But when confronted on that (at least according to Jims recollection) he should have been honest and said “Yeah we’re just not working out good”. HOWEVER i understand
why he didn’t do that considering Norton is a brooding faggot as mentioned above.
So in this specific case: Yes, Opie wanted Jim gone. And he wasn’t wrong for wanting that. He just didn’t go about it in a clear way.
This is the opposite of reality. Opie's story has never changed. Anthony's story has changed at least 4 times, 1 of those times drafted by Alex Jones (SXM fired Anthony for speaking out against Hillary's emails and Black Lives Matter!!!) and Anthony actually rolled with that excuse.
Opie never wanted Anthony fired. Opie wanted to keep the highly profitable O&A brand alive by making the Opie & Anthony Channel an actual 24 hour network. It was just a placeholder that aired the O&A morning show. Splitting the show into mornings and afternoons would have made it an actual live channel with actual shows going on all day long.
Maybe I misspoke. It’s not about wanting Ant to be fired. But i’ll let Opies (paraphrased) words make HIS point for me:
When Anthony got fired we heard about how Opie went to bat for Anthony and how he was devastated the show broke up. Not even a year later it became “It was a whatever effort and i’m excited to do my own thing. Working with him was exhausting.”
Again, this is not entirely Opies fault. He wanted to keep a good relationship and I don’t think he should have opened with “FUCK THAT GUY HE DESERVED TO BE FIRED”, not like he’d ever do that anyway. But even admitting they didn’t have the best relationship at that time would cause Ant to go nuclear which the Ship Steerer was trying to avoid.
And again…I don’t blame Opie. Anthony is the one who was fired and didn’t apologize. Anthony is the one who didn’t talk to the bosses. Anthony is the one who fucked his relationship with Opie. So sure, it’s not like Opie was lobbying to get Ant fired, but like he said it was a whatever effort. And I don’t blame him…
I DONT BLAME YA!
Anthony also made it difficult for O&A and management at every turn. Tim Sabean was trying to get SXM to have Howard in the morning, R&F middays, and O&A afternoons on SXM on the same channel... Anthony was the only one who adamantly refused to move to Afternoons. Then when he got fired, he immediately announced his own Afternoon drive show...
Well, to be fair Jim didn’t want afternoons either but he’s an afterthought in terms of where the show goes. Once again all it was was being a lazy FN. Ants entire problem was he’d have bad traffic and it would be longer going in and coming home.
But I also don’t think O&A moving to afternoons would be the right move. For the overall company? Sure. But it would kneecap O&A. By that time they had been doing mornings for a decade. Even Opie defended how good it was being in the mornings in that you get all the morning news and can comment on it while it’s still fresh, and i agree.
People love to talk about Opie Raqio like Opie was plotting this, meanwhile A LOT of evidence points to Anthony wanting out himself.
And the irony is that there was no fucking plan for this to ever happen. JIM was the fucking one who said “Why not call it Opie radio?” So the idea that Opie was rubbing his hands together going “FINALLY! MY SHOW!” is so dumb.
Opie WAS smiling the day after Anthony got fired. After bitching about lacking a visual element for years, the first show they live streamed video was the day after Anthony got fired. These are facts you could use to say maybe Opie wanted Anthony gone, but even those don't line up. Opie was never happy doing Opie Radio, he knew it was a half-a-show and the O&A brand was tarnished when Anthony bashed Opie. Nobody wanted this, but it happened due to lack of communication, miscommunication, and alcoholism.
So i guess we should be more specific…I don’t think Opie wanted Ant gone permanently, or because he wanted his own network, or because he thought he didn’t need him…their relationship was just strained. If they were still good friends theres a chance Opie fought for his life or quit after the 2014 contract. As Opie himself has said in the past he was completely open to going on his show or even starting O&A again if the time was right and their relationship was repaired. But because Ant is a slovenly nigger that never happened. But your last sentence sums it up perfectly.
