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Wednesday, July 9, 2014

An Open Letter to Sirius/XM

Sirius/XM Satellite Radio
1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

July 8, 2014

To whom it may concern:

My name is Peter "Scoop" Stanton I have been a radio subscriber with Sirius/XM since 2009. I broke down and purchased satellite radio to primarily listen to The Opie and Anthony Show as a local radio show in the Virginia Beach, VA area did a radio bit ripping off radio legend Phil Hendrie.

I have been listening to The Opie and Anthony Show off and on since the late 1990's on its former flagship WNEW in New York, and they are a big reason why I got into radio.

Since I have been a subscriber I have become more and more disappointed. First; your customer service in the Philippine Islands is deplorable. Secondly your online feed which I am paying extra doesn't work. I tried so many times to get it to work, and was unsuccessful, that I have totally given up. Ditto for the app for smartphones. I have given up so I now listen to Sirius/XM in the car. When my wife purchased her new car, it was an absolute nightmare to set up an account for both cars! And I haven't started to talk about programming.

In terms of programming, Sirius/XM decided to remove XM channel 143; The America Talks Channel. This channel carried the widely popular Alex Jones and Steve Malzburg, whom I listened to both. This channel, among others was removed for no reason, yet Sirius/XM carries terrestrial radio stations from New York and Los Angeles as well as other terrestrial radio shows.

The Opie and Anthony Show is one of two anchor shows for your network. The other being The Howard Stern Show. Sirius/XM has treated The Opie and Anthony Show staff and its listeners with contempt. The Opie and Anthony Show has a small antiquated studio, despite having A-list celebrity guests such as Louie C.K., Mike Tyson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mick Foley, Bill Burr, Melissa McCarthy, and Jonah Hill. This show has some of the poorest sound quality of a mainstream radio show. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and Howard Stern never have constant microphone and telephone issues. Plus Michael Savage have numerous studios in the San Francisco area. Opie and Anthony do not have and video feed despite some great groundbreaking radio with superstar guests. As for fan interaction, once every six to twelve months you would have a live appearance. Mr. Hughes and Mr. Cumia wanted to do a bus tour to Branson, MO from New York. Fans around the country were ready willing and able to mobilize at every stop to Branson. But the bus tour never materialized. Then Hughes and Cumia wanted a cruise with the fans, and to show your appreciation for their ability to attract and retain subscribers and advertisers, you demanded a deposit of hundreds of thousands of dollars from them! Whereas Howard Stern has a large, modern studio with state of the art equipment, a website, video, and a lavish birthday party with Hollywood celebrities! his is the same man who sued Sirius/XM for hundreds of millions of dollars in stock!

Now you fired Anthony Cumia for some tweets stemming from him being a victim of a hate crime. Mr. Cumia did not make any threats to anyone, did not assault anyone, or even type in the dreaded "N-word" despite your other personalities use that word constantly. Mr. Cumia did not wish for his listeners to start a race riot or burn down the City of New York like Rev. Al Sharpton has done.

As for me, this is the last straw. I am going subscribe until July 14, 2014 when Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Jim Norton say their piece on what remains of The Opie and Anthony Show. This decision by Sirius/XM is a bad one. Free speech is under attack. One of your employees was assaulted, and exercised his free speech, and you fire him. Let's look at the ramifications. Mass cancellations. Lower advertising rates due to a smaller number of subscribers. Declining stock value. Bad publicity and a vicious attack on social media. I hope it was worth it.


Sincerly:

Peter "Scoop" Stanton
Washington, DC Correspondent
The Political Cesspool Radio Show

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