In the wake of the Imus, JV & Elvis firings and the Opie & Anthony suspension - Mancow (of all people) has crafted his "Ten Commandments for Radio Personalities" - preaching responsibility in radio.

Keep in mind that only last month, Mancow described a caller to his show as a "a brain dead fetus" and a "late term abortion that somehow climbed out of a dumpster."

Responsible radio indeed.

For whatever it's worth, here are Mancow's Commandments:

1. Thou shalt never endanger listeners.
2. Racism is always a dumb idea.
3. Complacency on the inside loses listeners from the outside. Work at your art.
4. Contests must always be straight forward. (Being too cute with contests can be costly.)
5. Advertisers pay you. They are your friends.
6. Have a delay button (preferably 20 seconds or more) and when in doubt use it.
7. Don't dis someone's religion.
8. Don't let anyone curse in your studio ever. Get them out of that habit. If they are comfortable with cursing, it can someday accidentally get on the radio.
9. Instruct guests on your radio standards so they don't get you in trouble.
10. Do good. (We're not on earth to mark time. We're here to make a difference).

[Radio Ink]

I had a nice conversation with Jim Puzzanghera of the Los Angeles Times over the XM subscriber backlash yesterday. A conversation which led to a very well written article:

"The reaction is mind-blowing," said Ryan Saghir of North Branford, Conn., who runs a blog about satellite radio called Orbitcast. "One of the main attractors to satellite radio is the unregulated content. Once you take away that … you're going to have some upset subscribers."

Even more impressive (at least to me) is that a commenter was quoted in the article:

"I will not support a company that has decided the one true reason they exist no longer matters," wrote one poster on Orbitcast.

Now I wasn't kidding about the mind-blowing part. This is the highest amount of attention I have seen since the Sirius-XM merger announcement (and it's a record for Orbitcast... thankfully I'm running on good strong servers). 

The old adage of "any news is good news" sometimes still runs true, and I think it will in this case, if XM/Sirius can handle the situation correctly. This suspension has brought to light the differences of satellite radio versus terrestrial radio, the topic of social responsibility in the media, and (most notably) the regulation of free speech. Imus, JV & Elvis and Opie & Anthony have collectively made the public question what exactly they want to be "allowed" to listen to, although maybe not in the most optimal of ways.

People are actually thinking about this topic, rather than letting the special interest groups dictate it for them. That's important in today's media landscape.

In the long-run this level of attention may actually serve the satellite radio industry, and the "shock jocks" that work for them, quite well. Through adversity comes strength. XM and Sirius now just need to spin this increased attention in their favor.

But for the next 28 days, well... viva la revolution!

[Los Angeles Times]

This video says it all...

Patrice argues the point perfectly. The reality is that with comedy - or even the attempt of comedy - someone, somewhere, will be offended. Obesity kills 300,000 people in the U.S., but that doesn't stop people from making fat jokes. Why is there no "outcry" there? That's because sometimes comedy can be dark and people want the opportunity to laugh at otherwise depressing subject matter.

Satellite radio channels that are clearly labeled as "explicit" channels - with the full availability of blocking that channel - is where content like this can reside, unaltered. If you don't like it, don't listen. The only time when the "public" (and I use that term loosely) is offended is when pirated audio is distributed around the internet.

Bill O'Reilly, Mancow Muller and analyst Mike Gallagher debate the Opie & Anthony segment. O'Reilly sure didn't seem to appreciate Gallagher's more rational reasoning and gave Mancow "the last word."

...and Mancow is really milking this for all it's worth.

The Reverend Al Sharpton said he would meet with his associates today to discuss whether they'll call for Opie and Anthony's firing.

Sharpton called the Opie and Anthony segment "ugly and outrageous," according to the New York Daily News.

Both XM and CBS have said that the Opie and Anthony Show will continue to air regularly, but declined to say if any penalties would be imposed against the pair or if they would rein in their show.

[New York Daily News]

Well, that didn't take long. Looks like there's more "outrage" over satellite radio shock-jocks, this time the target is Sirius' own Bubba the Love Sponge.

Bubba recently aired a recording by show member Manson that suggests that President Bush get ebola and bleed out of every orifice... adding that John McCain use his genitalia to stop the bleeding. The recording also paints a picture that Rudy Giuliani have anal sex with White House press secretary Tony Snow. Sound like satire to you? Listen to the audio below (and yes, it's not work safe)

Post Chronicle writer Jack Ryan is calling for a full burning at the stake. He even goes so far as to say that "thanks to all these clowns, the [XMSR and SIRI] stock prices are going to continue to spiral toward the awaiting ground."

Ridiculous. You need to look to someone else to blame for your stock losses.

Mr. Ryan unfortunately also doesn't understand the First Amendment, citing the "fire in a movie theater" old adage as his reasoning behind this witch hunt. Somehow "offending" speech is now equated with the "fire" analogy. A comparison as inaccurate as the reports about the O&A segment (can we take something any further out of context? please?).

But accuracy isn't the goal here, and we all know it. It's about attention whoring.

[The Post Chronicle]

UPDATE: FMQB has more on this as well. They also highlight the new People Against Censorship organization - a group well worth looking into given the recent events.

There's a bit of a controversy brewing - separate from Opie & Anthony - over the comments made by the Quinn & Rose show on XM Talk Radio (ch 165) .

Apparently remarks made on the Quinn & Rose show alleged that Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to blame the war in Iraq for the slow response to the Greensburg, Kansas tornado disaster.

The remarks made their way to FreeRepublic.com, which cited the XM show, "Dean called Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius early, around 5 am, one morning after the tornado had destroyed the town of Greensburg, Kansas and discussed with her what to say about the tornado and how to blame the war in Iraq and the Bush administration on a slow response to the aftermath."

The Quinn & Rose Show website also alleges the Dean-Sebelius conversation took place.

According to Democrats, the conversation never occurred, and as a result a cease and desist letter was sent to James Robinson of FreeRepublic and Dara Altman, the Executive Vice President of XM Satellite Radio. The c&d was of course posted on FreeRepublic, creating a comment frenzy.

[The Raw Story] 

View the cease and desist after the jump...

Fox News has reported that Opie and Anthony have apologized for the Condoleezza Rice segment, but that doesn't stop Mancow from spewing his 'unique 'opinion on Hannity & Colmes.

"This is a very dangerous time in radio." I can't agree more.

Warning to broadcasters everywhere: you too may have your words taken out of context.

[Watch the Fox News video]

And so it begins...

• Stacy Parker Aab doesn't think the joke was funny.
  
• The Post Chronicle believes this jeopardizes the Sirius-XM merger.
• Neal Boortz, of all people, calls for O&A to be fired.
• David Hinckley first to call this an "outrage" and gives the full recap.
• NewsBusters asks if this behavior acceptable "when the targets are Republicans"
• And the New York Post said something, but I can't access their website for some reason that CBS has no intentions of firing O&A and publish a statement from XM:
  
  "We apologize to the public officials for comments that were made on our XM show... We take very seriously the responsibility that comes with our creative freedom and regret any offense that this segment has caused."

Wired is reporting that audio from today's Opie and Anthony show may put the Sirius/XM merger in jeopardy.

The snippet of audio was taken from this morning's yesterday's O&A show on XM, and was posted on Breitbart.tv and subsequently hyped up by the Drudge Report. It features an in-studio guest "Homeless Charlie" talking about forced sex with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, as well as with George Bush's wife. You can listen to it below (warning: NOT work safe, so wear headphones):

While there apparently isn't any public "outrage" over this - Wired still took Drudge's bait - and claims that this could make the Imus controversy "look like a small blip." They even go as far as to hint that this could jeopardize the Sirius/XM merger.

The fact is, satellite radio is a subscription service (i.e., not the "public" airwaves), and XM labels the channel as containing explicit language. Channel blocking is completely available (tell them about the discount Harry).

So offended or not, there is no way that the line was crossed here (except for the redistribution of a paid subscription content on Google Video).

UPDATE: Opie and Anthony have issued the following statement in regards to this:
"We apologize to the public officials for comments that were made on our XM show on May 9th. We take very seriously the responsibility that comes with our creative freedom and regret any offense that this segment has caused."