If you missed Opie & Anthony on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night, you can catch the video below:

[via Bearing Drift] 

Comedy gone too far? Bill O'Reilly obviously thinks so. Below is a video from a segment in his show where he talks about Opie and Anthony's recent "Homeless Shopping Spree 2006" where they took a group of homeless people shopping in a mall, giving each $200 to spend on whatever they want.

The event also drew the attention of Boston's Mayor Tom Menino, who issued a statement after it aired this past weekend. 

Finally, O&A get their own commercial highlighting their presence on XM. Featuring Opie, Anthony and Jim Norton too. Watch it below.

Thanks Squeaky!

With Sirius' recent lowered subscriber guidance (and don't forget, XM lowered guidance - twice), and continued evidence that the retail market is continuing to decline; you have to wonder what might be the cause of this "softness" in satellite radio retail sales. One possible cause for this could be Opie & Anthony's move to terrestrial radio.

Before I continue: There's absolutely no doubt that Howard Stern has had a massive influence in moving subscribers to Sirius. He has brought in more subs than most people expected, so this is in no way an attempt to downplay his success. Stern also continues to be bring brand awareness to the entire satellite radio sector, Sirius especially. So let's not go there.

Moving on.

A recent Bridge Ratings study estimates that a total of 1.6 million Stern fans have made the jump to Sirius with him. That's approximately 13% of his total fan base. During the first month following Stern's move to Sirius, David Lee Roth lost 75% of his audience - no doubt many of these listeners decided to subscribe to Sirius after hearing his on-air dribble.

But in April, Opie and Anthony signed with CBS Radio and began broadcasting in many of Stern's prior markets. They now are syndicated in 26 different stations nationwide. Below is a chart that shows the number of Stern influenced subscribers, with the time periods of when O&A began syndicating to terrestrial:

An interesting coincidence to say the least. Now this isn't necessarily translating to XM subscribers either. In the week following Thanksgiving, Bridge estimates that 15% of respondents were Stern motivated subscribers, compared to a mere 3% of Opie and Anthony motivated subscribers.

But the fact that new nationally syndicated "shock jock" talent is now available on terrestrial radio has most likely caused many listeners to reconsider a satellite radio subscription. This could also be why satellite radio has dropped off the map as being a "hot item" of the Holiday season.

The fact is, prior to Stern migrating to Sirius there was absolutely no non-political morning drive talent on the air. When Stern left, the vaccum of poor on-air personalities undoubted drove a portion of the audience to seek an alternative - even if they had to pay for it. But with a free alternative readily available, there's no impending reason to leave anymore.

Food for thought.