We’ve received a number of inquiries this week asking what’s going on with SiriusXM’s Gregg ‘Opie’ Hughes & Jim Norton.
While nothing has been announced via official means, it appears that Opie and Norton have done their final show together. Hughes tweeted on Monday that he “no longer does that show”. In a follow-up video, he stated “I do not do morning radio anymore. I do not do radio with Jim Norton anymore. I have not been fired. Sirius has been very good to me”
On this morning’s show Norton and co-host Sam Roberts addressed the situation stating that nothing is official. Norton confirms that he finalized his new contract with the company last night, but nothing has been promised or finalized in terms of who will do what because Opie has not signed his contract, while also discussing Opie’s desire to limit the days Norton was on the show and wanting to move to afternoons.
INSTANT INSIGHT: Following the dissolution of the Opie & Anthony Show it’s no surprise that Hughes and Norton felt extra pressure and were unable to remain on good terms. As the saying goes, you never want to be the show that replaces the show, but the show that replaces the replacement. Second act’s regularly fizzle out and it is probably in everyone’s best interest to move onto their own thing and reinvent themselves.
As far as what other options are out there for Opie, if not SiriusXM or a podcast, the days of a raunchy morning show on terrestrial radio are gone. However, a station like Cumulus’ 770 WABC New York is in desperate need of a local afternoon anchor to bring younger demos in and frankly attention to the station. Would that along with a Westwood One syndication deal bring him back from satellite?
