Will Citadel Broadcasting be the next company to cut a deal and help spread the Opie & Anthony virus on terrestrial radio's airwaves? Bob Eatman, the Los Angeles-based agent for Opie & Anthony, is handling all syndication deals for the program and it looks like a deal might be closed within the next couple weeks that could put O&A on another half-dozen stations, on top of the seven they grabbed in the deal with CBS Radio.
That little bombshell was inadvertently dropped at the end of today's XM portion of the dual platform radio stars' show when Opie's mobile phone rang and he carried out a conversation with Citadel CEO Farid Suleman on the other end. The details of the conversation made Anthony nervous enough that he started to dump the conversation from XM's airwaves before just ending the entire program for the day.
Providence was one of the markets mentioned on-air, marking the second time a conversation between O&A and Suleman has brought up the Rhode Island market. Also mentioned were Buffalo and New London, CT. Buffalo would be intriguing as to where O&A would fit as both of the natural outlets -- WGRF and WEDG -- have long established and well-performing morning shows with Norton In The Morning and Shredd & Ragan, respectively.
"We're talking to everybody," Eatman told FMQB. "We're syndicating the program and there is a lot of interest from a number of great companies." Eatman also added that he expects to have "a dozen new affiliates" within weeks.
If the deals Eatman expects come to fruition, O&A's station count would rival the height of their days of Infinity Broadcasting syndication. O&A were launched into syndication in June of 2001 after inking a long-term deal with Infinity. Their rapid-fire syndication saw them land on stations from coast to coast, including Philadelphia, Chicago, Sacramento, Columbus, Cleveland, Dallas, Albany, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Boston, Buffalo, Portland, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Reno, Cincinnati, Rochester and Seattle.
As far as XM’s comment on expanding O&A's empire, a spokesperson relayed this message to FMQB, "EVP of Programming Eric Logan, along with Opie & Anthony’s agent, Bob Eatman, strategically evaluate all new syndication offers for the Opie & Anthony Show. To date, the only confirmed terrestrial expansion for O&A is through CBS, which CBS Radio Chairman and CEO Joel Hollander referenced during his appearance on the program last week, saying he wants to air O&A on additional CBS Radio-owned stations in the near-future."
A call to Citadel for comment had gone unreturned at press time.
