Anthony Cumia

Anthony Cumia (born April 26, 1961) is an American radio personality and broadcaster who is best known as the co-host of the Opie and Anthony radio show with Gregg "Opie" Hughes that aired from 1995 to 2014, alongside comedian Jim Norton from 2001.

In 2014, Cumia was fired by SiriusXM Radio after posting a series of tweets, which they deemed to be "racially-charged and hate-filled".^[1][2][3] Soon after that, he started his own video podcast, known as The Anthony Cumia Show.

Early life

Cumia was born on April 26, 1961^[4][5] in Elwood, New York on Long Island.^[6] He has two siblings, Joe and Dawn. He attended Elwood-John H. Glenn High School in Elwood, but did not graduate from the school. Cumia spent several years of his childhood living with his father in California.^[7] Before he started his radio career, Cumia took up manual work installing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.^[6] He had wished to get into radio, and was influenced by popular New York City personalities Howard Stern and Don Imus.^[8] Cumia also wrote and sang in a band with Joe named Rotgut.

Radio career

Opie and Anthony (1994–2014)

Cumia first met radio personality Gregg "Opie" Hughes when the latter held an O. J. Simpson song parody contest on his Nighttime Attitude show on Long Island radio station WBAB. He and Joe decided to enter the contest, and recorded an entry as Rotgut titled "Gonna Electric Shock OJ" to the tune of "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding.^[9] The song was a hit with Hughes, who played it several times on his show and, in September 1994, invited the Cumias to the studio to perform the song live.^[10] Cumia began to contribute and produce comedy bits for Hughes and the station's morning show soon after, while working his installation job. By early 1995, Hughes and Cumia decided to become the hosts of their own radio show, and Hughes produced an air check and sent it to several stations.

Hughes and Cumia accepted an offer to host afternoons at WAAF in Worcester, Massachusetts, and launched Opie and Anthony on March 13, 1995.^[11] They remained in Worcester until they were fired in April 1998 for an April Fool's Day prank involving Mayor Thomas Menino. Opie and Anthony told their listeners that the Mayor had been killed in a car accident while transporting a young female Haitian prostitute.^[12] Anthony, originally thought that by getting into radio he would make very good money, however at WAAF he barely was making more than he did as a tin knocker.^[13] Anthony has referred to their days on WAAF as the most cringe inducing moments of his career.^[14]

In June 1998, Opie along with Anthony were back on New York station WNEW-FM, where they became a top 10 afternoon drive show in New York by 2000.^[15] In 1999, Opie considered leaving the show, however Anthony convinced him to stay, and bring Jim Norton on full-time, as a go between for their off air troubles.^[16] In 2001, Opie and Anthony signed a syndication deal with Infinity to syndicate their show on 22 stations nationwide, including WBCN in Boston, longtime rival of WAAF.

On August 15, 2002, during "Sex for Sam 3", comedian Paul Mecurio encouraged Brian Florence and Loretta Harper, a Virginia couple visiting Manhattan, to have simulated sex in a vestibule at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Intense media scrutiny led to many demanding that Opie and Anthony be fired. Opie and Anthony broadcast the next day, but the show went into reruns the following week. On August 22, Infinity suspended Opie and Anthony for the duration of their contract, and cancelled the show.

Opie and Anthony returned to the air on October 4, 2004 exclusively for XM Satellite Radio. On April 24, 2006, Opie and Anthony announced that they signed a deal with CBS Radio in which the first three hours of the show would be broadcast on nine of CBS's rock stations, the first official show airing April 26.^[17]

On May 15, 2007, XM suspended Opie & Anthony for 30 days, in response to a broadcast featuring a homeless man who wandered into the studio. Opie and Anthony dubbed the man "Homeless Charlie", who mentioned the possibility of raping Condoleezza Rice and Laura Bush.^[18] After the suspension they returned to their normal split schedule.

On March 9, 2009, Opie & Anthony were heard on FM for the last time, and spent much of the time discussing the impending format change, and how their services were "no longer needed" at the station. Their executive producer for the FM portion, Michael "Stuntbrain" Opelka, was fired the following day. Following their removal from FM, they returned to being exclusively heard on Sirius XM until Anthony's firing in July 2014.

Live from the Compound (2012–2014)

Cumia, looking for more freedom than he had on Sirius XM decided to build a studio in his home. He would often pop on live whenever there was something he wished to discuss, and occasionally would broadcast a schedule show, and made it available to download online.^[19] Cumia retired this show when he began The Anthony Cumia Show.

The Anthony Cumia Show (2014–present)

On July 3, 2014, Cumia was fired by SiriusXM after posting a Twitter tirade.^[1][20][21] Cumia claimed in his tweets that he was repeatedly punched by a woman while attempting to take a picture in Times Square. The tweets were described by Sirius XM as "racially-charged and hate-filled".^[1][22] Cumia stated on the Saturday, July 12 episode of Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld that he was not going to apologize for the incident.^[23]

Cumia announced on July 8, 2014, that he would launch his new Internet-based podcast The Anthony Cumia Show in August.^[24] This show was kept separate from his old internet radio show Live from the Compound.^[25] Cumia's website later specified that "his live, uncensored HD video podcast" called The Anthony Cumia Show would launch on August 4.^[26]

Beginning August 2014 the show airs from Cumia's home studio, before moving the primary location to New York City in August 2015. In June 2015, Cumia expanded his radio platform by adding Gavin McInnes and the Legion of Skanks.^[27]

Other ventures

XFL Gameday

Along with Opie, Cumia co-hosted XFL Gameday, a pregame show for Vince McMahon's startup football league, for four weeks in February 2001. The half-hour show was produced by NBC's owned and operated stations and shown on Channel 4 in New York. The show was taped on Wednesdays at the WWF's "World" restaurant in Times Square, and was open to the public. It featured analysis by WNBC sportscaster Bruce Beck and New York/New Jersey Hitmen head coach Rusty Tillman, but also featured plenty of raunch. One segment featured Opie and Anthony as chefs, inserting a cucumber between two melons.

After the show's cancellation four weeks into the season, XFL creator Vince McMahon stated that he'd had no creative control over the show, further elaborating, "I heard it was horrible. Had I seen it, I would have shut it down."^[28]

Demented World

Opie, along with Anthony released a compilation of segments from their show that aired on WAAF on a CD entitled Demented World in November 1997.^[29]

Opie and Anthony Traveling Virus

The Traveling Virus was a comedy tour headlined by Opie and Anthony, as well as friends of the show, that performed in various cities during 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Search and Destroy

On the morning of March 26, 2008, Opie & Anthony revealed they had taped a pilot for Comedy Central. The show was titled Search & Destroy and it featured teams of comedians performing various tasks throughout New York City.^[30] Opie and Anthony believe that it may have been too graphic even for cable television.^[30] Comedy Central did not pick the show up.

Personal life

In 1987, Cumia met the future Jennifer Cumia, who he began dating 1989 and married after seven months.^[31] In March 2002, they finalized their divorce.^[31] Cumia later stated that marrying Jennifer was the biggest mistake of his life.^[8] He dated Jill Nicolini in 2008,^[32] and model Melissa Stetten in 2012.^[33] Cumia also took an 18-year-old date to his high school reunion.^[34]

On December 19, 2015, Cumia was in an argument with his 26-year old girlfriend Dani Brand in his house, which turned violent. He was arrested by Nassau County police on charges of strangulation, assault, criminal mischief, and unlawful imprisonment. Cumia was released without bail on December 21, at which time his attorney stated that Cumia denied the allegations.^[35] In June 2016 Cumia pled guilty to third-degree assault and criminal obstruction of breathing in a plea deal.^[36] As a condition of the deal, if Cumia completed six months of outpatient alcohol rehab and participated in a program designed for batterers, the original charges to which he pled guilty would be dropped and reduced to harassment, which would not leave Cumia with a record.^[37]

On March 30, 2016, Cumia announced he would be spending April in rehabilitation for unspecified issues.^[38] He said that although his decision to enter rehab was related to the December 2015 incident, it was not court-ordered.^[39][40] However, Cumia has described on-air his frequent alcohol abuse that started at a young age due to the enabling from his father.^[41] Cumia's alcohol abuse had also been a recurring source of humor on the show although at times his co-hosts would comment on the detriment his drinking had on the quality of the show as on occasion Cumia would be unable to perform due to a hangover.^[42]

Cumia is a supporter of the National Rifle Association and has a carry permit for New York City.^[43] His favorite weapon is the Heckler & Koch P2000 .40 caliber, which he normally carries with him, in addition to his PPKS .380 ACP.^[44]

References

External links

• Anthony Cumia at the Internet Movie Database