This is not a well-informed article so if you are looking for information one hundred per cent true, check out other parts of this web site…This is just an article about the frustration of an angry fan who is about to lose the object of his fanaticism.

All right, I will start from the beginning. I am a Spaniard who majored in English language and literature but who also wants to become a comic-book artist (I know it is weird but…) so I work at home most of the time. While finishing my major, I decided to increase the input of English I was getting (aim hard to reach since in Spain everything is dubbed) and where else but the internet to get everything you need… want? Thus, I found some radio stations which were streaming through the internet and I became acquainted with radio shows like ‘The Dog House’, ‘The John and Jeff Show’, ‘Imus in the Morning’ and, of course, ‘The Opie and Anthony Show’. “Of course” because these two shock jocks were big in the US and “of course” because I became a fan almost immediately. I say “almost” because it took me a little while to find out what these guys were all about (consider I live in other country and I come from a totally different background, so, give me a break!) but once I figured it out…big fan!

I was happy. I spent most of my days working on my comic-book pages and listening to the radio through the internet. I really enjoyed my mornings. First, I listened to ‘The John and Jeff Show’ for a couple of hours (even though I think the show is kind of dorky…) and then it was time for ‘The Opie and Anthony Show’ in New York’s Free FM. A year passed by and I kept my routine going on and my routine kept me going…In this time listening to the show (‘The O&A Show’) I learnt that it was broadcast in its entirety in XM Radio with no FCC regulations or restrictions. That sounded good but I was still happy with the portion of the show I had (besides, the hours I could not listen because they were aired in XM coincided with my lunch time). Then, all of a sudden, a change of formats in Free FM threatened all the line-up of the station. Some problems with minority groups and free speech issues got ‘The Dog House’ off the air and now, “the suits” (general managers and lawyers, basically people who have never done radio…) were thinking about changing the station to a jukebox…A couple of months later Free FM became K-Rock.

Luckily, the only show that survived was ‘The O&A Show’. I suppose that it was not a coincidence because “the suits” would not keep a show if it was not beneficial for the company. I was right. According to some rankings, they were doing very well in the mornings, even reaching the number one position in some age rates. I was calm and at ease. Nevertheless, the situation of global crisis nowadays was a bigger threat than that of the changing formats…rumors sprang once again. Both Opie and Anthony (and their co-host, Jim Norton) discussed many times the possibility of being laid off and it finally happened on March 9, 2009. I was angry. I had no way to listen to the show but subscribing to XM Radio.

I wanted to listen to the show so bad that I decided I would pay a monthly fee. I had no interest in any other show on XM but I did not care, I would pay anyway. Decided, I went to the XM website and clicked on ‘subscriptions’. There were two possibilities: one was to get an XM receiver and the other one was to listen on-line. I clicked on ‘listen on-line’ and disposed to fill up the subscription information; my name, my surnames, my address, my e-mail, my ZIP code and state…I had neither ZIP code nor state since I lived outside the US…My hopes were dashed! I wrote an e-mail to the ‘help and support’ section and my fears were confirmed, I needed an address in the USA or in Canada to be able to subscribe…to listen on-line!!! I could not understand what was happening. I did not understand how a show that was doing big numbers could be laid off and I did not understand that in the ‘era of communications’ a company could limit their services on-line just to one or two countries…Thus, I wondered whether  this was a single case or it was spreading. Do you guess what? It was spreading faster than the swine flu! I visited the Fox Broadcasting Company website and I tried to watch some episodes of my favorite TV shows… “Thank you for your interest in FOX. This episode is currently only available to viewers living in the United States”.  

My anger was increasing. I could not understand these limitations. What kind of business is the exclusion of potential buyers?  Why, in a period of crisis, are companies limiting their audience? I think we are living in a period in which global business, global communication and global economy is widely linked. If so, why wouldn’t companies take advantage of this and make their services global?

I have a friend with US passport who has been living in Spain for ten years and she is really angry with the Spanish government because she cannot obtain citizenship…I told her a couple of days ago: ‘I bet you can watch the episodes of any series on a Spanish web page wherever you are…’ 

AJA is Daily Babel’s resident illustrator