Opie & Anthony Debacle Caused 'Grave Financial Consequences' For Infinity

From Radio and Records:
Commenting on the struggles at Infinity's WNEW-FM/New York, Viacom President/COO Mel Karmazin said that while the station has been reeling since Infinity fired the afternoon duo for their infamous stunt at the city's St. Patrick's Cathedral, he believes the company did the right thing. "We made a decision that when Opie & Anthony did what they did on the radio, that was not acceptable to Viacom at any price, so we had to make a decision and take them off the air," Karmazin said, adding, "We would make that same decision again; we will not tolerate that kind of programming." He noted that while much is being made of the station's struggles, any review of a market where Infinity operates would uncover "one Infinity station doing great and one Infinity station not doing so great" and insisted that the company is taking steps to give WNEW the boost it needs. "We have added more people at the division level to focus on programming, and we have allocated within our cost structure more money in the marketing area," he said.