Now when it comes to Gregg "Opie" Hughes, it all started on May 23rd, 1943 in Centerport, New York. He studied at Harborfields High School in Greenlawn and got a degree in Mass Communication from the University of New York.
He met the love of his life Lynsi Smigo in Philly during a promo event for the Opie and Anthony show in 2004. They got married 4 years later and have two kids together.
His radio career all started in the promotions department at WCMF in Rochester, New York. The real turning point for him was when he was promoted to host the station's morning show. He found a love in radio and enjoyed hosting. Turns out, he was actually good at it too. He hosted more shows as time passed but in 1995, he and Anthony Cumia launched the Opie and Anthony show.
The crazy Anthony Cumia was born on April 26, 1961, in Elwood, New York. He dropped out of high school when he was a teen. He wasn't a big fan of school but he needed to have some sort of job so he just did manual work such as plumbing in New York homes. He had always dreamed of being on the radio and that's when fate brought him to Gregg.
Gregg announced an OJ Simpson song parody contest during one of his shows so Cumia and his brother went straight to work and they ended up winning. Opie invited them to his studio and he hits it off immediately with Anthony. The two became great friends. Anthony started out his radio career, working for Gregg on comedic skits. They both decided that they wanted to do something much bigger with more creative freedom. That's when the birth of the Opie and Anthony show occurred in 1995.
The show was canceled multiple times on different platforms due to controversies. They often talked about pop culture and politics but in a demeaning way that is not meant for everyone. It's what they were known for but that didn't stop them until 2014. Unfortunately, Anthony took it a little too far and got fired for a series of tweets that were racially charged and hate-filled.
It was tragic to see such a fantastic show end so abruptly and the media especially followed Anthony in this spiral since he got arrested in 2015 for attacking his girlfriend. Right now, Gregg and Anthony are hosting their own shows with different co-hosts but are not as nearly as successful as they were when they hosted together.
Now do I think there's a possibility for a reunion in the future? Not really. If the show was still around today, the media and society would rip it to shreds as shock jocks are seen as derogatory and too offensive. But these two definitely had a special dynamic that no one else can replace.
