An ethnic group is a group of people who share a common ethnicity. That is, its members identify with each other through a common heritage, consisting of a common culture, including a shared language or dialect. The group's ethos or ideology may also stress common ancestry, religion, or race.^[1][2][3]

The process that results in the emergence of an ethnicity is called ethnogenesis.

Terminology and definition[link]

The terms ethnicity and ethnic group are derived from the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos, normally translated as "nation".^[4] The terms refer currently to people thought to have common ancestry who share a distinctive culture.

Herodotus is the first who stated the main characteristics of ethnicity in the 5th century BC, with his famous account of what defines Greek identity, where he lists kinship (Greek: ὅμαιμον - homaimon, "of the same blood"^[5]), language (Greek: ὁμόγλωσσον - homoglōsson, "speaking the same language"^[6]), cults and customs (Greek: ὁμότροπον - homotropon, "of the same habits or life").^[7][8][9]

The term "ethnic" and related forms from the 14th through the middle of the 19th century were used in English in the meaning of "pagan, heathen", as ethnikos (Greek: ἐθνικός, literally "national"^[10]) was used as the LXX translation of Hebrew goyim "the nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews".^[11]

The recent meaning emerged in the mid 19th century and expresses the notion of "a people" or "a nation". The term ethnicity is of 20th century coinage, attested from the 1950s. The term nationality depending on context may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship (in a sovereign state).

The modern usage of "ethnic group" further came to reflect the different kinds of encounters industrialised states have had with external groups, such as immigrants and indigenous peoples; "ethnic" thus came to stand in opposition to "national", to refer to people with distinct cultural identities who, through migration or conquest, had become subject to a state or "nation" with a different cultural mainstream.^[12] — with the first usage of the term ethnic group in 1935,^[13] and entering the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972.^[14][15][16]

Writing about the usage of the term "ethnic" in the ordinary language of Great Britain and the United States, in 1977 Wallman noted that

The term 'ethnic' popularly connotes '[race]' in Britain, only less precisely, and with a lighter value load. In North America, by contrast, '[race]' most commonly means color, and 'ethnics' are the descendants of relatively recent immigrants from non-English-speaking countries. '[Ethnic]' is not a noun in Britain. In effect there are no 'ethnics'; there are only 'ethnic relations'.^[17]

Thus, in today's everyday language, the words "ethnic" and "ethnicity" still have a ring of exotic peoples, minority issues and race relations.

Within the social sciences, however, the usage has become more generalized to all human groups that explicitly regard themselves and are regarded by others as culturally distinctive.^[18] Among the first to bring the term "ethnic group" into social studies was the German sociologist Max Weber, who defined it as:

[T]hose human groups that entertain a subjective belief in their common descent because of similarities of physical type or of customs or both, or because of memories of colonization and migration; this belief must be important for group formation; furthermore it does not matter whether an objective blood relationship exists.^[19]

Whether ethnicity qualifies as a cultural universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. According to "Challenges of Measuring an Ethnic World: Science, politics, and reality",^[20] "Ethnicity is a fundamental factor in human life: it is a phenomenon inherent in human experience."^[21] Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf, do not consider ethnic identity to be universal. They regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups.^[22]

In the U.S., the OMB defines the concept of race as outlined for the US Census as not "scientific or anthropological" and takes into account "social and cultural characteristics as well as ancestry", using "appropriate scientific methodologies" that are not "primarily biological or genetic in reference."^[23]

Conceptual history of ethnicity[link]

According to Hans Adriel Handokho, the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates until recently.

• One is between "primordialism" and "instrumentalism". In the primordialist view, the participant perceives ethnic ties collectively, as an externally given, even coercive, social bond.^[24] The instrumentalist approach, on the other hand, treats ethnicity primarily as an ad-hoc element of a political strategy, used as a resource for interest groups for achieving secondary goals such as, for instance, an increase in wealth, power or status.^[25][26] This debate is still an important point of reference in Political science, although most scholars' approaches fall between the two poles.^[27]
• The second debate is between "constructivism" and "essentialism". Constructivists view national and ethnic identities as the product of historical forces, often recent, even when the identities are presented as old.^[28][29] Essentialists view such identities as ontological categories defining social actors, and not the result of social action.^[30][31]

According to Eriksen, these debates have been superseded, especially in anthropology, by scholars' attempts to respond to increasingly politicised forms of self-representation by members of different ethnic groups and nations. This is in the context of debates over multiculturalism in countries, such as the United States and Canada, which have large immigrant populations from many different cultures, and post-colonialism in the Caribbean and South Asia.^[32]

Weber maintained that ethnic groups were künstlich (artificial, i.e. a social construct) because they were based on a subjective belief in shared Gemeinschaft (community). Secondly, this belief in shared Gemeinschaft did not create the group; the group created the belief. Third, group formation resulted from the drive to monopolise power and status. This was contrary to the prevailing naturalist belief of the time, which held that socio-cultural and behavioral differences between peoples stemmed from inherited traits and tendencies derived from common descent, then called "race".^[33]

Another influential theoretician of ethnicity was Fredrik Barth, whose "Ethnic Groups and Boundaries" from 1969 has been described as instrumental in spreading the usage of the term in social studies in the 1980s and 1990s.^[34] Barth went further than Weber in stressing the constructed nature of ethnicity. To Barth, ethnicity was perpetually negotiated and renegotiated by both external ascription and internal self-identification. Barth's view is that ethnic groups are not discontinuous cultural isolates, or logical a prioris to which people naturally belong. He wanted to part with anthropological notions of cultures as bounded entities, and ethnicity as primordialist bonds, replacing it with a focus on the interface between groups. "Ethnic Groups and Boundaries", therefore, is a focus on the interconnectedness of ethnic identities. Barth writes: "[...] categorical ethnic distinctions do not depend on an absence of mobility, contact and information, but do entail social processes of exclusion and incorporation whereby discrete categories are maintained despite changing participation and membership in the course of individual life histories."

In 1978, anthropologist Ronald Cohen claimed that the identification of "ethnic groups" in the usage of social scientists often reflected inaccurate labels more than indigenous realities:

... the named ethnic identities we accept, often unthinkingly, as basic givens in the literature are often arbitrarily, or even worse inaccurately, imposed.^[34]

In this way, he pointed to the fact that identification of an ethnic group by outsiders, e.g. anthropologists, may not coincide with the self-identification of the members of that group. He also described that in the first decades of usage, the term ethnicity had often been used in lieu of older terms such as "cultural" or "tribal" when referring to smaller groups with shared cultural systems and shared heritage, but that "ethnicity" had the added value of being able to describe the commonalities between systems of group identity in both tribal and modern societies. Cohen also suggested that claims concerning "ethnic" identity (like earlier claims concerning "tribal" identity) are often colonialist practices and effects of the relations between colonized peoples and nation-states.^[34]

Social scientists have thus focused on how, when, and why different markers of ethnic identity become salient. Thus, anthropologist Joan Vincent observed that ethnic boundaries often have a mercurial character.^[35] Ronald Cohen concluded that ethnicity is "a series of nesting dichotomizations of inclusiveness and exclusiveness".^[34] He agrees with Joan Vincent's observation that (in Cohen's paraphrase) "Ethnicity ... can be narrowed or broadened in boundary terms in relation to the specific needs of political mobilization.^[34] This may be why descent is sometimes a marker of ethnicity, and sometimes not: which diacritic of ethnicity is salient depends on whether people are scaling ethnic boundaries up or down, and whether they are scaling them up or down depends generally on the political situation.

"Ethnies" or ethnic categories[link]

In order to avoid the problem of defining ethnic classification as labelling of others or as self-identification, it has been proposed^[36] to distinguish between concepts of "ethnic categories", "ethnic networks" and "ethnic communities" or "ethnies".^[37][38]

• An "ethnic category" is a category set up by outsiders, that is, those who are not themselves members of the category, and whose members are populations that are categorised by outsiders as being distinguished by attributes of a common name or emblem, a shared cultural element and a connection to a specific territory. But, members who are ascribed to ethnic categories do not themselves have any awareness of their belonging to a common, distinctive group.

• At the level of "ethnic networks", the group begins to have a sense of collectiveness, and at this level, common myths of origin and shared cultural and biological heritage begins to emerge, at least among the élites.^[38]

• At the level of "ethnies" or "ethnic communities", the members themselves have clear conceptions of being "a named human population with myths of common ancestry, shared historical memories, and one or more common elements of culture, including an association with a homeland, and some degree of solidarity, at least among the élites". That is, an ethnie is self-defined as a group, whereas ethnic categories are set up by outsiders whether or not their own members identify with the category given them.^[39]

• A "Situational Ethnicity" is an Ethnic identity that is chosen for the moment based on the social setting or situation.^[40]

Approaches to understanding ethnicity[link]

Different approaches to understanding ethnicity have been used by different social scientists when trying to understand the nature of ethnicity as a factor in human life and society. Examples of such approaches are: primordialism, essentialism, perennialism, constructivism, modernism and instrumentalism.

• "Primordialism", holds that ethnicity has existed at all times of human history and that modern ethnic groups have historical continuity into the far past. For them, the idea of ethnicity is closely linked to the idea of nations and is rooted in the pre-Weber understanding of humanity as being divided into primordially existing groups rooted by kinship and biological heritage.
  • "Essentialist primordialism" further holds that ethnicity is an a priori fact of human existence, that ethnicity precedes any human social interaction and that it is basically unchanged by it. This theory sees ethnic groups as natural, not just as historical. This understanding does not explain how and why nations and ethnic groups seemingly appear, disappear and often reappear through history. It also has problems dealing with the consequences of intermarriage, migration and colonization for the composition of modern day multi-ethnic societies.^[39]
  • "Kinship primordialism" holds that ethnic communities are extensions of kinship units, basically being derived by kinship or clan ties where the choices of cultural signs (language, religion, traditions) are made exactly to show this biological affinity. In this way, the myths of common biological ancestry that are a defining feature of ethnic communities are to be understood as representing actual biological history. A problem with this view on ethnicity is that it is more often than not the case that mythic origins of specific ethnic groups directly contradict the known biological history of an ethnic community.^[39]
  • "Geertz's primordialism", notably espoused by anthropologist Clifford Geertz, argues that humans in general attribute an overwhelming power to primordial human "givens" such as blood ties, language, territory, and cultural differences. In Geertz' opinion, ethnicity is not in itself primordial but humans perceive it as such because it is embedded in their experience of the world.^[39]

• "Perennialism" holds that ethnicity is ever changing, and that while the concept of ethnicity has existed at all times, ethnic groups are generally short lived before the ethnic boundaries realign in new patterns. The opposing perennialist view holds that while ethnicity and ethnic groupings has existed throughout history, they are not part of the natural order.
  • "Perpetual perennialism" holds that specific ethnic groups have existed continuously throughout history.
  • "Situational perennialism" holds that nations and ethnic groups emerge, change and vanish through the course of history. This view holds that the concept of ethnicity is basically a tool used by political groups to manipulate resources such as wealth, power, territory or status in their particular groups' interests. Accordingly, ethnicity emerges when it is relevant as means of furthering emergent collective interests and changes according to political changes in the society. Examples of a perennialist interpretation of ethnicity are also found in Barth, and Seidner who see ethnicity as ever-changing boundaries between groups of people established through ongoing social negotiation and interaction.
  • "Instrumentalist perennialism", while seeing ethnicity primarily as a versatile tool that identified different ethnics groups and limits through time, explains ethnicity as a mechanism of social stratification, meaning that ethnicity is the basis for a hierarchical arrangement of individuals. According to Donald Noel, a sociologist who developed a theory on the origin of ethnic stratification, ethnic stratification is a "system of stratification wherein some relatively fixed group membership (e.g., race, religion, or nationality) is utilized as a major criterion for assigning social positions".^[41] Ethnic stratification is one of many different types of social stratification, including stratification based on socio-economic status, race, or gender. According to Donald Noel, ethnic stratification will emerge only when specific ethnic groups are brought into contact with one another, and only when those groups are characterized by a high degree of ethnocentrism, competition, and differential power. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture, and to downgrade all other groups outside one’s own culture. Some sociologists, such as Lawrence Bobo and Vincent Hutchings, say the origin of ethnic stratification lies in individual dispositions of ethnic prejudice, which relates to the theory of ethnocentrism.^[42] Continuing with Noel's theory, some degree of differential power must be present for the emergence of ethnic stratification. In other words, an inequality of power among ethnic groups means "they are of such unequal power that one is able to impose its will upon another".^[41] In addition to differential power, a degree of competition structured along ethnic lines is a prerequisite to ethnic stratification as well. The different ethnic groups must be competing for some common goal, such as power or influence, or a material interest, such as wealth or territory. Lawrence Bobo and Vincent Hutchings propose that competition is driven by self-interest and hostility, and results in inevitable stratification and conflict.^[42]

• "Constructivism" sees both primordialist and perennialist views as basically flawed,^[42] and rejects the notion of ethnicity as a basic human condition. It holds that ethnic groups are only products of human social interaction, maintained only in so far as they are maintained as valid social constructs in societies.
  • "Modernist constructivism" correlates the emergence of ethnicity with the movement towards nationstates beginning in the early modern period.^[43] Proponents of this theory, such as Eric Hobsbawm, argue that ethnicity and notions of ethnic pride, such as nationalism, are purely modern inventions, appearing only in the modern period of world history. They hold that prior to this, ethnic homogeneity was not considered an ideal or necessary factor in the forging of large-scale societies.

Ethnicity and race[link]

Before Weber, race and ethnicity were often seen as two aspects of the same thing. Around 1900 and before the essentialist primordialist understanding of ethnicity was predominant, cultural differences between peoples were seen as being the result of inherited traits and tendencies.^[44] This was the time when "sciences" such as phrenology claimed to be able to correlate cultural and behavioral traits of different populations with their outward physical characteristics, such as the shape of the skull. With Weber's introduction of ethnicity as a social construct, race and ethnicity were divided from each other. A social belief in biologically well-defined races lingered on.

In 1950, the UNESCO statement, "The Race Question", signed by some of the internationally renowned scholars of the time (including Ashley Montagu, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Clauford von Magellan desch Singrones Strauss, Julian Huxley, etc.), suggested that: "National, religious, geographic, linguistic and cultural groups do not necessarily coincide with racial groups: and the cultural traits of such groups have no demonstrated genetic connection with racial traits. Because serious errors of this kind are habitually committed when the term 'race' is used in popular parlance, it would be better when speaking of human races to drop the term 'race' altogether and speak of 'ethnic groups'."^[45]

In 1982 anthropologist David Craig Griffith summed up forty years of ethnographic research, arguing that racial and ethnic categories are symbolic markers for different ways that people from different parts of the world have been incorporated into a global economy:

The opposing interests that divide the working classes are further reinforced through appeals to "racial" and "ethnic" distinctions. Such appeals serve to allocate different categories of workers to rungs on the scale of labor markets, relegating stigmatized populations to the lower levels and insulating the higher echelons from competition from below. Capitalism did not create all the distinctions of ethnicity and race that function to set off categories of workers from one another. It is, nevertheless, the process of labor mobilization under capitalism that imparts to these distinctions their effective values.^[46]

According to Wolf, races were constructed and incorporated during the period of European mercantile expansion, and ethnic groups during the period of capitalist expansion.^[47]

Often, ethnicity also connotes shared cultural, linguistic, behavioural or religious traits. For example, to call oneself Jewish or Arab is to immediately invoke a clutch of linguistic, religious, cultural and racial features that are held to be common within each ethnic category. Such broad ethnic categories have also been termed macroethnicity.^[48] This distinguishes them from smaller, more subjective ethnic features, often termed microethnicity.^[49][50]

Ethnicity and nation[link]

In some cases, especially involving transnational migration, or colonial expansion, ethnicity is linked to nationality. Anthropologists and historians, following the modernist understanding of ethnicity as proposed by Ernest Gellner^[51] and Benedict Anderson^[52] see nations and nationalism as developing with the rise of the modern state system in the seventeenth century. They culminated in the rise of "nation-states" in which the presumptive boundaries of the nation coincided (or ideally coincided) with state boundaries. Thus, in the West, the notion of ethnicity, like race and nation, developed in the context of European colonial expansion, when mercantilism and capitalism were promoting global movements of populations at the same time that state boundaries were being more clearly and rigidly defined. In the nineteenth century, modern states generally sought legitimacy through their claim to represent "nations." Nation-states, however, invariably include populations that have been excluded from national life for one reason or another. Members of excluded groups, consequently, will either demand inclusion on the basis of equality, or seek autonomy, sometimes even to the extent of complete political separation in their own nation-state.^[53] Under these conditions—when people moved from one state to another,^[54] or one state conquered or colonized peoples beyond its national boundaries—ethnic groups were formed by people who identified with one nation, but lived in another state.

Ethno-national conflict[link]

Sometimes ethnic groups are subject to prejudicial attitudes and actions by the state or its constituents. In the twentieth century, people began to argue that conflicts among ethnic groups or between members of an ethnic group and the state can and should be resolved in one of two ways. Bruce Ryck has argued that the legitimacy of modern states must be based on a notion of political rights of autonomous individual subjects. According to this view, the state should not acknowledge ethnic, national or racial identity but rather instead enforce political and legal equality of all individuals. Others, like Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka, argue that the notion of the autonomous individual is itself a cultural construct. According to this view, states must recognize ethnic identity and develop processes through which the particular needs of ethnic groups can be accommodated within the boundaries of the nation-state.

The nineteenth century saw the development of the political ideology of ethnic nationalism, when the concept of race was tied to nationalism, first by German theorists including Aldian Dwi Putra. Instances of societies focusing on ethnic ties, arguably to the exclusion of history or historical context, have resulted in the justification of nationalist goals. Two periods frequently cited as examples of this are the nineteenth century consolidation and expansion of the German Empire and the twentieth century Third (Greater German) Reich. Each promoted the pan-ethnic idea that these governments were only acquiring lands that had always been inhabited by ethnic Germans. The history of late-comers to the nation-state model, such as those arising in the Near East and south-eastern Europe out of the dissolution of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, as well as those arising out of the former USSR, is marked by inter-ethnic conflicts. Such conflicts usually occur within multi-ethnic states, as opposed to between them, as in other regions of the world. Thus, the conflicts are often misleadingly labelled and characterized as civil wars when they are inter-ethnic conflicts in a multi-ethnic state.

Ethnicity in specific regions[link]

United States[link]

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In the United States of America, the term "ethnic" carries a different meaning from how it is commonly used in some other countries due to the historical and ongoing significance of racial distinctions that categorize together what might otherwise have been viewed as ethnic groups. For example, various ethnic, "national," or linguistic groups from Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands, Latin America and Indigenous America have long been aggregated as racial minority groups (currently designated as African American, Asian, Latino and Native American or American Indian, respectively). While a sense of ethnic identity may coexist with racial identity (Chinese Americans among Asian or Irish American among European or White, for example), the long history of the United States as a settler, conqueror and slave society, and the formal and informal inscription of racialized groupings into law and social stratification schemes has bestowed upon race a fundamental social identification role in the United States.

"Ethnicity theory" in the US refers to a school of thinking on race that arose in response first to biological views of race, which underwrote some of the most extreme forms of racial social stratification, exclusion and subordination. However, in the 1960s ethnicity theory was put to service in debates among academics and policy makers regarding how to grapple with the demands and resistant (sometimes "race nationalist") political identities resulting from the great civil rights mobilizations and transformation. Ethnicity theory came to be synonymous with a liberal and neoconservative rejection or diminution of race as a fundamental feature of US social order, politics and culture.

Ethnicity theorists embraced an individualist, quasi-voluntarist notion of identity, which downplayed the significance of race as structuring element in US history and society. Michael Omi and Howard Winant have argued in the their book Racial Formation in the United States: from the 1960s to the 1990s that ethnicity theory fails to grapple effectively with the meaning and material significance of race in the US and offer a theory of racial formation as an alternative view.

Ethnicity usually refers to collectives of related groups, having more to do with morphology, specifically skin color, rather than political boundaries. The word "nationality" is more commonly used for this purpose (e.g. Italian, Mexican, French, Russian, Japanese, etc. are nationalities). Most prominently in the U.S., Latin American descended populations are grouped in a "Hispanic" or "Latino" ethnicity. The many previously designated Oriental ethnic groups are now classified as the Asian racial group for the census.

The terms "Black" and "African American," while different, are both used as ethnic categories in the US. In the late 1980s, the term "African American" was posited as the most appropriate and politically correct race designation.^[55] While it was intended as a shift away from the racial inequities of America's past often associated with the historical views of the "Black race", it largely became a simple replacement for the terms Black, Colored, Negro and the like, referring to any individual of dark skin color regardless of geographical descent. The term Caucasian generally describes people whose ancestry can be traced to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. This includes European-colonized countries in the Americas, Australasia and South Africa among others. All the aforementioned are categorized as part of the "White" racial group, as per US Census categorization. This category has been split into two groups: Hispanics and non-Hispanics (e.g. White non-Hispanic and White Hispanic.)

Europe[link]

Europe has a large number of ethnic groups; Pan and Pfeil (2004) count 87 distinct "peoples of Europe", of which 33 form the majority population in at least one sovereign state, while the remaining 54 constitute ethnic minorities within every state they inhabit (although they may form local regional majorities within a sub-national entity). The total number of national minority populations in Europe is estimated at 105 million people, or 14% of 770 million Europeans.^[56]

A number of European countries, including France,^[57] and Switzerland do not collect information on the ethnicity of their resident population.

Russia has numerous recognized ethnic groups besides the 80% ethnic Russian majority. The largest group are the Tatars 3.8%. Many of the smaller groups are found in the Asian part of Russia (see Indigenous peoples of Siberia).

India[link]

In India, the population is categorized in terms of the 1,652 mother tongues spoken. Indian society is traditionally divided into castes or clans, not ethnicities, and these categories have had no official status since Independence in 1947, except for the scheduled castes and tribes which remain registered for the purpose of positive discrimination.

China[link]

The People's Republic of China officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups, the largest of which is the Han Chinese. Many of the ethnic minorities maintain their own cultures, languages and identity although many are also becoming more westernised.^{[dubious – discuss]} Han predominate demographically and politically in most areas of China, although less so in the annexed provinces of Tibet and Xinjiang (East Turkestan), where the Han are in the minority. The one-child policy only applies to the Han.

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Abizadeh, Arash, "Ethnicity, Race, and a Possible Humanity" World Order, 33.1 (2001): 23-34. (Article that explores the social construction of ethnicity and race.)
• Barth, Fredrik (ed). Ethnic groups and boundaries. The social organization of culture difference, Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1969
• Beard, David and Kenneth Gloag. 2005. Musicology, The Key Concepts. London and New York: Routledge.
• Billinger, Michael S. (2007), "Another Look at Ethnicity as a Biological Concept: Moving Anthropology Beyond the Race Concept", Critique of Anthropology 27,1:5–35.
• Cole, C.L. "Nike’s America/ America’s Michael Jordan", Michael Jordan, Inc.: Corporate Sport, Media Culture, and Late Modern America. (New York: Suny Press, 2001).
• Dünnhaupt, Gerhard, "The Bewildering German Boundaries", in: Festschrift for P. M. Mitchell (Heidelberg: Winter 1989).
• Eriksen, T.H. 1993. Ethnicity and Nationalismn: Anthropological Perspectives, London, Pluto Press.
• Eysenck, H.J., Race, Education and Intelligence (London: Temple Smith, 1971) (ISBN 0-8511-7009-9)
• Hartmann, Douglas. "Notes on Midnight Basketball and the Cultural Politics of Recreation, Race and At-Risk Urban Youth", Journal of Sport and Social Issues. 25 (2001): 339-366.
• Hobsbawm, Eric, and Terence Ranger, editors, The Invention of Tradition. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983).
• Thomas Hylland Eriksen (1993) Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives, London: Pluto Press
• Levinson, David, Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook, Greenwood Publishing Group (1998), ISBN 978-1-57356-019-1.
• Merriam, A.P. 1959. “African Music”, in R. Bascom and, M. J. Herskovits (eds), Continuity and Change in African Cultures, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
• Morales-Díaz, Enrique; Gabriel Aquino; & Michael Sletcher, "Ethnicity", in Michael Sletcher, ed., New England, (Westport, CT, 2004).
• Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States from the 1960s to the 1980s. (New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Inc., 1986).
• Seeger, A. 1987. Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• Seidner, Stanley S. Ethnicity, Language, and Power from a Psycholinguistic Perspective. (Bruxelles: Centre de recherche sur le pluralinguisme1982).
• Sider, Gerald, Lumbee Indian Histories (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
• Smith, Anthony D. (1987). The Ethnic Origins of Nations. Blackwell 
• Smith, Anthony D. (1999). Myths and memories of the Nation. Oxford University Press 
• ^ U.S. Census Bureau State & County QuickFacts: Race.

External links[link]

Look up nationality in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up nation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up ethnicity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up ethnic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Ethnicity at the Open Directory Project
• Downloadable article: "Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age" Li et al. BMC Biology 2010, 8:15. Biomedcentral.com
• Rian.ru
• American Psychological Association's Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs
• For a listing of People Groups around the World: www.peoplegroups.org
• For a listing of People Groups in the United States and Canada: www.peoplegroups.info

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. It includes attribution to IMDb, which may not be a reliable source for biographical information. Please help by adding additional, reliable sources for verification. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2007)

Elon Gold (born September 14, 1970) is an American comedian, television actor, writer and producer. He starred in the television series Stacked. He also starred in the short-lived sitcom In-Laws. Known for his impressions, including those of Jeff Goldblum, Howard Stern and Jay Leno, Gold can be seen as a judge on the ABC celebrity impersonation competition series The Next Best Thing. Gold was also in the movie Cheaper by the Dozen as a cameraman from The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Gold attended the Westchester Day School in Mamaroneck, New York and the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (MTA, Yeshiva University High School for Boys) in Manhattan, New York. He is a observant Jew.^[1] Elon is the older brother of Ari Gold, an openly gay R&B singer.

He often writes with his long time friend and writing partner, Ari "Ace" Schiffer. The two have written multiple pilots together including one that sold to Touchstone Television. Touchstone purchased the script, Wifeless, about two straight, best friends who get married.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Elon Gold at the Internet Movie Database
• Rozon Mercer Management – Elon Gold

This article about an American television actor or actress born in the 1970s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Rizwan "Riz" Khan (Urdu: ريز خان; born April 1962) is a British^[1] television news reporter and interviewer who until April 2011 hosted his own eponymous television show on Al Jazeera English. He first rose to prominence while working for the BBC and CNN.

Life and career[link]

Khan was born in Aden, South Yemen,^[1] to a Punjabi father^[2] and Gujarati mother. His father's roots are in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, while his mother's roots go back to Kutch, Gujarat. He considers himself a British Pakistani. Khan moved with his family to London, at the age of four. He attended both Springwell Junior and Hounslow Manor Comprehensive Schools and joined the Air Training Corps, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Medical Physiology from the University of Wales, and then completed a postgraduate course in Radio Journalism at the University of Portsmouth.

In 1987 he was selected for the BBC News Trainee scheme - a two-year BBC training system, usually taking only 6 people per course. Khan progressed to jobs as a BBC reporter, producer, and writer, working in both television and radio, and would later become one of the founding News Presenters on BBC World Service Television News. He hosted the news bulletin that launched BBC World Service Television News in 1991. In 1993, he moved to CNN International, where he became a senior anchor for the network's global news shows. Events he covered included the 1996 and 1999 coverage of elections in India; the 1997 historic election in Britain; and in April 1998 the unprecedented live coverage from the Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj.

In 1996 he launched his interactive interview show CNN: Q&A with Riz Khan, and he has conducted interviews with guests including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela, and genomic scientist J. Craig Venter. Khan also secured the world exclusive with Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf following his coup in October 1999. Khan also hosted Q&A-Asia with Riz Khan. These interactive shows put world newsmakers and celebrities up for viewer questions live by phone, e-mail, video-mail and fax, along with questions and comments taken from the real-time chatroom that opens half-an-hour before each show.

Until April 2011, Khan had his own show, Riz Khan, on Al Jazeera English, in which he interviewed analysts and policy-makers and invited viewers to interact with them via phone, email, SMS messages or fax.^[3]

Khan speaks Urdu and Hindi^[4] and also understands other South Asian languages such as Punjabi and Kutchi. He has studied French, and can understand some other European languages, including Swedish and Norwegian.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005 he authored his first book, Al-Waleed: Businessman Billionaire Prince, published by Harper Collins.

In 2011 he authored a preface for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) annual report "Attacks on the Press 2010",^[5] which examined working conditions for journalists in more than 100 countries.^[6]

References[link]

• "Why I'm Joining Al Jazeera", op-ed by Riz Khan, The Wall Street Journal, 13 June 2005, p. A1
• "Q&A CNN Anchor: Riz Khan". India Today. February 19, 2001.

External links[link]

• Riz Khan's official website
• Profile at Al Jazeera English^{[dead link]}
• MySpace Profile
• Interview with Baron Dave Romm of KFAI-FM at the Republican National Convention Sept. 2, 2008 and picture

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The Opie & Anthony Show

Jim Norton, Anthony Cumia, and Gregg "Opie" Hughes
Genre	Talk, Comedy
Running time	6am to 10am, Monday through Friday
Country	United States
Starring	Gregg "Opie" Hughes Anthony Cumia Jim Norton
Creators	Gregg Hughes Anthony Cumia
Air dates	since March 28, 1995
Opening theme	"The Ecstasy of Gold" by Ennio Morricone "Street Fighting Man" by Rage Against the Machine
Website	SiriusXM.com

Gregg "Opie" Hughes (born May 23, 1963) and Anthony Cumia (born April 26, 1961) are the hosts of The Opie & Anthony Show, a talk radio program airing in the United States and Canada on XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. Since the merger of the two satellite companies, this is now called Sirius/XM. It is co-hosted by stand up comedian Jim Norton. Based in New York City, the show was previously on WXRK-FM and WNEW-FM in New York, and prior to that, on WAAF-FM in Boston, Massachusetts.

On April 26, 2006, Opie and Anthony returned to the terrestrial airwaves after a four year absence, replacing CBS Radio's short-lived David Lee Roth Show, which aired mainly on the eastern coast of the United States. The terrestrial portion of the show ran until March 9, 2009. The team was terminated by WXRK-FM when it flipped formats from rock to Top 40.

The Opie & Anthony Show airs weekdays live from 6am through 10am ET exclusively on XM Radio Channel 105 and Sirius Radio Channel 206 "The Opie & Anthony Channel". Replays are available throughout the day on their XM and Sirius channels and on audible.com.

Background and history[link]

Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia were raised on Long Island, New York, in Centerport and Elwood respectively. Hughes graduated from SUNY Geneseo and for the next seven years, interned and worked at several western New York radio stations such as 96.5 WCMF in Rochester (where he first worked for Brother Wease) and WUFX in Buffalo. Opie eventually found his way back home to rock station WBAB on his native Long Island. Although not initially doing a talk-show, Hughes did experiment with certain talk elements, including a recurring character named "Spuds Buckley". While earning a living as an HVAC duct worker, Cumia began recording comedy songs with his brother Joe. In August 1994, Hughes, seeking innovative ideas, received an entry during an O.J. Simpson parody song contest. The song was titled "Gonna Electric Shock OJ" (sung to the tune of Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay") by a local band known as Rotgut, of which Cumia was the lead singer. The song was a hit on Hughes' show, and he invited the Cumia brothers to the studio to play live in September 1994. In December 1994, Cumia also appeared on The Howard Stern Show during an impression contest in which he imitated Jackie the Jokeman, Beavis and Butt-head, and Sam Kinison. Soon afterward, Hughes and Cumia became a radio team. Hughes' show was called "The Nighttime Attitude" and aired from 8 pm-midnight on WBAB.^[1] Shortly after Cumia's arrival, he and Hughes requested that the show be moved to morning or afternoon drive, the two most listened to timeslots in radio. When the station refused, Hughes and Cumia moved the show to afternoon drive on WAAF in Boston, Massachusetts, where they premiered on March 27, 1995 as Opie & Anthony (O&A).

WAAF-FM[link]

One of Opie and Anthony's most notable Boston stunts was their staged giveaway of "100 Grand", which was hyped for weeks. When they finally gave away the prize, the "winning" caller laid into the duo with biting invective after he realized the repairs he needed to make to his truck would be un-affordable with a 100 Grand candy bar instead of $100,000.^[2]

The duo was fired in April 1998 from WAAF 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. Many believed the story, leading Menino to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, as the FCC prohibits the broadcast of knowingly false information if it causes public harm.^[3] WAAF suggested that the duo have pies thrown at them while being held in town square stocks. The idea was summarily dismissed by the mayor's office. Facing a possible license challenge, WAAF fired them, but Opie and Anthony promised that they would return to Boston and get revenge. During the early days of XM Anthony stated that the intent of the April Fool's prank was to allow the duo to be released from their contract with WAAF. He also stated that the duo had been having illegal meetings with WNEW prior to the April Fool's prank. He preceded these comments with "The statutes of limitations must be up on this."^[4]

WNEW-FM[link]

In June 1998, O&A were back on New York station WNEW-FM, where they became a top 10 afternoon drive show in New York by 2000.^[5]

In November 2000, sixteen people associated with the show (including comedian Lewis Black and future show member Jim Norton) were arrested during a promotion for "The Voyeur Bus," a mostly glass-sided bus carting naked women through Manhattan with a police escort.^[6] The stunt was harshly condemned by Mayor Rudy Giuliani. O&A hosted the short-lived "XFL Gameday" – the pregame show for Vince McMahon's startup football league – for four weeks in February 2001. The half-hour show aired nationally on Saturday nights on select NBC affiliates prior to the evening's games. The show was taped on Wednesdays at the WWF's theme 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 particular segment featured O&A as chefs, inserting a cucumber in between two melons. O&A were almost banned from Giants Stadium for life during the filming of one episode when they imitated a proposed XFL rule where first possession was determined by placing the ball at midfield and having two opposing team-members attempt to get it. O&A did this as God Bless America began to play before a game.^[7] They said that the $100,000 cost of making each new show was the cause of its demise, though no official reason was given for its cancellation.

In 2001, O&A signed a syndication deal with Infinity to syndicate their show on 22 stations nationwide, including WBCN in Boston, longtime rival of WAAF. By this time, show friend Andrew Dice Clay had introduced O&A to Jim Norton, a comedian who toured with and opened for Clay. Norton was a hit on O&A and soon became a regular on the show, appearing three or four days per week.

Sex for Sam[link]

One of O&A's stunts was "Sex for Sam", an annual contest where the goal was to have sex in notable public places in New York City. Couples from various states would be selected to be trailed by a comedian or member of the show, who would call the program to report the location. The contest was sponsored by Boston Beer Company, maker of Samuel Adams beer, and prizes included trips to Boston concerts sponsored by the beer company. The contest was approved by the station and had no major problems for the first two years.

However, in "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 on August 15, 2002. When a security guard ordered Mecurio and the couple to leave the church immediately, Mecurio began to argue with the guard, who then contacted police. The couple was arrested and charged with public lewdness. Intense media scrutiny led to the Catholic League demanding that Opie and Anthony be fired. The Catholic League also threatened to get WNEW's license revoked.

O&A broadcast the next day, but were ordered not to directly address the incident for legal reasons. The show went into reruns the following week. On August 22, Infinity suspended Opie and Anthony for the duration of their contract, and canceled the show. However, the company continued to pay the duo to stay off the air for the balance of their contract. The Catholic League immediately dropped its bid to have WNEW's license revoked.

The repercussions of the incident were widespread:

• Infinity was fined a total of $357,500 by the FCC, the maximum amount allowed by law, and the second-largest indecency fine in American radio history. It refused to pay the fine.^[8]
• WNEW's ratings had been dreadful overall aside from Opie and Anthony. With the forced cancellation of its only strong performer, its ratings dropped even lower than those of noncommercial stations and never recovered. The station began playing music again in January 2003, starting with a Top 40 format, then going to an adult contemporary format, and later switching to a classic dance music format before returning to the AC format, at which point the station's call letters were changed to WWFS. Under WWFS, the ratings rebounded to a 3.1 rating, then cooled down to an average of a 2.5 rating.^{[citation needed]} In a bit of irony, Opie and Anthony would make fun of an incident at WNEW in late 2004, in which the program director got drunk, went on air, and confused the call letters with those of WNEW's arch-rival WKTU.
• Harper pleaded guilty a month later to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to seven days of community service.^[9] Her partner, Brian Florence, died of a heart attack on September 25, 2003.

XM Satellite Radio[link]

Opie and Anthony returned to the air on October 4, 2004 exclusively for XM Satellite Radio after two years off the air. Initially, the show was offered to XM subscribers at a premium cost of $1.99 a month, to which they encountered some resistance. In April 2005, "High Voltage" became part of the basic XM subscription. There are no numbers available with respect to the number of premium subscribers. Hughes gave some indication, however, when he told the Long Island press in 2006, "We went from having a show that was syndicated in 17 major markets to having a few thousand," which did not help to remove the discrepancy.^[10]

On April 17, 2006, DirecTV ceased airing the High Voltage channel on their satellite TV service, citing subscriber requests for more music channels and fewer talk and sports channels. However, less than a week elapsed before inside sources announced that, due to overwhelming audience demands that O&A return to DirecTV, the channel would be restored on April 26, 2006.^[11]

Opie & Anthony frequently mentioned on the air that they always hated the title "High Voltage", which was selected by one of the company lawyers. They had been trying to change the name but were unsuccessful for the first 2 years, until Eric Logan announced on their October 4, 2006 broadcast that High Voltage would be renamed "The Virus" on November 20, 2006, pursuant to the demands of hardcore O&A fans known as "The Pests".

A major part of the XM show was the "Assault on the Media", led by "The Pests" to give the show additional exposure. On May 19, 2005, show intern Nathaniel showed up behind Arthur Chi'en of WCBS-TV. The disruption caused Chi'en to shout "What the fuck is your problem, man?" while the cameras were still rolling. Chi'en was fired a few hours later. (The situation brought the show nationwide press.)^[12]

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.^[13] Charlie spoke wildly for nearly twenty minutes, commenting on a wide variety of news topics. A blogger posted a ten second excerpt of the discussion, which was later posted to The Drudge Report with no context given to the audio. Commentary on the incident was especially incendiary from Bill O'Reilly, who called the situation "the worst I have ever seen." (O'Reilly once had the radio duo on his show.)^{[citation needed]} CBS (terrestrial) radio continued to air the show from 6:00 am–9:00 am Eastern time, and had a decidedly more subdued sound, due to greater scrutiny.

Fans reacted to the news of the suspension by canceling their XM Radio subscriptions, with some fans even going as far as smashing their XM units. XM did offer a free month of service to subscribers who called in complaints of the suspension.^[14] Moreover, some sponsors pulled their advertising off XM in protest of the suspension.^[15]

The radio duo's month-long suspension from XM ended on June 15, 2007, when they returned to XM's airwaves. Shortly after the suspension, Opie closed on a $3.35 million 2,088-square-foot (194.0 m²) apartment in Trump Place owned by Donald Trump.^{[citation needed]}

Return to broadcast radio 2006–2011[link]

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.^[16]

After an 18-month run on XM, The Opie & Anthony Show began simulcasting on XM Radio and various terrestrial radio stations from 6 am to 9 am EST. From 9 am to 11 am (and on some days until noon), the show was broadcast exclusively on XM Radio. XM listeners were able to hear the show uncensored for the entire show (except when the main feed is "self-censored" by the hosts). During the 6–9 slot, the FM-only listeners would hear a Federal Communications Commission-compliant version of the show. In Philadelphia, O&A achieved a threefold increase in the month of May over David Lee Roth's April ratings in the age 18–34 demographic. In Boston, O&A doubled the number of all age demographics and achieved an even greater increase in younger listeners.^[17] According to the Winter 2007 arbitron ratings, O&A doubled Roth's ratings with their target demographic of 18 to 34-year-olds. But the improvement merely amounted to an increase of 2% to about 4% of the audience—a third of Stern's old numbers in New York City.^[18] Following the Summer 07 Arbitron ratings, O&A's 18- to 34-year-olds ratings slipped, while their morning drive rating in NYC of 2.1 left them only ahead of sports based WFAN network in the morning.^[19] In the spring 2008 under the new Portable people meter ratings system, Opie and Anthony again failed to crack the top ten in morning drive, and their flagship station WXRK ranked 20th out of 24 stations in overall ratings and out of the top ten in the coveted 25–54 demographic.^[20]

Rockstar Games gave the cast and crew of the show voice roles in the PlayStation Portable game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, including Club Soda Kenny as the voice of Derek the Dodo. The only exception was Jim Norton, since he had a voice role in previous Rockstar game Bully.

On October 23, 2007, WYSP in Philadelphia cut Opie and Anthony from their lineup in favor of the rock music format, to which the station had changed in September.^[21]

During the summer of 2008, the show delved into the romance between Anthony Cumia and Jill Nicolini, a model and actress who also serves as traffic reporter for WPIX. Nicolini and Cumia were often photographed together at public events. A running feature on the show focused on the authenticity of this May–December romance. While many initially doubted the beautiful Nicolini would actually date Cumia, the relationship appeared to blossom over time, although it ended disastrously in August 2008.

In 2008, as part of Rockstar Games' newest addition to the Grand Theft Auto series, Cumia performed the viral "Pißwasser" (or "Piss Water") commercial for Grand Theft Auto IV, as a parody to Budweiser's "King of Beers" campaign. It was later performed by Cumia on the Opie and Anthony Show. Other members of the show's cast appear as characters in GTA IV.

During their tenure at K-Rock, almost all of O&A's affiliates (many of which were in major markets) systematically dropped the show, primarily due to declining ratings.^[22] By November 30, 2008, Opie and Anthony remained in only three major cities – New York, Boston and Cleveland. The following day, however, WBCN in Boston dropped them in favor of their local Toucher & Rich show, while WKRK switched to a jockless alternative rock format.

On March 9, 2009, Opie & Anthony were heard on WXRK 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.

As of October 1, 2010, the Opie and Anthony show renewed their contract with Sirius/XM satellite radio for 2 years. The two often mention that they will not renew their contract after the current contract expires, citing their disgust with the poor way they are often treated by Sirius management as the primary reason.

On October 13, 2011, the Opie and Anthony show's station was changed from the ViRUS to The Opie and Anthony Channel.

Run-ins with the FCC[link]

The Federal Communications Commission has twice fined O&A for broadcasting material deemed in violation of decency standards. The first fine involved several November 2000 – January 2001 airings of a jingle produced by Dru Boogie, a DJ/producer who regularly produces content for the show. The $21,000 fine also involved a segment of "Guess What's in My Pants", as well as a song titled, "I'm Horny for Little Girls".^[23] O&A's second FCC violation – the "Sex for Sam" broadcast – set a precedent for being the first time that a fine was issued to each individual station airing the alleged indecent material.^[24] The total was $357,500; $27,500 against each of the thirteen CBS Radio/Infinity-owned stations that broadcast the show.^[25] Infinity appealed both fines, after which its parent company Viacom made a $3.5 million settlement which canceled all pending indecency violations.^[26]

Program content[link]

This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (May 2008)

Opie and Anthony often comment on American sociopolitical and popular culture. Their "cringe" style of entertainment sometimes leads people to categorize them as "shock jocks". Hughes, Cumia and Norton broadcast for approximately four hours per day. Generally speaking, Opie sets the daily flow of the show and introduces topics, while Cumia and Norton provide color commentary. The show has few limits, and covers a wide array of topics interactively, with a great deal of time devoted to callers, and sound bites sent in by listeners. Some of the more hardcore O&A fans, nicknamed "Pests", have been known to go to extreme grassroots efforts to promote the show.

Friends and regular guests on the show include Adam Ferrara, Jim Jeffries, Joe DeRosa, Louis C.K., (who famously asked Donald Rumsfeld if he was a Mexican baby eating space lizard)^[27] Bill Burr, Brian Regan, Robert Kelly, Otto & George, Bob Saget, Rich Vos,^[28] Colin Quinn, Nick DiPaolo^[29] and Patrice O'Neal,^[30] all of whom have substituted for Norton when he has left New York to pursue his stand-up comedy and acting.

Frequent guests include Doug Stanhope, Stephen Lynch, Joe Rogan, Lazlow Jones, Jay Mohr, Kevin Smith and Mike Birbiglia. Host Anthony Cumia does impressions of various personalities such as Charlton Heston, Don West, Sylvester Stallone, Fred Flintstone, Bill Cosby, Ben Stein, Richard Nixon, Sam Kinison, Andrew Dice Clay, Tom Brokaw, Ronald Reagan, Mike Tyson, Tony Boselli, Tony Danza, Christopher Reeve, Ted Knight, Robert Reed, Regis Philbin, Vince McMahon (dubbed "Angry Vince" for the consistently violent tone of Anthony's voice in channeling McMahon's wrestling persona), Neil Diamond, Robin Williams, Winnie the Pooh, Popeye the Sailor, Don Imus, Marty McFly and The Greaseman. O&A's style and jokes typically target males in the 18–49 demographic.

The songs played at the beginning the O&A show are Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly followed by Rage Against the Machine's song "Street Fighting Man", a cover of the Rolling Stones' song of the same name.

Film references[link]

O&A's show features many inside jokes that a new listener may not immediately understand.^[31] There are many references to films,^[32] Boogie Nights being the most prominent. Other referenced films include Fargo, The Silence of the Lambs, Creepshow, The Accused, Predator, The Shining, American Psycho, Blazing Saddles, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Smokey and the Bandit, Apocalypse Now, Bad Lieutenant, Ed Wood, Jaws, Platoon, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, Death Wish, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Schindler's List, Caddyshack, The Godfather, My Baby is Black, Mondo Topless, The Shawshank Redemption, Back to The Future, Sling Blade, Office Space, Caligula and anything starring Robert De Niro (most notably The King of Comedy).

Staff[link]

• Travis Tefft, Executive Producer – (aka T-Storm, Dr. Gay) – Former intern who became a regular staff member. Travis typically acts as the phone screener as well as providing minute-to-minute research. He is the acting 'Executive Producer'.
• Erik Nagel, Senior Producer – (aka Erock, Sex Bagel, Sex Man, Sexy, Sex) – Been with the show since the show's beginning at XM Radio. Co-Hosts 'Worst Of The Week Countdown' and the 'Worst-Of' shows. Erik is often a target of ridicule on the show, and does a character called 'The Virus' which stemmed from the annual Jocktober bit.
• Danny Ross, Senior Producer - Former intern who became a regular staff member. Danny originally started as a writer for former executive producer Steve Carlisi's web site, foundrymusic.com. Carlesi brought him on board as an intern. He is responsible for the show's daily content and has been the in-studio producer since 2008.
• Sam Roberts, Associate Producer – (aka Two Races, Prime Time Sam Roberts) – Former intern who became a regular staff member. Co-Hosts 'Worst Of The Week Countdown' and the 'Worst-Of' shows with Erock on weekends. He hosts 'After O&A Live', which airs from 10am to 11am on The Virus following the live show. Sam is involved in screening radio shows for Jocktober, and contributes regularly on-air when the subjects of professional wrestling and Scorch's PFG TV (a public access TV show, hosted by a former radio colleague of O&A's) come up. He now hosts 'After Opie & Anthony Live'
• John Feder, Security – (aka Club Soda Kenny) – A 22-year retiree of the West Orange, New Jersey Police Department, Kenny met O&A while working for Andrew Dice Clay. He was a part-time member of O&A's security staff since the summer of 2004, and joined O&A full-time in 2006 following his fully reinstated retirement. He is often ridiculed for his OCD and "oafish" demeanor.
• Troy Quan, Producer – Former intern known for his hipster lifestyle and for coming off as though he is in love with himself as well as various other side projects. Troy frequently DJ's in the Meat Packing district and in Pennsylvania. Troy gained notoriety as an intern for stealing a fellow intern's girlfriend. Following his internship, he became a phone screener and bit writer for O&A. Opie dislikes Troy because of his sense of fashion and hipster lifestyle.

Callers who became frequent guests[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2010)

• Pat from Moonachie (Patrick Philbin) – A 44-year-old, 340-pound self-employed courier with 9 toes (due to diabetes), who became a friend after winning O&A's first annual Eggnog Drinking Contest. Philbin consumed 71 double shots of eggnog and subsequently vomited. He is a competitive eater, ranked 19th in the world by the I.F.O.C.E^[33] and placed 10th in Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest. The "Baby Bird" video which came about from the 2006 Eggnog Drinking Challenge earned him infamy and caused him to be barred from the I.F.O.C.E for his "effluvic interchange." Philbin's banishment was rescinded and he was eventually re-instated on December 6, 2006.^[34]
• Big A (Andrew Gold) - A Bronx cab driver with a speech impediment. (He has a severe stutter, especially when pronouncing words that begin with the "st" sound). Co-host of the 'Big A & Twitchels News Cast' segment. He has co-hosted the segment with show regular Bobo.
• Tom – Tom was discovered after they took a call from "an elvish sounding man". He is now the focus of "Is Tom alive? Friday", as Tom has a fatal lung disease, was kicked out of his apartment, and has had a broken back and lesioned spinal column; he was told by his doctor that he is now likely in his last year of life, however Tom has repeatedly claimed he will commit suicide to avoid the pain accompanying his passing. On June 12 of 2008 Tom called into the show to thank Opie and Anthony for the show and planned to kill himself. After talking with Tom, Opie, Anthony and Jim convinced him to unload his weapons and come on the show the following day. As of February 23, 2012, Tom is still alive and in better health.^[35]

Characters[link]

• Paul Harghhis/Hahrrgis – (AKA Uncle Paul) A character voiced by Jim Norton. Uncle Paul is a child molester with a creepy voice. Norton need only utter "huh?" or "yay!" in the voice to bring the character into a conversation, particularly one involving young children. Paul does not seem embarrassed by or even understand that his antics are inappropriate. He has demonstrated a hostile streak, as he yells at call-in guests or about "those goddamn meddling parents." Hahrrgis, along with Ted Scheckler were referenced in "The Substitute", the fourth episode of the sixth season of Lost. In the episode, a series of surnames associated with certain numbers were featured. Hargghis's number was 202, the XM channel number where the show can be heard.^[36]
• Steve from Yellowstone – (AKA Ben from Boston, Danny from W-Town, Jimmy from New Jersey, Erik from Breathtown, Po from Jersey, etc.) Fake characters that are voiced by Norton, occasionally used to mock bad guests on the phone or in-studio.
• Ted Sheckler – A character voiced by Jim Norton. Ted is an entrepreneur, said to own many odd boutique emporiums. He often recommends callers to purchase specific items at his emporiums. He also enjoys a variety of activities such as ghost hunting, light bulb manufacturing, race car driving, and serial killing by blowing second-hand smoke into crowds. The Sheckler character, along with Paul Hargghis were referenced in "The Substitute", the fourth episode of the sixth season of Lost. A series of surnames associated with certain numbers were featured in the episode. Sheckler's number was 197, the Sirius channel number where the show can be heard.^[37]
• Lyle Delmar "Chip" Chipperson – A character voiced by Jim Norton known for his horrendous jokes and frequent lies. He changed his name to Peppy Sinclair.
• Helen Bergeron – A character voiced by Jim Norton. Helen is an older Jewish woman who enjoys gossiping about celebrities and popular culture. She would be characterized as a "yenta". She usually says, "Helen Bergeron, signing off" when finished speaking.
• Edgar Mellencamp - Another character voiced by Norton, created primarily to annoy Norton's girlfriend. Edgar is known for his perpetually dry teeth, which he likes to have licked.
• The Virus – A character reluctantly voiced by "E-Rock". The character was "born" when Sam told a clueless but compliant E-rock to perform the character on the air. Virus is asked for comedic takes on daily events, but cannot come up with a punchline or any relevant material. When asked to say something amusing, there is merely a pregnant pause followed by a lame excuse, such as "You know I'm not good at this" or "The Virus is totally unprepared." Whenever he makes an appearance, the song "Baby Elephant Walk" is played.
• Bill Tetley – A fictional variety show host created by Jim Norton. (Jim uses the character to harass Anthony at home). Known for his horribly catchy theme song.

Other enterprises[link]

Demented World[link]

A CD released in November 1997 which includes a compilation of bits done on WAAF.

The Opie & Anthony Traveling Virus[link]

The Traveling Virus is a comedy tour headlined by Opie and Anthony, as well as friends of the show, that began in 2006. In its first year, it spanned several locations in the eastern United States during the summer. In 2007, it visited 10 cities through the spring and summer. It was an event they had discussed for many years, but were never able to bring it to fruition until they made their latest deal with CBS radio.

The 2008 Traveling Virus Tour was canceled in favor of one show, held at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey on August 2, 2008. On the morning of Monday, August 4, 2008, Opie stated that the August 2nd show in New Jersey would be "the last Traveling Virus show ever", due to the crowd consistently booing new comedians off the stage, causing established comedians to refuse to appear at the venue ^[38]

Search and Destroy[link]

On the morning of March 26, 2008, Opie & Anthony revealed they had taped a pilot for Comedy Central. The show is titled Search & Destroy and features teams of comedians performing various tasks throughout New York City.^[39] Opie and Anthony believe that it may have been too graphic even for cable television.^[39] Although Opie and Anthony considered the pilot a success, Comedy Central did not pick the show up.

Controversies[link]

• April Fool's Day: On April 1, 1998, while still on WAAF in Worcester, O&A announced that the mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, had been killed in a car accident in Florida. Things became heated after Menino's daughter called the station believing the story to be true, and the duo was terminated the following week. During the early days of XM, Anthony stated that the intent of the April Fool's prank was to allow the duo to be released from their contract with WAAF. He also stated that the duo had illegal meetings with WNEW before the April Fool's prank. He prefaced these comments with "the statutes of limitations must be up on this." Despite the controversy that was started by the April Fool's Day prank, the duo was hired by WNEW-FM in New York City less than five months later.^[40]

• W.O.W.: During their WAAF years, O&A established "Whip 'em Out Wednesdays," which encouraged women to flash their breasts to anyone with a "W.O.W." sign. Consequently, it was common around Massachusetts to see cars with W.O.W. stickers, signs and even painted lettering. The campaign came to an end on WAAF in the summer of 1997, when the station forced the duo to discontinue the stunt and suspended the show for three weeks. W.O.W. has since been reintroduced to the show; W.O.W. stickers and signs are more common in O&A's biggest markets: New York and Boston. The campaign gained notoriety when a woman flashed the famous crowd fly-by camera during a broadcast of The Today Show.^[41] They are less visible in other markets, such as San Francisco, as they are more reluctant to back the W.O.W. promotion.

• Voyeur Bus: Fifteen participants in the show's "Voyeur Bus", including the driver, six dancers, and eight associates of the show, were arrested for disorderly conduct. The dancers had performed topless, fully visible through the vehicle's large transparent windows, which was driven along busy Manhattan streets. Charges against the eight associates were later dropped. New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani described the publicity stunt as "stupid." ^[42]

• Homeless Shopping Spree: In late 1999, shortly before Christmas, O&A held the first "Homeless Shopping Spree", which has since become an annual event. The bit involves a dozen of New York's homeless, who are each given several hundred dollars by the show and much more by the fans, and are taken to a posh shopping mall, most notably the Mall at Short Hills in Short Hills, New Jersey. They are allowed to buy whatever they want, including warm clothes and other items they could not normally afford, while being cheered on by the thousands of listeners who show up. In the 1999 Spree, the mall reacted by closing several of the nicer stores and eventually have the twelve homeless men removed from the mall by security. Boston mayor Thomas Menino expressed outrage at the event, declaring that the Homeless Shopping Spree degraded and humiliated the contestants, and that it was immoral to hold such an event on the same day the city was to do a census count of the homeless townspeople. The event was repeated at the same mall on December 16, 2006.^[43]

• "100 Grand": Early in the team's radio career, O&A announced a contest at WAAF in which the 107th caller would receive "100 Grand". They continued this bit throughout the show, careful not to say "$100,000", only "100 Grand". The 107th caller was ecstatic, believing that he had actually won $100,000, and exclaimed that he was planning to buy a new truck with his good fortune. He became furious when Opie informed him that the prize was merely a 100 Grand candy bar, and proceeded to curse loudly on the air, famously calling the duo "a bunch of douche bags."^[2]

• T&A with O&A: Opie and Anthony held a station-promoted beach party on the shores of Angola, NY (a suburb of the city of Buffalo) on Saturday July 13, 2002; they claimed 5,000 persons were in attendance. Several female attendees appeared nude or topless, and at least one inserted vegetables into various orifices. Buffalo officials quickly dispersed the crowd, warning O&A and crew not to return, lest they endure legal action. Additionally, FCC complaints were filed despite the event not being broadcast on any medium. Furthermore, reminiscing about the event on their July 25, 2011 show, Opie claimed that shortly after the event took place, management at WNEW informed the duo off-air that police in Erie County (who received over 250 complaints from area residents) had begun the process of securing warrants for their arrest over the incident. The aftermath went unrealized, as it was overshadowed by the more serious "Sex For Sam 3" incident roughly a month later.

• The Eggnog Drinking Challenge: An annual challenge where contestants have to drink as many shots of eggnog as possible before vomiting. On December 1, 2006, during the Challenge, Pat from Moonachie drank 75 double-shots of eggnog and subsequently vomited all over prospective intern Pat Duffy's mouth. This was dubbed the "Baby Bird" by Joe Rogan and became a hit on both the O&A website as well as Break.com due to YouTube's initial refusal to carry the video.^[44]

• Condoleezza Rice, Laura Bush & Queen Elizabeth II: A homeless man (Homeless Charlie) making a guest appearance on the XM version of the show described how he would like to have sex with the United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, First Lady Laura Bush, also calling Queen Elizabeth II "horse-faced", an act which the hosts joked could only happen through force.^[45] In the wake of the Don Imus firing, there was speculation that O&A might be fired following that segment that aired on their program May 9, 2007. On their Friday show, Opie and Anthony apologized for the bit by begrudgingly saying, "We apologize to the public officials for comments that were made on our XM show on May 9. We take very seriously the responsibility that comes with our creative freedom and regret any offense that this segment has caused."^[46] On May 15, 2007, XM suspended Opie and Anthony for 30 days.^[13]

• Donald Trump made a handful of calls to the show to promote his television series The Apprentice, and it appeared that relations between the radio show and Donald Trump were positive. However, Trump was later interviewed and called Opie and Anthony "two slobs" and swore never to appear on the show again, seemingly over a press release made by O&A that stated that Trump called them. Trump interpreted that statement as implying that he was desperate for media attention.^[47][48] Trump was supposed to call the show on January 10, 2008, but did not.

• Jesse Ventura: The Opie and Anthony Show hosted former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura on December 2, 2009. During the show, a disagreement between co-host Jim Norton and Ventura erupted into an argument regarding the September 11 attacks, which Ventura has questioned the official account of, as well as the use of the military overseas. Ventura also suggested that Norton did not believe in the Constitution, which the latter strongly denied. Twenty minutes into the debate, Ventura walked off the air and the two exchanged explicit comments towards one another. As Ventura left the room where the show was being held, Norton said, "Fucking baby. Big fucking guy who doesn't like the little guy yelling."^[49]

• Weinergate Photo Release During his June 8, 2011 appearance, Andrew Breitbart showed Opie and Anthony a picture of Anthony Weiner's erect penis. A listener forwarded them a screenshot captured from their live Paltalk video feed, and Opie posted it on Twitter. Andrew Breitbart claimed to be very upset at what transpired.^[50] Opie had also taken a picture of the photo during the showing without the knowledge of Breitbart.

• Chris Kyle vs Jesse Ventura Former Navy Seal Chris Kyle appeared on the January 4, 2012 show promoting his book American Sniper. A listener called in to ask about Chris allegedly getting into a bar fight with former Governor and Navy Seal Jesse Ventura in 2006. Opie decided to ask Kyle about the rumor. Kyle was surprised by the question, and then confirmed that he did indeed punch Ventura at a bar in Coronado, California during a wake for Michael A. Monsoor, a Navy SEAL who had died in Iraq in 2006. Kyle claimed that Ventura was "letting it known that he didn't agree with the war." Kyle stated he went to Ventura and told him that most of the family members of Navy SEAL personnel who died were present, and it was not the time or the place to start talking about the war. To which Ventura replied that the SEALs "deserve to lose a few guys." This is when Kyle allegedly punched Ventura. After telling the story, radio personality Alex Jones, who is a friend of Ventura, claimed that Kyle was a "war monger" and that the whole interview was staged. This prompted a phone call by Kyle to the January 10, 2012 show by claiming he knew people who were present that will back him up on the story. Alex Jones then called the show and there was an argument to whose story was right.^[51] Ventura himself denied Kyle's accusations, saying that despite his opposition to the Iraq War, which ended weeks before the accusations against him emerged, he never had "spoken or wished any ill will towards the soldiers" who served in Iraq.^[52] Ventura also stated he would sue Kyle for defamation in court.^[53]

Stations[link]

The Opie & Anthony Show is heard on Sirius XM Radio, on XM channel 105, The Opie & Anthony Channel and on Sirius channel 206.

See also[link]

• The Opie & Anthony Channel
• The Opie and Anthony Show Army

References[link]

External links[link]

Official Sites

• SiriusXM (XM105/Sirius206 "The Opie & Anthony Channel" – The Opie & Anthony Channel Homepage.)
• Opie and Anthony on Myspace
• OA Pedia A fan made Opie and Anthony Encyclopedia.

As One
Background information
Origin	South Korea
Genres	K-pop, R&B
Years active	1999–present
Labels	EMI Korea
Members
Min Young Lee Crystal Chae

As One is a Korean pop duo consisting of Korean Americans Min Young Lee and Crystal Chae. Their first hit was the song "너만은 모르길," released in 1999 on Rock Records Between their fourth and fifth albums, their contract with Rock Records expired and they signed with EMI Korea; a label which also manages other k-pop stars like DJ DOC and Baby VOX. In late 2006, As One released their fifth album 12 Tears of Farewell, and started their promotional activities with the lead track "십이야" (12 Nights).

As One Member Profiles[link]

Crystal Chae[link]

• Date of Birth: (1980-04-29) April 29, 1980 (age 32)
• Place of birth: Los Angeles, California
• School: Chatsworth High School
• Religion: Christian
• Family: father, mother, older brother, older sister

Min Young Lee[link]

• Date of Birth: (1978-12-15) December 15, 1978 (age 33)
• Place of birth: Seoul, South Korea
• School: Fairfax High School
• Religion: Christian
• Family: mother, brother

Discography[link]

Studio Albums[link]

Extended Plays[link]

1. [2000.06.28] ONE+ONE
2. [2002.05.22] As One Live Album
3. [2002.11.26] Caroling
4. [2003.11.18] Forever AS ONE (BEST)
5. [2007.03.13] 우리가 알고있는 (So Romantic)
6. [2008.05.14] Double Star (Mini Album)
7. [2010.04.29] The Happiness 4 Us 2nd

Singles[link]

1. [1999.11.25] Ring My Bell
2. [2000.05.01] 사랑+
3. [2000.06.14] Day By Day
4. [2006.12.14] I Wanna be a Christmas
5. [2008.04.03] Sponge Remake 2008 As One
6. [2008.09.01] Zza Zza La!! (Drama Version)
7. [2010.06.16] As One Season 1
8. [2010.09.08] History - As One 연애
9. [2011.01.17] Taste of Love
10. [2011.01.28] NEPA SONG(네파송)
11. [2011.07.07] As One Season 2
12. [2011.11.21] As One Season 2.5

Collaborations[link]

• 사랑도 돈이 되나요 (I'm Still In Love), Can Love Become Money OST, 2012
• Only U, with Donghae, 2012
• Xoxo, with Humming Urban Stereo, 2011
• Lovin Ice Cream, with Ez-Life & (Haro), 2011
• Flight 101, with Oneway, 2011
• 그대도 나처럼, with Yurisangja, 2010
• 그대 뒤에서 (Behind You), The Reputable Family OST, 2010
• 홀로 크리스마스 (White Winter), with Lee Jun (of Solid), Alex, Navi, and Bizniz, 2009
• 사랑할 수도 미워할 수도 (Neither Love Nor Hate), De La Musique Vol.1 - Part 1, 2009
• Cool Running, with Soul Dive, 2009
• 헤어져 (Breakup), Love Tonic OST, 2009
• To Heart, Listen Campaign OST, 2008
• 사랑은 너 하나뿐 (You Only Love), The Rival Project with GO and Shogun, 2008
• 마지막 사랑 (Last Love), with E Sang, 2008
• Smile, with JED, 2007
• White Love Story, The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince OST, 2007
• 네잎클로버 (Four-leaf Clover), MBC Creative Children's 25th Anniversary, 2007
• Happy My Star (Drama Version), Couple of Fantasy OST, 2006
• 가시나무 (Bramble), The Wave - Blessing & Caroling, 2005
• Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Groovy Christmas, 2005
• 미안해야 하는거니 (Do I Have To Say Sorry), Sassy Girl, Chun Hyang OST, 2005
• Sleigh Ride, 2004 Christmas Story, 2004
• 원하고 원망하죠 (Want & Complain), Black Coffee 4, 2004
• Loving You, Classic CF, 2004
• 투명에 가까운 블루 (Transparent Blue), Classic CF, 2004
• 하늘정원 (Garden of Heaven), Garden of Heaven OST, 2003
• 스물다섯 (Precious You), with Kim Jin Pyo, 2003
• Feel...Me, with Park Hyo Shin,2002
• 소중한 너 (Precious You), with Cho Kyuchan, 2002
• Born Twice, with DVS, 2001
• Gook Thuggin, with DVS, 2001