Koch apologizes for linkage with shock jocks "Opie and Andy" - Weekly Specialty Beer Report - Brief Article

Modern Brewery Age, Sept 2, 2002

AP--The chairman of Boston Beer Co. has apologized for his company's association with a radio station promotion that ended in the arrest of a couple who allegedly had sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

Jim Koch, whose company makes Sam Adams beer, was at the radio station when disc jockeys Opie and Anthony promoted "Sex for Sam," in which couples who have sex in public places can win a trip to the company's annual festival in Boston.

"My presence on the show was a lapse in judgment, a serious mistake, and I regret it," Koch said in a statement posted on the company's Web site. "We are re-evaluating our policy on radio station appearances."

The DJs were tired after the public backlash against their station, WNEW-FM in New York.

"We at the Boston Beer Company formally apologize to all those upset or offended by the incident on the 'Opie and Anthony Show' and by our association with it," Koch wrote. "We were not in control of the program, and it was never our intention to be part of a radio promotion that crossed the line."

Koch has heard complaints from several Boston-area accounts. Jeremiah and James Foley, owners of J.J. Foley's in downtown Boston, issued a statement Monday saying the pub is boycotting Sam Adams beer.

Also, Michael Sheehan, owner of Jimmy O'Keefe's in Boston's financial district, told the Boston Globe that he's been in contact with a dozen other restaurants to try to organize a protest.

It was the Opie and Anthony duo's second firing in 4 1/2 years. They were canned in 1998 by WAAF-FM in Worcester after announcing on April Fool's Day that Boston mayor Thomas Menino was killed in a car crash.

Koch said the highly rated, nationally syndicated show offered his company great exposure. "I didn't want to miss the chance to reach five million beer drinkers," Koch said. "In hindsight, I should have taken a pass."

The couple was arrested Aug. 15 after they allegedly had sex in a cathedra1 vestibule just a few feet from worshippers, police said.

The DJs, Greg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia, were pulled off the airwaves last Monday, three days after the stunt was aired. "The Opie and Anthony Show" was nationally syndicated in 17 markets outside New York City, including Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Washington, D.C.