But not to whom you might expect.

In an exclusive interview with The Post after 23 months of virtual media silence, "O&A" called Howard Stern a "hypocrite," railed against "indecency hysteria" that has filled radio with "scared" drones and sounded optimistic about a return to the air Oct. 1 - probably via satellite radio.

The duo say they've been well-paid but "miserable" since cops busted their sex-in-the-riskiest-places contest inside St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Viacom's Infinity, which owned O&A's flagship station, WNEW, and 12 of their affiliates and has paid the duo undisclosed millions since yanking their show, is contesting a $357,000 FCC fine over the St. Pat's incident - the duo's first-ever fine.

"Infinity enjoyed what we were doing for them, and we got the [ratings] that they could sell," says Anthony Cumia, 39.

"When the heat got too hot, they kicked us out the door."

Gregg "Opie" Hughes, 37, claims rival Howard Stern - who's drawn fines totaling six times more than O&A's - has turned "drastically lower" ratings around by masquerading as a free-speech martyr.

Both Stern and O&A were employed by Viacom - but there was never any love lost between the two radio shows.

"He's such a hypocrite and full of s-t because when we were at Viacom, he went to the bosses and made us shut up [so] we couldn't even mention his name," says Opie.

"He might whine and cry like he always does about the FCC being on him and the President trying to get his show off," says Anthony, "but he's making way too much money for Viacom to even consider letting him go."

Opie & Anthony have talked about a comeback with the two satellite radio companies - XM and Sirius - when the non-compete portion of their WNEW-FM contract expires. (They have toyed with TV as well, talking to Comedy Central, FX and Spike cable channels, as well as several production companies, including Denis Leary's.)

"They deserve to work - it's enough punishment," says their agent, Robert Eatman.

"We know if we went back on commercial radio, there would be such a bull's-eye on our foreheads because of all the indecency crap that's going on," says Opie.

"The climate in radio is the worst it's ever been," says Anthony.

"The lack of FCC restrictions on satellite radio doesn't mean we'd use the f-word every day, but it would be nice to talk about things and not worry about getting an FCC violation," he says.

Traditional radio is where they'd most like to be - working mornings this time to take on Stern - but radio companies have become huge and more image-conscious since deregulation.

"Everyone's so scared that they're just pulling everything back," Anthony says.

"No one wants to take even the slightest chance of saying not only sexually offensive stuff that might get an FCC violation, but it's 'don't badmouth the country, don't badmouth the president, don't say anything racial' - not even in the context of comedy."

"When they were doing innuendo and sexual-based bits, it was a different time," their agent says. "With Janet Jackson, things changed [and] they'll change their show to fit the climate without sacrificing humor and disappointing their listeners."

As for apologies and regrets, they have a few.

"Man, do I wish we had not gone to that phone call [from their 'spotter' with two contestants at the church]," says Opie, "but we did and we have to live with that."

"I wouldn't apologize for the perception of what we did," says Anthony.

"The perception is so far worse than the reality," and it still hasn't been established what actually happened in the church, he says, adding that the on-air commentary was, by all accounts, inoffensive.

"Was there a shocking element to our show? Sure. It was an attention-getter, but it wasn't what our show was all about," Anthony says.

"You know who I'd apologize to?" says Opie. "Our listeners - because I think we took away a really good show.

"I don't want to come across as cocky, but people really, really appreciated our show and liked it - and that bothers me a lot."