Clear Channeling the Way To Infinity Broadcasting and Beyond the FCC

Ok? simply put, I am wicked pissed right now. For those of you who don't know, the pendulum has swung the other way. If I were to read this blog entry on the air at a radio station, chances are what I will say will be obscene and indecent. I'd get fired and the radio station's broadcast license could be revoked. I could get fined and sued. How is that for protecting the first amendment? And why are radio stations being attacked?

Well, it could be that all of a sudden people who listen to the radio have figured out that they can't continue to live their lives with out the government stepping in to help them think. Or, maybe people figured that radio and television is a massive cesspool and wasteland and they want more NPR, classical music and hell-fire and brimstone preachers that sound like they are talking into a tin can (Commodore, I am totally looking into your direction). Or maybe it is just about Janet's areola accoutrements.


Are you confused yet??? Don't worry, it's about to get even more so.

The FCC has outlined the regulations regarding obscene and indecent broadcast. Obscenity had pretty much been defined and they're in my mind not much to quibble over. George Carlin used to do a bit about the seven dirty words you can't say on TV or radio. The original seven words were, shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.

How often do you use any of these words? How many of these words have you heard uttered on TV? How many of these words have you heard in a song that is played on the radio? I think that you may have heard them one or twice or uttered them yourself. I know that I have, most of the time whilst behind a dopey driver in front of me.

But the point is that it is clear according to the FCC what is "obscene". What is not clear to me is how Television get away with it and radio cannot. It seems to me that there are two standards, and radio is the redheaded stepchild.

My bigger beef is with the lack of definition of what is indecent. Companies like Clear Channel and Infinity that own many radio stations have the freedom and right to set their own standards and practices about what is appropriate for broadcast. As long as it is not obscene, you can say quite a bit. Where I bristle is when the government says it is going to determine what is indecent and then not properly define it. Basically set and rule and not tell anyone what it is.

Maybe it is a stretch here, but it sounds quite a bit like censorship. The government is going to determine for you and for me what is appropriate for broadcast. Let me say this again: THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO DETERMINE FOR YOU AND FOR ME WHAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR BROADCAST. Stop reading for a moment and let that sink in?wrap your head around that one. Mr. Powell, sir, I'd like to have some of your fantastic tasting Kool-Aid now. Two glasses please.

You say, "Tundra-Boy, you have gone off the deep end, you are crazy for thinking that the government wants to control what you listen to on the radio and television" I say to you, the government would like nothing more than to control the content of what you watch, hear or read. And not just this government. Hello, anyone remember the USSR or Iraq.

The government tried this before, I think we called it McCarthyism. And it went something like "if you have a different opinion than what we say, we wreck your lives." Or a more recent issue was that involving pornographer Larry Flynt. He was sued, and almost shut down, but what he does is not against the law. As much as you and I may disagree with what he does, it is protected as freedom of speech. You can choose to buy Hustler or not. That is how simple it is.

The issue is freedom of speech, freedom of choice, and keeping the governments hands off the creative process. Jack and Jill radio listener are different from town to town and state to state. But this sudden move by the FCC to tell DJ's you can't be indecent, and not defining what it is, is basically making a choice for the people tuning in who like to listen to Howard, Rush, Sean, Bubba the Love Sponge, Mancow, Imus, Michael Savage, Opie and Anthony, The Radio Chick, Drudge, Glenn Beck, Alan Comes, or my personal favorites Radio Gods Don and Mike. A diversity of opinions, perspectives, ways to entertain, offend, and just have fun. If the FCC can tell us now what we cannot say on the air, how long will it be until the government will try to regulate what we think.

I am as a matter of fact and now public record saying that the FCC should keep its fucking hands off the radio. I think that the republican majority in power in Washington ought to support this. They preach about how government should not interfere in the marketplace. Baby, this is a big market place. Radio stations sell advertising space, and consumers hear or see the ads. Then they buy stuff. If you change the radio content of what consumers want to hear they won't hear your precious motherfucking commercials. If they don't tune in and hear the ads, you greedy cocksuckers won't get your money. And that is the thing that drives the boat. The dollar. No money leaves y'all up shit creek with out a pot to piss in.

So in to wrap up my rant, the FCC can take a hike on the issue of indecency, because they want to control what we receive as entertainment. Why, because Janet showed the world her tits. Obscene yes. Indecent, absolutely. Good thing it wasn't on the radio, she'd get fined, lose her broadcast license and maybe be out of a job and that'd be a shame, just a fucking shame.

I could be wrong, but that is the beautiful thing about the freedom of speech, you don't have to agree with me and if you don't like what I have to say, wait a few years, I am sure the net will be regulated for content by then.

NP: Johnny's Blues - A Tribute to Johnny Cash: Garland Jeffereys - I Walk The Line

- posted by TundraBoy @ 9:58 PM