Radio Stations Unite Over Censorship Issue
In recent years the Federal Communications Commission has taken to fining radio stations from $2,000 to $10,000 for “obscene” programming. In Miami, WZTA was fined for playing the Uncle Bonsai song “Penis Envy.” In Las Vegas, KLUC was cited for playing Prince’s “Erotic City.” Talk-show deejays in Chicago (WLUP), San Diego (WKSD), and Los Angeles (KFI) have also been targeted for offenses.
Although rock stations in the Southland have encountered few run-ins with the FCC, local competitors share a common concern over the rising tide of censorship.
“I think it’s a very scary proposition when the FCC begins to act as judge and jury, deciding what kind of ideas should be allowed on the airwaves,” said Jeff Wyatt, program director at L.A.’s KPWR-FM.
Last month, Radio & Records magazine featured an editorial by Jeff Pollack, chairman of the international radio consulting firm Pollack Media Group, in which he attacked the recent FCC crackdown as having “the hysterical tone of McCarthyism and Nazi book burning.”
The FCC, according to Pollack, has failed to release specific guidelines as to what exactly constitutes prohibited subject matter. Pointing out that the 1934 Communications Act explicitly denies the Commission censorship powers, he condemned the current FCC practice as an “insidious attack” on the First Amendment.
“What’s next? Are we going to have to start stickering songs for content on the radio by running disclaimers before we play certain kinds of music?” Pollack asked. “Censorship has a definite impact on our ability to be creative and entertaining. It’s like living with the threat of being ticketed for speeding in a zone without a posted speed limit.”
Insisting that the National Assn. of Broadcasters has done little to help its members ward off the FCC crackdown, Pollack encourages broadcasters to form their own united front, to start listener letter-writing drives, and to make freedom of speech a campaign issue in the 1990s.
