FCC rescinds fine on Oregon station

It didn’t matter if the song was supposed to empower women or fight misogyny or be satirical -- the raw language used by a feminist rapper was just as indecent as the party tunes she was criticizing, the Federal Communications Commission said when it fined a radio station for playing it. But last week, the agency reversed itself and rescinded the $7,000 fine it imposed on KBOO-FM (90.7) in Portland, Ore.

Broadcasters and free-speech advocates nationwide criticized the initial ruling, in May 2001, and accused the FCC of trying to censor “Your Revolution” by poet and rapper Sarah Jones, which features such lyrics as “The real revolution ain’t about bootie size, the Versaces you buys or the Lexus you drives.”

She said she was turning the sexual language of hip-hop on itself, and station officials said the words had to be considered in the context of the tune.

“It’s not a party song, it’s not pandering, it’s not gratuitous,” said Chris Merrick, station manager at community-sponsored KBOO, after the fine was imposed. “It condemns sexuality and condemns sexism, and that’s indecent?”

After hearing arguments from Jones and KBOO, the FCC determined that although the language was sexual and warranted scrutiny, it wasn’t “patently offensive” by community standards.

It noted that Jones had been asked to perform the song at high school assemblies, for instance, and said “the sexual descriptions in the song are not sufficiently graphic to warrant sanction.”