PTC: Fuck, Buttsex, and S&M
After a few quiet
months on the indecency front, the Parents
Television Council (PTC) is back in business.
The christian group responsible for 97% of indecency complaints received by the
FCC has chimed in yet again: July’s targets were the Live 8 broadcast of The
Who performing their classic song “Who Are You" and the Fox drama “The Inside”
which airs at 9pm. S&M, buttsex, and “fuck” are put into question this time
around. We’re hoping that the FCC does not take action on either of these
complaints, and will shut down the PTC as it did earlier this year under
Michael Powell. No decisions on indecency have been issued by the FCC since
Kevin Martin was named Chair this March.
Good Parenting to Protect Kids from Indecency
Media heavy-hitters including Viacom, the RIAA, Time Warner,
and the NCTA have formed a coalition called Pause Parent Play, aimed at taking
parents to task on how their kids consume media. The PPP website offers a large
database of advice demonstrating how parents can protect their kids from being
exposed to questionable material in movies, video games, music, and on TV.
Interestingly, none of the solutions offered by the PPP involve complaining to the
FCC or elected officials about content. Active parental participation, now
there’s a novel idea. However, we can be certain that the formation of this
coalition was motivated by economics... read on.
Cable A La Carte?
Claiming that TV is
“assaulting our children,” conservative lobby groups want cable companies to
offer consumers the option of purchasing cable on a per-channel basis.
Right-wingers insist that technology including the v-chip is not enough to
protect their kids from being exposed to questionable material on TV. Cable
providers have been quick to fight back, arguing that sites like PPP and TV
Watch offer plenty of tips on how parents can filter TV for their kids. A la
carte programming is the last thing the cable industry wants, so we can expect
this issue to either heat up and/or completely disappear in the coming months. (An interesting aside: this interview with FCC chair Kevin Martin reveals that he is
for a la carte cable)
America Disses Satellite Radio
80% of people surveyed by Eastlan Resources say they have no
plans of subscribing to satellite radio in the near future. Another survey by
New Paragon Media found that 97% of respondents listen to traditional broadcast radio,
and over half of people now listen to internet radio.
Pirate Station in San Diego Raided by FCC
Free Radio 96.9 FM had been broadcasting in Chula Vista, CA
for 3 years, when their equipment was seized by the FCC on July 21. One month prior the FCC had posted a notice on the door to their studio, so the shutdown
did not come as a surprise. Similarly, last month the FCC suspended the operations of a pirate station in VT.
Radio Contest Hoax
One month after a radio contest winner sued a Kentucky
station for awarding her with a 100 Grand candy bar instead of $100,000 as promised, a
station in California has pulled a similar stunt. This time, the winner of an
on-air contest was promised a new Hummer H2, but was given a toy Hummer
instead. In addition to the lawsuits brought forward by contest winners, these
stations could face penalties from the FCC, which requires that contest descriptions
be accurate.
Cop Killah
Less than a week
after a police officer was killed outside of St. Louis, two morning radio hosts
on KATZ-FM led a discussion on-air about how to fight the police, leading to their suspension. During the segment, the two hosts described how to snatch
an officer’s radio, in order to prevent them from calling for backup.
More Radio Headlines from the past month:
- David Lee Roth to replace Howard Stern
- Grand Theft Auto Porn:
Democrats, Disclaimers and Cartoon Sex
- PTC complains about "fuck" during The Who's Live 8 performance
- Is the indecency issue disappearing?
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