Can you say bullshit on radio

This censorship is a poor image of a prude society. It is up to the discretion of the broadcasters. I mean could you imagine if a kids channel like YTV or Treehouse had shows where people were swearing and there was nudity? The simple fact is, most parents wouldn't let their children watch it, therefore they'd lose ratings.

So any censorship you do see on Canadian television is purely voluntary and has to do with the broadcaster appealing to a certain audience.

When it comes to our news, usually it's given to us raw and uncensored with a warning like you heard there, that there will be strong language and sometimes they'll say "graphic scenes".

IMO this system works much better than having an organization like the American FCC actually enforce what language you can and can't use, so much that a nipple during the Super Bowl or someone saying 'fuck' on television causes a big controversy. In the larger scheme, what the hell is the use of the FCC? It wasn't voted on, it wasn't approved, it was appointed by a president funny, the FCC website and all other resources I can find online fail to say which president via the almighty Executive Order.

They are there more or less because certain people feel that words they deem bad which is a ridiculous idea anyway, it's just a fucking word will erode the morals of America if they watch. So instead of changing the channel, this ridiculous censorship authority stepped in and said "OK, we now have the right to make you pay fines if you say or do anything we disagree with.

Pretty much all that last part means is that the FCC does enough important shit to make it impossible to remove the institution. That's right, the cable we all went to to get away from shows where they had to translate the script into petty baby-talk is being taken by the FCC. Pretty soon, we won't be able to read, hear or watch anything GENUINE, complete with the way people actually talk, all because some jackasses would rather push their beliefs on everybody else than just change the fucking channel.

What are the statutes and rules regarding the broadcast of obscene, indecent, and profane programming? FCC decisions also prohibit the broadcast of profane material between 6 a. Civil enforcement of these requirements rests with the FCC, and is an important part of the FCC's overall responsibilities.

At the same time, the FCC must be mindful of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section of the Communications Act, which prohibit the FCC from censoring program material, or interfering with broadcasters' free speech rights.

According to the U. Supreme Court, to be obscene, material must meet a three-prong test: 1 an average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest i.

The Supreme Court has indicated that this test is designed to cover hard-core pornography. For this reason, the courts have held that indecent material is protected by the First Amendment and cannot be banned entirely.

It may, however, be restricted to avoid its broadcast during times of the day when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience. The FCC has determined, with the approval of the courts, that there is a reasonable risk that children will be in the audience from 6 a. Therefore, the FCC prohibits station licensees from broadcasting indecent material during that period. Material is indecent if, in context, it depicts or describes sexual or excretory organs or activities in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium.

The FCC looks at three primary factors when analyzing broadcast material: 1 whether the description or depiction is explicit or graphic; 2 whether the material dwells on or repeats at length descriptions or depictions of sexual or excretory organs; and 3 whether the material appears to pander or is used to titillate or shock. No single factor is determinative. The FCC weighs and balances these factors because each case presents its own mix of these, and possibly other, factors.

Obscene material is entitled to no First Amendment protection, and may not be broadcast at any time. Are there certain words that are always unlawful? Well, I don't think you can do that in America on broadcast television, but you can on cable access channels, because people have to specifically request access to those channels.

In Canada, however, it's fair game. I've heard the word "fuck" on the afternoon news, on the government-funded news station. Maybe i can help out a bit. I'm in Australia at the moment, been livin hear all my life, i can tell you that American radio stations when i hear them hear censor Words out of songs, but in Australia, they play everything, never thought id hear 50 cent saying fuck and pussy on the radio, but he does..

T'V isn't as bad, but its still pretty bad, news don't seem to want to censor anything anymore, and t'v shows get worse and worse. Now south park its ok for them to swear because can you imagin cartman not swearing You can't say 'shit' on the radio. If a radio station leaves swear words in songs before ther watershed then they run the risk of having their licences revoked. This is true for most british radio stations anyways But saying that it can depend on what kind of station your running, the target audience and your contract with whichever countries censorship federation you're broadcasting from.

There are many truths in this world. No one thing is ever real. No one thing is ever right. No one person can ever know the whole truth, regardless of the facts they possess. Member since: Apr. Member Level 02 Blank Slate. Member since: Aug. Member Level 12 Blank Slate. At the risk of catering to your ignorance: why don't you look it up first?

I forgot to say "What do you guys think about censorship? Member Level 15 Blank Slate. Member since: Nov. Member Level 32 Blank Slate. Member since: May. Member Level 04 Blank Slate. Member since: Oct. Member Level 23 Blank Slate. Member since: Dec. I DJ a college radio show. A lot of that is body specific just as gjc suggests I think there is a safe harbor time where the rules are slightly less strict and thou can get away with bit more.

It also depends on what time you're listening to the radio. Between 10 PM and 6 AM indecent and profane speech are allowed. Obscene speech is never allowed. So you might hear an uncensored song at night, but the censored version during the day.

More from the FCC here. Even if the FCC has more lax laws when it comes to cable, I've noticed that when a particular episode of The Golden Girls is rerun either on the Lifetime or Hallmark channels, they mute the word "ass" when Blanche remarks on a "I Lost My Ass in Vegas" T-shirt when the gang is having a yard sale.

Interestingly enough, the line was aired in its entirety during the original network broadcast. Go figure. Even if the FCC has more lax laws when it comes to cable Dollars to donuts Lifetime decided to bleep the ass rather than the FCC One more time: the FCC does not regulate speech on cable channels.

They do not have the authority. Lifetime has the First Amendment right to call an ass an ass. As far as what's regulated over the broadcast airwaves, it is to some degree in flux.

There is a new FCC chairman, and according to the linked article we're still waiting to see what his take on enforcement is. The broad picture is that the government is not allowed to regulate non-obscene speech except in the case of the broadcast airwaves. The idea is that, because the public broadcast spectrum is a finite resource, it is in the public interest that the government ensures that those who are allowed to use that resource treat it responsibly. That's why the FCC has no jurisdiction over cable TV — you pay for cable programming, the spectrum isn't as scarce, etc.

The government can no more regulate the appearance of fuck s in a cable TV broadcast than it can keep them out of a Stephen King book. You can read up on the Pacifica decision , which originally upheld the FCC's ability to regulate indecent speech by broadcasters, and the FCC has a page about its indecency and profanity policy on its website.

And keep in mind the political climate continues to change. The religious right runs mail-in campaigns urging the FCC to take action over every little thing, but the Supreme Court suggested last year that the FCC had been acting overzealously in going after "fleeting" profane utterances.

The Supreme Court kind of punted , though — some observers had been hoping for a ruling that would consider whether the FCC still had the authority to regulate indecency on broadcast channels, but the Supremes instead said the FCC's standards are too vague, leaving the question of whether they're constitutional for a later court date.

In reality, the industry is pretty aggressive in censoring itself, largely for the reasons gjc cites — channels don't want to do anything that will spook advertisers. The "standards and practices" departments at the networks are the folks who decide what is and isn't fit to air, and the FCC guidelines are only one of the yardsticks they measure by.

As far as I can recall, nobody has ever gotten into trouble with the FCC for a drug reference, although those are widely bleeped. And for now, unless the FCC gets feisty again when it comes to profanity, it seems really unlikely that a rock radio station takes a risk by playing "Money" unedited. I've heard at least three or four different edited versions of Everlast's What it's Like on various different radio stations in different markets, for instance. The difference is in the last verse.

I've noticed the same thing with other songs, but for some reason the variability in "What it's like" stands out to me. Mothlight has a lot of great links, among them this FCC page. Obscene is never OK. But if you meant "Have sex with that pile of excrement" you'd be on thin ice. You can talk about drugs or violence or anything but sex all day from the FCC's standpoint, but references to meth or joints or sometimes guns are regularly bleeped for this reason.

Something that's compounding this is that the process is based on complaints, and ostensibly judged by the community standards of the audience. So, there isn't a consistent standard and things tend to be adjudicated case-by-case, which makes broadcasters extra jumpy about that unpredictability; they often censor more than they could get away with.

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