WSCA Station Handbook and Training Manual - Prometheus Radio ...

Test Your “IQ” --
Indecency Quotient
Page 4
19. Double entendres in a foreign language are safe, like “Están cambiando el aceite” (“they’re
changing the oil” for a couple having sex).
FALSE. The indecency law and FCC analytical guidelines apply to all broadcast matter regardless of the
language in which it is spoken.
20. The FCC will probably give us a break if we’re the obvious target of a malicious letter and
email-writing campaign resulting in hundreds of identical complaint “forms” being sent in.
FALSE. The origin of a complaint has no impact on the central question whether a broadcast is indecent.
One person’s email campaign is no different than one listener’s letter.
21. The FCC will excuse exclamations uttered by winners on a live call-in contest line, like “Holy
shit!”
FALSE. The extraordinary circumstances of an utterance will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and
the FCC has warned that use of blasphemy or coarse, vulgar language could expose a station to liability.
22. One of the infamous Seven Dirty Words has now become so accepted and commonplace in our
language that it has been taken off the list.
FALSE. The FCC maintains no “list” of prohibited words. The “Seven Dirty Words” were brought
together in a monologue by comedian George Carlin. The FCC has, however, said broadcast of the F-
word and its variants will, depending on the context, be regarded as indecent or profane.
23. If one morning show contains six different indecent “utterances,” the FCC will consider fining
the station for six violations, not just one.
TRUE. The FCC reserves the discretion to fine a station not just for the broadcast of a program
containing indecent matter, but for each indecent utterance within a program.
24. If a morning show is syndicated on 50 stations, an indecent episode might result in 50
prosecutions, not just one.
TRUE.
25. If it’s a network broadcast, the FCC won’t go after the local station.
FALSE. If a complaint about network material is made against a local station, the fact that the material
was not locally-originated is not relevant to the question whether the broadcast was indecent.