Airwaves & Liberty

From http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/nyregion/25wbai.html:

As the encomiums for George Carlin have rolled in from stand-up legends, celebrities and scholars, his death at 71 has also been noted at a diminutive, iconic and iconoclastic radio station in Manhattan, WBAI-FM.

Its broadcast of the comedian’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” became a landmark moment in the history of free speech. In a 1978 milestone in the station’s contentious and unruly history, WBAI lost a 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision that to this day has defined the power of the government over broadcast material it calls indecent.

“It’s a bad time here for us because George Carlin was part of the family,” said Anthony Riddle, the station’s general manager. “I think all the producers are dealing with it in their own way,” Mr. Riddle said, some doing commentary and others running archival material, including a bleeped-out version of the “Seven Words” routine.

The 1978 ruling, often termed “the Carlin case,” was actually called Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, and turned on a 12-minute Carlin monologue called “Filthy Words” that appeared on a 1973 album, “Occupation: Foole.”

After the Carlin album monologue was broadcast on WBAI in 1973 during “Lunch Pail,” an afternoon show, a listener objected that his young son had heard the words on a car radio. The corporate parent of WBAI, the Pacifica Foundation, received a letter of reprimand from the commission, which the company challenged in court.

The Supreme Court said that the broadcast was indecent, though not obscene, and gave the commission the right to determine the definition of indecency and to prohibit such material from being broadcast during hours when children were likely to be listening.

Despite this legal Dunkirk, “the fact that his seven dirty words having emanated from here is kind of a source of pride,” said Jose R. Santiago, the station’s news director.

The court decision “was about more than just radio,” Mr. Riddle added, “it was about the right to be human beings in the United States.”

“It was a gutsy thing for a radio station to do, taking that stand,” he said.

Though the station was not fined, Pacifica paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, said Larry Josephson, the WBAI station manager from 1974 to 1976.

Now, broadcasting the seven words “would cost us $360,000 per incident — so those seven words would cost us $2.5 million,” about equal to the station’s annual budget, Mr. Riddle said. “Now we’d be severely limited in taking a chance on protecting people’s free-speech rights.”

Recently Mr. Josephson had to abide by the consequences of the very commission decision he was involved in, as the independent producer of WBAI’s annual “Bloomsday” celebration on June 16, which honored James Joyce and his novel “Ulysses.”

Though the broadcast began at 7 p.m., the protagonist Molly Bloom’s famous lengthy monologue of erotic musings — which contains several forbidden words — had to be read after 10 p.m. during the “safe harbor” period when the F.C.C. allows the broadcast of what it terms “indecent” material.

The station that for generations has spoken truth to power is incongruously situated on the 10th floor of 120 Wall Street, and smack in the middle of the FM dial, at 99.5. Now in its 48th year, WBAI was both an expression, and ringleader, of the counterculture during its peak in the mid-1960s through the Vietnam War.

Observers have said that in its heyday, its on-air personalities, like Mr. Josephson, Steve Post and Bob Fass, extended the popularity of FM radio and explored the possibilities of the medium.

But its turmoil-filled subsequent history has featured a fiesta of staff clashes, board eruptions, station coups and protests. Amid accusations of every imaginable form of -ism, on-air personalities and producers have been summarily banned; on-air resignations have not been unknown.

These days WBAI, whose slogan is “Your Peace and Justice Community Radio Station,” has a paid staff of 25 and 200 independent volunteer producers, Mr. Riddle said, adding that WBAI has more than 200,000 listeners. He declined to say how many subscribers there are, but the number is believed to be fewer than 20,000; the minimum subscription rate is $25 a year.

Mr. Riddle, who joined the station in February, said that “it’s always difficult to run a democracy,” adding that “a lot of people believe in the kind of radio we provide,” since the station does not accept advertising, underwriting or grants.

If in many ways the station has changed, the legality of broadcasting the “Seven Words” has not.

“Now, 35 years later, we can’t take a chance of playing it,” Mr. Riddle said. “Discussion of the words is not acceptable, unless you cut the heart out of it.”

Like the headline? I think Carlin would approve.

There have already been thousands - maybe millions - of tributes to George Carlin over the last 36 hours since the great comic died in New York at age 71. As a comedian, he was blunt, profane, and hilarious in his critique of our often-absurd use of language.

It was one of those examinations of language use (and regulation) that got us in trouble over here at Pacifica. In 1973, WBAI host Paul Gorman broadcast, unedited, George Carlin’s “Filty Words” monologue — the one with the “seven dirty words” sprinkled throughout. A listener complained to the FCC, which in turn sanctioned WBAI/Pacifica. Pacifica challenged that decision and valiantly fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court, making the radical claim that free speech ought to also apply to broadcasting. Our lawyers argued that Carlin was a significant social satirist who uses the language of ordinary people. They argued: “Carlin is not mouthing obscenities, he is merely using words to satirize as harmless and essentially silly our attitudes towards those words.”

We lost. And the FCC has been in the business of regulating dirty words ever since.

Carlin said he was “perversely kind of proud of” being a footnote in American legal history. In fact, he maintained a compilation of documents from the case on his website, including this FCC-generated transcript of the “Filthy Words” monologue.

I think I can say that Pacifica was and is proud to have fought the Carlin case. Even if the Supreme Court didn’t rule in our favor, it was worth a shot and Carlin was certainly a great act to work with on it. He was a terrific observer of society and satirist, and we’ll miss him.

Last year, the Pacifica Radio Archives produced a one-hour program about the “Carlin Case”. The first half includes interviews with WBAI host Paul Gorman, former FCC Commissioners, a lawyer for the National Association of Broadcasters, and a minister. It also includes a healthy dose of the “Filthy Words” monologue — edited for language, naturally, as this was produced for broadcast.

The second half hour features two interviews with George Carlin himself - one in 1970 before his “Filthy Words” routine was broadcast on WBAI, and the other conducted by Larry Bensky at KPFA in June 1997, nearly 30 years later. Together, they provide an interesting time-lapse perspective.

I’ll close here with a quote Carlin gave to The Onion A.V. Club in 2005. I think it sums up where Carlin was coming from and why we found him so endearing:

“There is a certain amount of righteous indignation I hold for this culture, because to get back to the real root of it, to get broader about it, my opinion that is my species — and my culture in America specifically — have let me down and betrayed me. I think this species had great, great promise, with this great upper brain that we have, and I think we squandered it on God and Mammon. And I think this culture of ours has such promise, with the promise of real, true freedom, and then everyone has been shackled by ownership and possessions and acquisition and status and power… And perhaps it’s just a human weakness and an inevitable human story that these things happen. But there’s disillusionment and some discontent in me about it. I don’t consider myself a cynic. I think of myself as a skeptic and a realist. But I understand the word ‘cynic’ has more than one meaning, and I see how I could be seen as cynical. ‘George, you’re cynical.’ Well, you know, they say if you scratch a cynic you find a disappointed idealist. And perhaps the flame still flickers a little, you know?”

We’ll keep it flickering as best we can, pal.

KFAI is a Pacifica affiliate, and Janis has been a great help in working with me on planning Pacifica’s coverage of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September. ~N

Interview: Janis Lane-Ewart, the breath of Fresh Air Radio
By Patricia Webb-de la Cadena , TC Daily Planet
June 03, 2008

Operating at 90.3 in Minneapolis and 106.7 in St. Paul, KFAI-FM is a non-profit, volunteer based community radio station that has been broadcasting since 1978.

The station produces programming in 12 different languages–a mix of music, discussion, and political and cultural news. On any given day or night, listeners can tune in to such eclectic shows as Khmers in Minnesota, African Rhythms, and Scandinavian Cultural Hour. Crap From the Past highlights pop hits from the 70s and 80s. Songs of Praise offers up gospel and Christian music each Sunday morning. I spoke with KFAI’s executive director, Janis Lane-Ewart.

Daily Planet: The Internet has drastically changed how people are getting their news and music. In today’s crowded media universe, what’s the unique role of radio?

Janis Lane-Ewart: Radio is still the main source for news and information as people drive from point A to point B; it remains a primary source for immigrant cultures, especially as they rely on local and international news updates; and radio provides unique access to train the next generation of citizen journalists.

DP: What, specifically, do you think the community would be likely to miss most if KFAI’s programming were to cease?

JLE: The community would likely miss the actual voices of on-air programmers who are their neighbors, friends, and colleagues. There would be no other source for programming in other languages; there would be less opportunity to be informed of news at the grassroots or local level; there would be fewer sources to hear the voices of young people in news reporting.

DP: You coin yourself Radio Without Boundaries. Since your goal is to appeal to many different people, how would you define your average audience?

JLE: There is no core audience. In the past ten years, our multi-language programming has increased, and in the near future, we expect our biggest growth in the Somali community. Our Asian audience is also up. Results from a 2005 survey revealed our average listener is male, age 20-54, and a college graduate. We are now reaching out to a younger audience, ages 13-18, by offering programming variety of interest to that group. One segment of this effort, Girls of Color, focuses on journalism training for young girls.

DP: Mainstream radio measures success by the amount of time listeners are tuning in. Since a listener will likely change stations if they can’t understand the language, how do you keep them coming back?

JLE: We have a fixed schedule, so listeners know they can turn on the radio at six to nine a.m. on Mondays and hear Good Noise. We also aim to schedule common programs during certain time frames. For instance, on Sunday afternoons we focus on news and music from the East African community. These listeners can hear a range of programs of interest during a set block of time.

DP: Aside from funding, what unique challenges do you face that commercial radio doesn’t?

JLE: Attracting new listeners. In the next few months, we will be hiring an outside public relations and marketing firm to help us achieve this goal. Also, over the next three months the station will convert to digital. We are excited about this development. There will be a separate channel, available by streaming from the Internet or on digital radio, so we can simultaneously produce another 24 hours of new, different programming.

DP: What are you looking forward to learning at the National Conference on Media Reform? What do you think the conference will accomplish?

JLE: I’m looking forward to learning how other communities are energizing and mobilizing citizens around media reform and how others are engaging the younger generation via all the available media platforms to care about the media…what’s right with the media and what’s wrong.

DP: How do you think freeform radio may evolve in the future?

JLE: With the possibility of Low Power FM radio, the future may be crowded with small wattage stations in communities or conclaves of communities. People may have more access to news and information on a micro level–not only nearby but from other communities as well.

In case you missed the news, Utah Phillips died late last week of complications related to congestive heart failure. He was 73.

Utah Phillips was one of my favorite performers and inspirations. I got the opportunity to see him perform in Madison a few years ago one of his last tours, and it was terrific. More than terrific - it filled me with joy, gave me a dose of labor & folk history, and inspired me to do good work. And it was fun! It’s a rare performer who can deliver all that in a single evening performance. In fact, I can’t say I’ve been as impressed with any show since.

Scooter wrote the following comments to the Grassroots Radio Coalition, and I think they provide a great epitaph:

Utah Phillips was the Kind Uncle of the entire human race.

Which is one hell of a thing to be, but I noticed Utah Phillips because he did radio that didn’t suck, which is not easy.

Utah Phillips talked right into the best feelings about yourself and the world. He knew how to make you love yourself. He was just an old hobo, pissed off at the system, and full of love for me and the rest of us. Seek his pissed offedness.

And find his love.

A good start for anyone’s journey

Now for the audio…

KPFA folk show host Robbie Osman did a two hour tribute to Utah Phillips on last Sunday’s “Across the Great Divide.” You can listen to the show here:

On Tuesday’s Democracy Now, they replayed a January 2004 they conducted with Utah Phillips. Listen here:

Utah hosted a show called Loafer’s Glory from KVMR in Nevada City in the late 1990s/early 2000s, which was syndicated on the Pacifica network. Information about the show and CD sales info can be found at utahphillips.com. Also, Steve Baker from KVMR has posted three classic episodes at the KVMR Loafer’s Glory page.

The family requests memorial donations to Hospitality House, P.O. Box 3223, Grass Valley, California 95945; (530) 271-7144; www.hospitalityhouseshelter.org

James Williams works with WBAI and the People’s Production House in NYC. ~N

Greetings! The Sean Bell verdict came down today, Friday, April 25th handed down by the 75 year old Judge Cooperman(hope I spelled it right) who is set to retire now. The officers who shot the 50 shots at Sean Bell, killing him, Joseph Guzman, and Trent Benefield who were severely injured, it was announced “NOT GUILTY” on all charges. Officers Cooper, whose shots were so far off it hit an elevated train at the Long Island Railroad, Officer Isnora, who got off the first shots, never identified himself, saying “bro, let me holla at you”, and of course, officer Oliver, who fired 31 shots(he emptied his gun then reloaded and shot again) were of course relieved. Oliver, and the others will remain on modified duties for now. Take note, the officers had been drinking liquor at the same club as Bell and his friends. Calls for the Federal Government to step in came immediately afterwards. The families of the persons shot tell me they will file a civil suit against the city, and the officers, not known when, or has it been done already. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called for calm in and around the city, but demonstrators told me they want a call to action, saying “we’re taking it to the streets”, “shut this f—— city down, shut this m—-f—- city down, f— the police, they killing our kids, blacks will not stand for this g– d— s—- no more” this is just some of the sentiment after the verdict was read. Believe it or not, some of these were church going citizens, of all races. There was a white group of people standing in front of the courthouse their chant was “the courts, and the city of N.Y. is run by the KKK”!, amazing stuff. Also, Rev Davidson, whom I just met today calling for the bloods and the crips to call him so they can prepare for “action”. Would you believe a member of the crips walked up and handed him his business card, I mean, they got cards? What action I want to know? The New Black Panther Party saying “it’s on now, get ready N.Y.” Peoples Party declaring “it all ends now, be ready”, group of Af Ams, white, Hispanics, who claim to have several hundred members. Of all the interviews I did today, I probably can’t air any of it due to the cursing all around me, and the noise content and that’s to bad because I got some great interviews, but we can’t air them. I did a live interview on radio today and literally had to run around the corner of the courthouse! Caused my live interview to not be crisp!

I know i’m supposed to be neutral in my reporting, but I was truly touched and disturbed by this verdict. I have spent more than a year with the Bell family, Rev. Sharpton, Lawyer Hardy, Lawyer Rubinstein, Mr. Guzman, Mr. Benefield and their families, NAACP, Operation Push, made imortant contacts for the Community News Production Institute, became very close to my producers, you know who you are, editors, reporters fm FSRN, Pacifica, and of course PPH, but today, today, brought me to tears, how do you handle this, and the threats of violence to come. That being said, I will be receiving info on the coming demos from my sources, hopefully it won’t be to bad, but from what i’m told, expect the unexpected.

BLESSINGS

James B. Williams

New from KPFT’s former News Director Renee Feltz…

Hello,

We are excited to announced the launching of our investigative-new media masters project, The Business of Detention.

Snapshot: The nation’s largest private prison company has partnered with the federal government to detain close to 1 million undocumented people in the past 5 years until they are deported. In the process, Corrections Corporation of America has made record profits. Critics suggest the CCA cuts corners on its detention contracts in order to increase its revenue at expense of humane conditions. Thanks to political connections and lobby spending, it dominates the industry of immigrant detention. CCA now has close to 10,000 new beds under development in anticipation of continued demand.

Check out the site at http://www.businessofdetention.com

Cheers, Renee Feltz & Stokely Baksh

We’ve all heard those public radio pledge drives that go on and on. And on and on. I’ve been on both sides of many pledge drives, and while they’re not terribly fun for either the producer or the listener, they’re a fact of life in public and community broadcasting. There’s just no other way to raise the budget to operate our stations, particularly at Pacifica where we don’t do underwriting spots.

Which pledge drive appeals actually work best? I’ve seen a lot of approaches work well and a lot that didn’t. I once even pledge pitched with a guy who badgered and guilted listeners into calling to contribute. Sure, we got quite a few calls, but it doesn’t seem like a wise or sustainable approach.

Well, there happens to be a recently conducted study that asks the same question - which pitches work best? While this was a study of public television stations, I think the findings largely would apply to public and community radio stations, as well.

The study finds that “empathetic” public television fundraising techniques are the most successful, with people responding best to appeals “that emphasized the benefits to others rather than the donors themselves.” According to the study, the most effective appeals “reference how budget cuts would affect the station, how the station needs to meet financial targets, and how the station’s programming contributes to the community.” On the other hand, “’selfish’ appeals [that] promise special recognition for donors, stress high quality programming, or offer premiums such as cookbooks, CDs, and DVDs… actually lowered donation behavior.”

Check out the write-up, including the authors’ explanation of the behavior, here:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2008/02/c9795.html

Newly digitized for broadcast from the Pacifica Radio Archives:

This week, the Supreme Court has taken up the issue of the Second Amendment and gun control laws, for the first time in almost 70 years. Pacifica Radio Archives is proud to present the Bill of Rights Radio Education Project: The Second Amendment - Interpretations and Misinterpretations, produced by Adi Gevins and David Selvin in 1982. 30 minutes.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

For more information, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230. www.PacificaRadioArchives.org

Program notes:
Guns, Weapons: The Right to Bear Arms. Ten of thousands of people are killed every year in the United States by guns. Hundreds of thousands are wounded. Countless others are threatened by them. Are all these deaths and injuries the price we must pay to preserve our constitutional right to bear arms? Or does the Second Amendment only guarantee that right to a specifically organized militia? Produced by David Selvin. Executive Produced by Adi Gevins.

A report from the Benton Foundation posted today. Benton’s stated mission is “to articulate a public interest vision for the digital age and to demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems.” ~N

For over 12 years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been considering how the transition to digital television technology - and the increased capacity it offers TV broadcasters - should impact the compact between television stations and the communities they are licensed to serve. By law and FCC rules, these stations are licensed to serve the public interest, convenience and necessity. Over the years, this has meant different things, but the overriding mandate has been that stations must serve the interests of local communities, not the station owner’s own commercial interests.

In December, the FCC adopted new media ownership rules allowing newspapers to own television stations in their local markets. As part of these new rules, the FCC noted:

[T]he Commission has concurrently adopted a Localism Report and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that addresses actions the Commission will take to ensure that broadcasters are meeting the needs of their local communities. With respect to other ideas raised in this proceeding, such as whether the agency should establish more specific minimum public interest requirements for licensees and how broadcasters could improve political candidates’ access to television, the Commission declines to take any further action at this time. We find the need to impose additional obligations premature in light of the Commission’s recent decision to require broadcasters to file enhanced disclosure reports about the programming they are providing to serve local communities’ interests and needs. Nevertheless, to the extent that circumstances change, we will revisit this decision and initiate proceedings as appropriate.

After much deliberation, the FCC has concluded that there needs to be improved communication between broadcasters and the communities they are licensed to serve. To facilitate improved communications, the FCC is asking for public comment on proposals to improve: 1) License Renewal Procedures and Processing Guidelines, 2) Renewal Application Announcements, 3) the Service Delivered to Underserved Audiences and 4) Remote Television Operation.

The FCC recently published the filing schedule for the new, proposed localism rules. Comments are due Friday, March 14, 2008 and Reply Comments are due Monday, April 14, 2008.

In addition, the FCC will be updating its 1999 publication The Public and Broadcasting,(2) to provide viewers more straightforward guidance on how they can participate in a station’s license renewal.

I. License Renewal Procedures and Processing Guidelines

The FCC has tentatively concluded that it should “reintroduce guidelines for the processing of renewal applications for stations based on their localism programming performance.” In reviewing applications for renewal, the FCC’s Media Bureau would, under a proposed plan, process applications filed by stations that have met or exceeded prescribed minimum percentages of locally-oriented programming, while the full FCC would consider applications by licensees had not met the prescribed minimum.

The FCC is asking for public input on:

* Whether the FCC should give processing priority to stations that meet certain measurable standards;
* Whether these minimums should be expressed as hours of programming per week, or, as in the past, percentages of overall programming;
* Whether the guidelines should cover particular types of programming, such as local news, political, public affairs and entertainment, or simply generally reflect locally-oriented programming;
* What the categories and amounts or percentages should be;
* Whether guidelines should include breakdowns of the times of day local programming is shown; and
* How local programming should be defined (i.e. must programming be locally produced).

II. Renewal Application Announcements

The FCC seeks comment on whether the existing rules governing so-called “pre-filing and post-filing announcements” that licensees must air in connection with their license renewal applications should be changed. Specifically, the FCC seeks comment on:

* Whether the same information that is currently required for on-air announcements about soon-to-be-filed and pending renewal applications should be posted on a licensee’s website during the relevant months (i.e., the posting begins on the sixth month before the license is due to expire and remains in place until after the deadline for filing petitions to deny);
* Whether to broaden the required language for these announcements, which currently provides the Commission’s mailing address as a source for information concerning the broadcast license renewal process, to include the agency’s website address and, where technically feasible, to provide a link directly to the FCC’s website.

III. Service Delivered to Underserved Audiences

The principle of localism requires broadcasters to take into account all significant groups within their communities when developing balanced, community-responsive programming, including those groups with specialized needs and interests. While the FCC has observed that each broadcast station is not necessarily required to provide service to all such groups, it has nonetheless recognized the concerns of some that programming �” particularly network programming �” often is not sufficiently culturally diverse.

The FCC has tentatively concluded that licensees should convene and consult with permanent advisory boards made up of leaders from the community of each broadcast station. In addition to informing broadcasters of issues of importance to their communities in general, such advisory boards should include representatives of all segments of the community, to ensure that those community elements have a continuing opportunity to communicate their group’s perceived needs and interests to their local broadcast station management.

The FCC seeks comment on a number of issues arising from this proposal, including under what circumstances a licensee with formal groups in place should be deemed to have satisfied this requirement. Specifically, the FCC asks:

* Will such community advisory boards be able to alert each broadcaster to issues that are important to its community of license?
* How should members of the advisory boards be selected or elected?
* Should the former ascertainment guidelines be a starting point to identify those various segments in the community with whom the licensees should consult?
* How can the advisory boards be composed so as to ensure that all segments of the community, including minority or underserved members of the community, would also have an opportunity to voice their concerns about local issues facing the area?
* How frequently should licensees be required to meet with these advisory boards?

IV. Remote Television Operation

The FCC is concerned about the prevalence of automated broadcast operations, which allow the operation of stations without a local presence, and the negative impact that such remote operation may have on licensees’ ability to determine and serve local needs. The FCC seeks comment on whether television licensees should be required to maintain a physical presence at their broadcasting facilities during all hours of operation.

V. You and Localism

When the FCC launched this proceeding, Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said, “[O]ne can’t help but regard the prospects for quick implementation with a healthy degree of skepticism. If history is any guide, the odds are that the Commission will either neglect to finalize these proposals, or when it comes time to finalize them, they may be so diluted as to render them meaningless.” He added, “We need to put the meat in the sandwich we promised to deliver. It is high time we put this notice out for comment, but we should have actually implemented improvements to localism before we completed the media ownership item. Now that the Commission has acted to loosen the media ownership rules, it is all the more imperative we move immediately to implement some of the useful ideas broached here and others that we learn about in the comment period. We are already too late to have done this right.”

The “meat” Commissioner Adelstein will likely come from the comments of public interest organizations and the general public. In testimony delivered before the FCC in 2007, Media Access Project President Andrew Schwartzman called on the FCC to:

* Develop a meaningful and much more transparent license renewal process based on much more detailed information about broadcasters’ actual program practices.
* Reduce the term of broadcast licenses to three years.
* Require every single licensee to carry minimum amounts of locally originated, licensee produced, programming designed to address local needs, tastes and interests.
* Expand the number of low power FM stations.
* Develop meaningful programs to double the number of minority and female owned broadcast stations within the next five years.
* Deny must-carry privileges to over the air TV stations which devote more than 12 hours per day to home shopping presentations.

Mr Schwartzman also stressed that effective local service requires “institutional and personal attachments to the community. It requires a diverse workforce that is capable of conveying the many different perspectives found in each community. There is no way to document the qualitative impact of having a station operated locally by individuals citizens who live in the community and expect to remain there.”

Thousands of people have already told the FCC that they feel some broadcasters are failing on their localism mandate. To ensure meaningful localism rules, it may take the collective voice of thousands to compel the FCC to act.

A few excerpts from an article on the matter posted at Broacastingcable.com:

The Federal Communications Commission gave about 40 ABC affiliates two days, until Feb. 21, to pay their fine — $27,500 apiece — for airing a bare behind in an episode of NYPD Blue, but it canceled the fines for about one-dozen stations initially cited.

The FCC cited a statute of limitations that had expired for a pair of stations because they had gotten license renewals in the intervening years, and others were let off apparently because the complaints had not come from the market in which the station was located.

It was only a little over three weeks ago — Jan. 25 — that the FCC issued the notice of apparent liability for the Feb. 25, 2003, airing of a show that has been off the air for three years. It was running up against a five-year statute of limitations on taking action against the stations if they failed to pay the fine, which likely explains why it asked the stationsto pay up by Feb. 21, or only about 52 hours after the order is being released.

The FCC rejected an argument by Gray Television that its translator station should not be fined in addition to the station providing the signal that it was essentially retransmitting, but the FCC said translators are not de facto immune from the fines.

And a few excerpts from a Matthew Lasar article at Arstechnica.com:

The NYPD Blue scene shows a pre-adolescent boy accidentally walk in on an older woman undressing in the bathroom. Viewers get a glance at the woman’s naked behind before he backs out and apologizes.

The FCC declared the scene indecent “because it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs in a lewd and titillating way — specifically an adult woman’s buttocks.” ABC attorneys defended the show, arguing that buttocks do not constitute a sexual organ. But the FCC declared that this defense “runs counter to both case law and common sense,” citing the agency’s
“two-pronged indecency analysis” defining “sexual or excretory organs or activities” as offensive.

In its February 9 appeal, attorneys for ABC and its affiliates revisited these arguments in their appeal. They offered the FCC
medical textbooks that defined sexual organs as “biologically defined,” arguing that “[t]he only external organs or structures of the excretory system are the penis in males, and the urethral opening in females, which appears between the walls of the labia.”

The agency today again turned down this reasoning. “The Commission has consistently interpreted the term ’sexual or excretory organs’ in its own definition of indecency as including the buttocks,” the FCC declared, “which, though not physiologically necessary to procreation or excretion, are widely associated with sexual arousal and closely associated by most people with excretory activities.”

The FCC reiterated the “clear and unmistakable” visual depiction in question. “Here, the scene in question shows a female actor naked from behind, with her buttocks fully visible at close range,” the Commission concluded. “She is not wearing a g-string or other clothing, nor are the shots of her buttocks pixelated or obscured.”