which is something i usually don't do...i have my MP3 player with me usually, but i forgot it at home today. so i'm driving and listening to the classic rock station...and pink floyd's money comes on. ugh, i've heard that song 10 million times and it's pretty old now, but whatever, i flip to a few other channels and nothing better is on...so i listen. and it gets to the "don't give me that do goody good bullshit" part. except they play bull and blank out shit. now i've heard the song on the radio pretty much all of my life (roughly 86-2004). once i got a car that could use an MP3 player as an input i stopped listening to the radio though. but as far as i'm aware, up until about 2006, on a classic rock station, the do goody good bullshit part is played on that song with no problems. there have been other songs that have been edited retroactively within the past few years though, man in the box being one that comes to mind...but "money"? come on, if someone is listening to a classic rock station they know what the song says. and are they offended? i doubt it. the song has been played for 30+ years with no one giving a shit. is everyone really that afraid of the FCC fines that all of a sudden it's not okay to play that song as it was written?
and that was fine...and then about 10 minutes later life in the fast lane by the eagles was played. same thing...for roughly 30 years the song has been played with no problems. now all of a sudden (i'm assuming since i havent listened to the radio) at some point within the past 3 years it became unacceptable for the song to say "haven't seen a god damn thing". it was fine for 3 decades, but isn't now? and to leave "god" and edit out "damn"? are you really fooling anyone? everyone knows what the song is saying. even if someone by some odd chance hasn't heard the song, it's not hard to decipher what "haven't seen a god (dead air) thing" is really saying.

/end rant

tl;dr

There is still FM Radio?

The problem is there aren't any specific rules governing what can and can not be said. There is NO list of words that can't be said on radio. The rule simply states you can't play anything obscene, and you can't play anything indecent outside of "safe harbor" hours (10p-6a). So what happens is the rules are pretty much dictated by the climate of the industry. I forget exactly why but the FCC was tied up with some serious lawsuits over the past few years and a lot of stuff wasn't being enforced. Word from the inside is now that the FCC has less on their plate they will start being more strict.

Also, the FCC does not police the radio on their own. The FCC doesn't listen in and fine you if they here a dirty word. They only go after you if a listener lodges a formal complaint.

but why then? i can't imagine the good ol boys down here are calling up and complaining that pink floyd says "shit" in one of their most popular songs

Talk about land of freedom.

Well the thing is it has nothing to do with the good ol boys in your area. Radio stations are owned by big corporations. Now I don't work for a music station so this is entirely speculative, but I wouldn't be surprised if because of what I said in the first paragraph, corporate sent down memos to stations to tighten up their rules regarding what words get aired.

You're telling me. I'm not one of those FCC bashers that thinks they should be eliminated. EVERYTHING else they do (or at least they used to do before deregulation) is entirely necessary. However they totes shouldn't govern programming.

After the whole Janet Jackson boob thing, the FCC started going crazy w/ the censorship and started hitting up radiostations BIG TIME for words in songs. I remember ours suddenly clamouring for new copies of songs they had been playing un-edited for decades. It's really effing annoying.

okay, and i can understand that...but as far as i'm aware, the songs in question that were edited only became so within the past few years (at least a few years after the super bowl incident)...and they're songs that everyone knows. i understand not wanting to cause problems, but both songs have been played for 30 years a piece without trouble. oh well. i guess it's just people protecting themselves and their stations

tl;dr

Protecting from what ?

Censoring is such BULLSHIT anyways, I mean the BEEP draws more attention to the censored word then the word itself.

I mean mor(m)ons make up "swear words" to mask the real words.

Seriously if you're thinking of the real word just say the real word.

goody good bullshit

Astronomically high fines.

yup. I produce overnight talk radio and our delay time is something ridiculous (it's a good 15 seconds) because when you invite people to call and talk in the middle of the night you get the weirdest fucking people in the world. seriously guys, one lady wanted to go on the air the night before the election last year and tell the world that god just spoke to her and told her obama would be dead in 24 hours.

Nat, what do you do??

curse words are hateful

say gee wiz and stuff alike

that because we're ok i do

I believe she shows cleavage to illicit positive responses from male listeners.


Pretty much what she does here.