Obscene Material

Obscene material may never be broadcast. The FCC uses the ruling by the Supreme Court on “Obscene” material (See Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15; 1973) to create this classification of speech. The Supreme Court ruling states that, for material to considered obscene, it must meet the following three-pronged test:

• The average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the work as a whole appeals to the prurient interest; the point of the work must be to arouse an "unhealthy" sexual desire
• The work must describe or depict, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically described by applicable state laws
• The work as a whole must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

Safe Harbor

Safe Harbor does not give you the right to swear or talk in an otherwise offensive manner on the air. This also applies to any callers or guests you might have on your show. Safe Harbor also does not allow you to play purely offensive material on the air, for example “Put it in my mouth” by Akinyele. Please, if you think it’s questionable, don’t play it. Safe harbor hours give you no additional freedom in terms of what you can say on the air, only what music you can play.

Examples of Indecent and Obscene Material

The following actions resulted in monetary forfeiture orders (fines) from the FCC:

References to sexual activity appearing to titillate: A State University radio station in New York played a song describing oral sex activity and using slang terms to name body parts in relation to this activity. The FCC said, "describes sexual activities in patently offensive terms and is therefore indecent."

Non-clinical references to lesbian or gay sex, masturbation, breast or penis size, sodomy, erections, orgasms, etc: A morning show in Houston had a doctor on as a guest who spoke of the large size of a man’s penis as ruining his marriage. The doctor and hosts went on to describe the size using terms like "two hands full" and "the diameter of a beer can" and asked the woman if "she could handle that." The FCC said, although the station had "substituted innuendo and double entendre for more directly explicit sexual references remain that render the sexual meaning of the innuendo inescapable"

Discussion of intimate sexual questions between DJ’s and callers: "What’s the grossest thing you’ve ever put in your mouth?" "What makes your hiney parts tingle?"

Songs that contain repeated references to sex or sexual organs, including Prince’s "Erotic City," Monty Python’s "Sit on my Face," and Consolidated’s "You Suck."

Profanity

The FCC also considers material with the following seven words punishable if used on the air, especially when used in combination with any of indecency factors:

• Shit
• Piss
• Fuck
• Cunt
• Cocksucker
• Motherfucker
• Tits.

Variations are also found indecent - for example, "cock" is not acceptable in a song or poem unless it is in reference to a rooster or has defensible artistic merit. Such words with more than one use, one being indecent, can be used in speaking as a “double entendre” where a word said has an explicitly harmless meaning but implicit indecent meaning.