<waits quietly in the background, waiting for Doug to arrive>

Well, here I am.

ithoughti said: I would say that they just might be bowing to govermental pressures, and if that is the case, it's an entirely different ball of wax.

And why is that? The "rules", such as they are, have been long-established, and all the players in the game knew what they were. For years broadcasters have been pushing the rules, mostly to see just how far they could go. As it turns out, one of the Clear Channel stations found out, at a cost of 3/4 of a million dollars.

So, the Government deciding to actually enforce long-standing guidelines that were blatantly violated (blatant by the standards of the rules themselves) is a surprise? This constitutes Government interference and censorship?

Here's an idea: Why don't you protest the unfairness of the IRS by refusing to pay your income tax? You will have about the same degree of success doing that as a broadcaster would have trying to convince the Government of their first amendment rights to broadcast smut. I can assure you that Clear Channel (or any other broadcaster) is not going to expend resources fighting a battle where an unlikely victorious conclusion would only serve to alienate the core listening audience, and more importantly (yes, Bitt was right!), advertisers.

Remember that broadcasters operate by the grace and goodwill of the Government. Radio stations don't "own" those airwaves and frequencies; they are owned by the Government. Whether or not you think that is a good or bad idea is irrelevant to this discussion because it is the way things are at the moment! As such, broadcasters are required to toe whatever line the Government decides to draw in the sand.

I have nothing against smut, pornography, graphic pictures and dialogue, sexually explicit material -- whatever you want to call it. However, since that material is so so readily available from so many other non-Governmentally-regulated! sources (Internet; Cable TV; adult book stores; etc.) I don't feel the least bit deprived that the Government has decided not to allow it on THEIR airwaves.

tanstaafl.