Obscenity and Indecency

The FCC’s obscenity/indecency policy revolves around the 1978 Supreme Court FCC vs. Pacifica Foundation. That decision upheld the regulation of indecent songs under the following definition of “indecent language”. Thus, if KPSU broadcasts any type of content, spoken or recorded, that deals with explicit drug use, explicit violence, or explicit sex, it is possible for KBPS to be fined by the FCC, and therefore jeopardize KPSU's contract with KPBS.

Obscenity shall be defined as any language or material that depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities or organs.

KPSU strictly enforces a much narrower definition also upheld in that court decision. Indecent material was strictly defined as any song containing one or more of the following 7 words. The 7 words are known collectively as “the Pacifica words”, or the George Carlin “7 words you can’t say on television.”

• shit
• piss/pissed off
• fuck
• cunt
• motherfucker
• cocksucker
• tits