FCC's fine of station leaves U.S. wondering/Punishment for playing

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jun 10, 2001 | by Warren Epstein

A federal agency's decision this month to fine a Colorado Springs radio station for playing an edited version of an Eminem song has sent shock waves through the music industry.

Radio program directors, record executives, rap artists, free- speech advocates, family-values coalitions and young music lovers are clamoring to find out what the unprecedented fine will mean.

Although the Federal Communications Commission has a long history of punishing stations for airing raw, unedited songs, the $7,000 fine slapped on top-40 station KKMG (98.9 FM) represents the first time the commission has taken action on a common "radio edit" version. Record companies frequently provide versions of songs bleeping out foul language to make them suitable for radio.

Cat Collins, program director for urban-format station KQKS (107.5 FM) in Denver, was shocked when he heard that an edited version of a song came under fire.

"This wasn't a radio stunt," he said. "This wasn't some DJ cussing on the air. They played the edited version of a song that virtually every top-40 station in the country played. This is scary. I have to talk to our corporate attorney now and find out what this means."

The FCC imposed the fine on KKMG, popularly known as Magic FM, on June 1, saying the station repeatedly played an edited version of "The Real Slim Shady," by controversial Grammy-winning rapper Eminem. The FCC's action was prompted by a complaint from Colorado Springs homemaker Liz Pipes, who found the song offensive.

The blatant profanity had been bleeped out of this version from Interscope Records, but Pipes still found it objectionable. The FCC agreed, stating that the edited song contained "sexual references in conjunction with sexual expletives that appear intended to pander and shock."

Magic officials announced last week that they plan to contest the ruling.

Since then, details of the fine have made news throughout the country.

Magic operations manager Bobby Irwin's phone has been ringing nonstop.

"It's been an amazing cavalcade of media stars - Rolling Stone, MTV, the New York Post, NPR," he said. "It's been fun."

Magic DJ Chris Knight, known on the air as CK, said he hopes to capitalize on the FCC's action by trying to persuade Eminem to make an appearance in his studio.

"We'd be foolish not to at least have fun with this," said Knight, who also hosts a morning talk show on KVOR.

Whatever promotional mileage Magic can muster from the FCC action may be offset by the uncertainties it raises over what kind of songs are safe to play on the radio.

"Right now, we don't know where the land mines are," Irwin said. "There could be stuff on the air now that could offend. We just don't know."

That's because FCC officials won't say which words in Eminem's edited song are objectionable. Speaking under condition of anonymity, an FCC official told The Gazette that although this edited version of Eminem's song has been played at hundreds of stations, it was only in Colorado Springs that the song prompted a complaint.

Some music-industry analysts say the ruling reflects a more aggressive stance by the FCC since President Bush appointed Secretary of State Colin Powell's son, Michael, to be chairman of the commission.

The FCC was founded with a mandate to regulate the public airwaves. It not only assigns radio frequencies, it also makes rulings about what kind of on-air speech is protected and what kind is obscene or indecent.

The battle between the FCC and Magic continues a long tradition of squabbles between the commission and broadcasters. They have been going on as long as parents have grumbled about their kids' music.

What's different about the current debate is that the R-rated lyrics in rap music have cranked up the volume.

It's music that pushes major buttons at the FCC, which declared that even the edited version of "The Real Slim Shady" was unsuitable for the airwaves.

"The commission has defined indecent speech as language that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities or organs," FCC officials wrote.

It's a ruling that's left those who follow the broadcast industry scratching their heads.

"We're still trying to figure it out ourselves," said Harry Jessell, editor in chief of industry magazine Broadcasting & Cable.

"But it sure looks like a big step forward in indecency enforcement in our country.

"If this thing is indecent, then you gotta believe a lot of other songs now being played are indecent," Jessell said.

"Is this song really so different than the Rolling Stones' 'Let's Spend the Night Together?'"

Some in the rap industry feel they're being treated more harshly than rock ever was.

Producer Russell Simmons, the godfather of hip-hop, released a statement saying that so-called offensive rap is no different from the provocative prose by Mark Twain and songs of the great jazz and rock artists.

"The hip-hop community, no, all of America, should be outraged at this blatant act of censorship on our brother Eminem," he said.