Replies

It would help, for one thing, if they were legal. Legal
radio stations have to pay FCC fees, follow rules, and
keep from interfering with each other. Stealing the airwaves,
for me, is no different from stealing a car.
As for not having the right to decency on the airwaves,
the framers of the Constitution did not anticipate TV,
radio, etc., and it is a slippery slope: who is the government to regulate speech?

But there is certainly the “crying fire in a crowded theatre”
argument (such as airing a deliberately false news report
to create havoc). And most people agree that there should be decency on the airwaves if possible. Fox shows like Family
Guy—which I watch and enjoy—do have content warnings etc.
And there are FCC rules on regular broadcast TV or radio
which confine cussin’ to late night, if at all, when
young people might not be watching or listening.

Yes, the idea of a “censor” does come into mind. I’m reminded of the Stan Freberg sketch on his radio show
where the “CBS Censor”, voiced by Daws “Yogi Bear” Butler,
cautioned him “we must think of the tiny tots” and forced
Stan to sing “Elderly Man River” so as not to offend
old people, and to make it grammatical, but that’s a
network censor not the FCC.

There may be a happy medium here somewhere, but I’m
more concerned with the fact that pirate stations are
on the air illegally...what if you have a legit station
and someone goes on the air down the street right next to
your frequency. Here you are, being legal, but now being
infringed upon by an IL-legal...