Posted on 02/26/2004 5:09:19 AM PST by Arrowhead1952
Clear Channel implements new zero-tolerance policy for deejays
By Claudia Grisales
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Radio broadcasters say they plan to clean up their acts, responding to the growing public outcry over indecent content, the threat of heavy fines from regulators and tough talk in Congress.
Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation's largest station owner, said Wednesday that it has implemented a new zero-tolerance policy that could mean suspensions or firings for DJs who cross the line with X-rated talk on the air.
Clear Channel owns more than 1,200 stations nationwide, including six in Austin.
Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corp., which also owns six Austin stations, is expected to announce similar measures by the end of the week, including seminars for station employees, from DJs to managers. Infinity Broadcasting said it has bought new equipment that will enable producers to delete offensive material before it gets on the air.
Public anger over shock-jock radio and increasingly raunchy content is not new, but it has hit a new peak in recent months. And politicians and regulators are paying attention, with calls in Congress to raise by 1,000 percent the fines for violations.
In January, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a record $755,000 fine against Clear Channel for repeatedly airing, on some of its Florida stations, graphic segments of a show called "Bubba the Love Sponge."
On Tuesday, Clear Channel fired the Tampa deejay, Todd Clem. On Wednesday, Clear Channel yanked shock-jock king Howard Stern's program from its stations, saying that part of his Tuesday show had been unacceptably vulgar.
Jason Kane, director of operations for Clear Channel in Austin, said his company "is working hard to really reflect the attitudes and opinions of their listeners and concerns about indecency that have surfaced over the last several months. There has been a lot of concern on the part of the folks at the FCC and Congress, as well as the upper echelon at Clear Channel."
Under the new policy, any disc jockey who is the target of an indecency complaint by the FCC will be suspended. If the complaint leads to a fine, the deejay will be fired.
"It's about time," said Janice Williams, a radio host and music director at Clear Channel's KVET-FM in Austin. "The airwaves belong to the public, and I think there needs to be some limitations."
Bob Fonseca, co-host of the "Dudley and Bob Show" on KLBJ-FM, an Emmis station, said discussion of the new restrictions and indecency had dominated his Wednesday morning talk show. Fonseca said he and co-host Dale Dudley are telling their more outspoken guests and callers to "cool it."
Dudley said the show is editing out more comments than before.
Both said they are frustrated by the reaction to radio and confused about where the line is.
"We all love what we do; we love entertaining," Fonseca said. "It's been this fun thing, and now it's taken on a serious tone, but we will persevere and adapt to what needs to be done. . . . Maybe we will designate March as Squeaky Clean Month and read Dickens."
But Rick Cummings, Los Angeles-based president of Emmis' radio division, said the issue "is not just something for the government, congressmen and the FCC people. We have seen a backlash, and interestingly enough, we began policing our edgier shows a long time ago. This just ramped it up."
John Hiatt, senior vice president and market manager for Infinity Broadcasting Corp.'s Austin region, said his company implemented a new cleaner-content policy 10 days ago that could mean dismissal for any on-air talent who intentionally crosses the line. The company also spent $10,000 on equipment for its four Austin stations that will allow producers to edit out X-rated comments before they're aired.
Infinity will put all of its syndicated programs and on-air talk on a seven-second delay, including phone calls from listeners.
"It does not hurt to have the additional help of the digital equipment" Hiatt said. "All we have done is increase the safety net."
Michael Keith, a professor at Boston College and author of "Dirty Discourse: Sex and Indecency on American Radio," said he thinks the broadcasters have been "pretty much forced" into cleaning up their acts.
"Clear Channel has come under attack more than any other station simply because they own more than any other company," he said.
The debate over content on the airwaves goes back to the beginning of broadcast, Keith said.
"This whole thing is going to blow over. There will be another issue du jour," he said. "It's very cyclical. It's a carousel effect, and it keeps going round and round and round until someone gets their finger caught in the brass ring."
But the question continues on what the line is.
"It's very difficult to legislate morality," Keith said, "and it's difficult to come up with a definition of indecency that is applicable in all quarters."
"The Howard Sterns know how to flirt with that line," Keith said. "As long as there is an audience and advertisers, that line will get more ambivalent."
I wonder if they will clean it up to my approval? :) We are a music loving family. We can't listen to the radio in the car any more without having to switch channels quickly so the kids won't hear anything vile or disgusting. I've given up. The commercials are the worst. We've been thinking about getting that satellite radio.
That is considered "free speech" by the media industry.
I love all the Viagra, sanitary napkins, and other commercials. </ sarcasm>
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