FCC penalizes radio giant for sex segment

Washington Times ^ | 10/3/2003 | Chris Baker

[hchutch]

Federal regulators fined radio giant Infinity Broadcasting Corp. $357,500 yesterday for airing in August last year a segment on the "Opie and Anthony Show" featuring a Northern Virginia couple having sex in a Roman Catholic church.

The Federal Communications Commission issued the fine, the largest ever for a single incident and the highest amount permitted by law. In 1995, the agency reached a $1.7 million settlement with Infinity related to a series of raunchy segments on "The Howard Stern Show," a program the company distributes.

[hchutch]

Message to the nattering nabobs on the left and right who want to tell people who they can and cannot listen to:

I do not care if you don't like the program airing, be it Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, Opie and Anthony, or Michael Savage. You have options you can exercise without imposing upon those of us who might like a given program:

1. You can change the station.

2. You can put in a CD or cassette tape.

3. You can turn the radio off and drive in silence.

I'm sorry, but I don't like people who run to the government to solve problems that they themselves can deal with through the application of personal responsibility and common sense.

Thus endeth my rant.

[hchutch]

FYI ping - had to vent a little based on this article and at least one tangle I've had elsewhere.

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[Semper Paratus]

A higher authority may have ruled on the incident with the unexpected death of the male participant this week.

[hchutch]

Perhaps, but the thing that gets me is that Infinity FIRES Opie and Anthony - and then the FCC piles on with the fines.

So not only have they irritated the Opie and Anthony fans by firing the hosts, but they ALSO have now been fined by the FCC.

[50sDad]

Come on, is this the actual headline?

Huh, huh! You said "Penal"! Huh, huh.

Sorry, had a Bevis moment.

[hchutch]

That is the actual headline on the Washington Times website.

[kenth]

Well, I guess it's not so much a penalty as it is a #*@&ing...

[E Rocc]

What I found interesting is that it was the Democratic commissioner who was in favor of the severest of penalties. Statists will be statists.

One of the reasons Reagan was so popular (which he used to become succesful) as President was the fact that he took a de facto libertarian approach to cultural issues. The GOP has forgotten this lesson. Fortunately the Dims are too enamored with statism in general to truly take advantage.

-Eric

[hchutch]

I'm starting to agree. Where is the personal responsibility?

Oh, wait, the target is Howard Stern. Get him, government!

[Sicon]

I agree with you. However, in the case of the Opie & Anthony show, what they did was to run a contest in which points could be earned by committing a crime (sex in a public place). So they were, in effect, offering to pay someone to commit a crime, so I think the fine in their case was deserved.