Dear Licensee: This Letter Constitutes a NOTICE of APPARENT
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DA 96-1713 FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20554 IN REPLY REFER TO: CT ! 5 ©"6 1MOCUEE 96070454 95100477 CERTIFIED MAIL. RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED WVGO License Limited Partnership Licensee, WBZU(FM), Richmond, VA 1011 Boulder Spring Drive, Suite 401 Richmond, VA 23225 Dear Licensee: This letter constitutes a NOTICE OF APPARENT LIABILITY FOR A FORFEITURE pursuant to Section 503(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, under authority delegated to the Chief of the Mass Media Bureau by Section 0,283 of the Commission©s Rules. The Commission has received information indicating that Radio Station WBZU(FM), Richmond, VA,1 may have violated 18 U.S.C. § 1464 by broadcasting allegedly indecent material during the "Howard Stem Show" on October 23, 1995 and June 3, 1996, between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. A transcript of the allegedly indecent broadcasts, taken from tapes submitted by the complainant, is attached. Pursuant to 47 U.S.C. §§ 312(a)(6) and 503(b)(l)(D), the Commission has statutory authority to take appropriate administrative action when licensees broadcast material in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1464, which provides criminal penalties for anyone who "utters any obscene, indecent or profane language by means of radio communication." The Commission has defined indecency as language or material 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. See Infinity Broadcasting Corporation of Pennsylvania. 2 FCC Red 2705 (1987). The United States Court of Appeals 1WBZU(FM) exchanged call signs with WVGO(FM), effective September 16, 1996. At the time of the broadcasts which form the bases for the complaints referred to in this Notice of Apparent Liability, WBZU(FM) was WVGO(FM) and the complaints were filed against WVGO(FM). To maintain clarity, the station against which the complaints were filed will be referred to as WBZU(FM) throughout this document, since this is the station©s current call sign. 13214 for the District of Columbia Circuit has upheld the Commission©s authority to restrict the broadcast of indecent material at times when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience. Action for Children©s Television v. FCC. 852 F.2d 1332 (D.C. Cir. 1988). The court subsequently concluded that a 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. "safe harbor" was justified as a properly tailored means of vindicating the government©s compelling interest in the welfare of children. Action for Children©s Television v. FCC. 58 F.3d 654 (D.C. Cir. 1995), cert, denied. 116S. Ct. 701 (1996). We believe that the subject excerpts are indecent in that they contain language that describes sexual and excretory activities or organs in patently offensive terms. Because the material aired at times when there was a reasonable risk that children may have been in the audience, it is legally actionable. Thus, it appears that on October 23, 1995 and June 3, 1996, Station WBZU(FM) violated 18 U.S.C. § 1464 by airing indecent programming. Accordingly, pursuant to Section 503(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, WVGO License Limited Partnership is hereby advised of its apparent liability for a forfeiture of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000), for its apparent violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1464 on October 23, 1995 and June 3, 1996. The amount specified was determined after consideration of the factors set forth in Section 503(b)(2) of the Act, including "the nature, circumstances, extent, and gravity of the violation." In regard to this forfeiture proceeding, you are afforded a period of thirty (30) days from the date of this letter "to show, in writing, why a forfeiture penalty should not be imposed or should be reduced, or to pay the forfeiture. Any showing as to why the forfeiture should not ^e imposed or should be reduced shall include a detailed factual statement and such documentation and affidavits as may be pertinent." 47 C.F.R. § 1.80(0(3). Other relevant provisions of Section 1.80 of the Commission©s Rules are summarized in the attachment to this letter. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION \s Mass Media Bureau Attachments 13215 Radio Station: WVGO-FM, Richmond, VA Date/Time Broadcast: October 23, 1995 at 7:00 a.m. Material Broadcast: Howard Stern 95100477 HS: Howard Stern RQ: Robin Quivers MV: Male Voice HS Anyway. RQ: But why do you think your wife is asking you about sex if she doesn©t want to have it? HS: I don©t know. It©s, it©s, so listen to this, so listen what I did. So I go upstairs, now I©m, I©m ready for sex. Cause I purposely didn©t play with myself on Friday. RQ: Really? HS: Or Saturday. RQ: You©re storing up. HS: Yeah, even during the computer sex, as tempted as I was, I didn©t, you know. RQ: Like a squirrel you©re saving your nuts. HS: Yeah. RQ: (Laughs). HS: That©s right, so I go upstairs and the baby finally went to bed cause the baby had napped during the afternoon and thrown everything up. RQ: How old is this baby now, this baby is? HS: Two, over two and actually, well, it gets more incredible. So the kids are finally asleep and I go upstairs to my wife and she says she wanes to have sex now. I was dog tired. I was tired. RQ: How, she doesn©t just try to get you into it she just. HS: No, no. RQ: She announces. HS: She just, announces. RQ: It©s time for you to give me sex HS: Yeah, she goes, should I get my vibrator? RQ: (Laughs). HS: So. RQ: So sexy. HS: Yeah, so she goes in the other room and I©m, half of me was just saying why don©t I just go to sleep and skip all this sex but I said, you know what, I better give her something because, this is ridiculous. RQ: We are married. HS: We are married and I guess we might as well go through with this, so she walks out of the room and she comes in with vibrators, two different kinds of KY, Astro-Glide, and all kinds. Her arms are full and then a towel. RQ: Did she have a tray? HS: Yeah, she has a whole huge thing, you know, and Astro-Glide, whatever that is. I-won©t even use it. RQ: That©s what you put on your exercise machine isn©t it? HS: Yeah, I think so, I think you©re right about that. MV: Ski wax. It©s grease. HS: Yeah. RQ: Where does she get the WD-40? HS: I don©t know but she has a whole bunch of toys and things, you know, so alright, I go, what©s all this? Cause it took up half the bed. So on the computer sex this girl said, she wanted to be bent over a chair, you know, so I was thinking I©m going to bend my wife over a chair. RQ: (Laughs). 13216 WVGO-FM 2. KS: But anyway, okay, then I said, you know what honey, we©re going to do something different tonight. I said, first of all I want you to go put on one of those outfits for me. She goes, oh please. I said, here©s what you do, go into your closet there, pull out a sexy little number, and I©m going to put a little music or.. RQ: Oh, now you©re getting into music. HS: Yeah, little music, okay. So she goes, what do you mean music? I don©t understand. I said, do me a favor, I©m just laying here in the bed, put the music on. She can©t. We have a radio in our bedroom, it is so complicated I can not get, I can©t get a station on. So she turns it off. She goes in the other room to get changed, I get up. I get my lazy ass out of bed and I©m plunking around and I finally figured out how to work the radio. 20 minutes into this. And I©m wondering where she is, she©s probably peeing and I hate when she does. I hate when she. She always. As soon as I say we©re going to have sex she goes and goes to the bathroom, which is disgusting. And she lets me hear it, she keeps the door open. RQ: I don©t know. HS: You know what I mean? I don©t want to hear her going to the bathroom before sex. RQ: This is the woman who said she wanted to have sex, she©s still not ready. HS; Yeah, she©s not ready and she, and the door is always open and I, you know, I hear her. RQ: You©re saying, Jackie©s been there. HS: Oh yeah, his wife is probably more disgusting. (Flatulence). So anyway, I©m sitting in the, I get, I get the, so I©m looking for a Black station. I decide I©m going to have sex. RQ: To Black music. HS: To Negro race music. So, because to me that©s the music you have sex to. Black people make the best music. Sorry to offend you white people. Black people make incredible music. Marvin Gaye, you know, you know, all that stuff. But I want to get into the music of today.