Any fans of the show here? Now that things have been finalized in the courts, maybe they can get back on the air! (FCC fined Infinity Broadcasting $357,000 - and the guy who had sex on the church steps dropped dead!) Lets get back to whippin 'em out!
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A radio contest challenging listeners to have sex in public places for a free trip to Boston's Sam Adams Brewery has won the broadcasters a $357,500 fine, federal regulators said on Thursday.
The Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) proposed the fine after ruling that 13 stations owned by a Viacom Inc. unit violated federal indecency standards when they aired, on Aug. 15, 2002, the "Opie & Anthony Show," which ran the contest.
The show was canceled almost immediately after the contest aired, which included broadcasts of five couples purportedly having sex and descriptions of other sexually explicit activity in famous New York locales like St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center.
"The premeditated nature of the decision to encourage sexual activity in locations that would surprise and shock passersby and attract attention at risk to the participants ... was plainly reflective of a transparent effort to pander and titillate for marketing purposes," the FCC (news - web sites) said.
Federal law bars the airing of obscene material and limits broadcasting indecent material that contains sexual or excretory references in a patently offensive manner. Indecent material can only be broadcast before 6 a.m. or after 10 p.m.
The FCC defines as indecent speech that depicts or describes sexual organs or activities, and a broadcast must be "patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium."
The proposed fine issued by the commission amounts to $27,500 per station, the maximum the agency can issue in such cases. FCC officials have pleaded with Congress to increase the size of fines they can levy for such cases.
The contest led authorities to charge a Washington, D.C.-area couple caught in St. Patrick's Cathedral with obscenity and public lewdness.
Infinity Broadcasting, the Viacom unit that runs the radio stations, told the FCC that the "Sex for Sam" program was unacceptable and contrary to its own programing standards but that the aired material was not obscene and did not fall within the agency's indecency definition.
"We've been afforded an opportunity to respond and we intend to do so," said Infinity spokesman Dana McClintock. He declined further comment.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps dissented from the decision, arguing that the agency should hold hearings to determine if the stations' broadcast licenses should be revoked.
"Station owners aren't given licenses to use the public's airwaves to peddle smut," he said in a statement. Copps also noted that Infinity has run afoul with indecency rules previously.
FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin had encouraged the agency to up the fine for each time the radio hosts discussed an act.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A radio contest challenging listeners to have sex in public places for a free trip to Boston's Sam Adams Brewery has won the broadcasters a $357,500 fine, federal regulators said on Thursday.
The Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) proposed the fine after ruling that 13 stations owned by a Viacom Inc. unit violated federal indecency standards when they aired, on Aug. 15, 2002, the "Opie & Anthony Show," which ran the contest.
The show was canceled almost immediately after the contest aired, which included broadcasts of five couples purportedly having sex and descriptions of other sexually explicit activity in famous New York locales like St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center.
"The premeditated nature of the decision to encourage sexual activity in locations that would surprise and shock passersby and attract attention at risk to the participants ... was plainly reflective of a transparent effort to pander and titillate for marketing purposes," the FCC (news - web sites) said.
Federal law bars the airing of obscene material and limits broadcasting indecent material that contains sexual or excretory references in a patently offensive manner. Indecent material can only be broadcast before 6 a.m. or after 10 p.m.
The FCC defines as indecent speech that depicts or describes sexual organs or activities, and a broadcast must be "patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium."
The proposed fine issued by the commission amounts to $27,500 per station, the maximum the agency can issue in such cases. FCC officials have pleaded with Congress to increase the size of fines they can levy for such cases.
The contest led authorities to charge a Washington, D.C.-area couple caught in St. Patrick's Cathedral with obscenity and public lewdness.
Infinity Broadcasting, the Viacom unit that runs the radio stations, told the FCC that the "Sex for Sam" program was unacceptable and contrary to its own programing standards but that the aired material was not obscene and did not fall within the agency's indecency definition.
"We've been afforded an opportunity to respond and we intend to do so," said Infinity spokesman Dana McClintock. He declined further comment.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps dissented from the decision, arguing that the agency should hold hearings to determine if the stations' broadcast licenses should be revoked.
"Station owners aren't given licenses to use the public's airwaves to peddle smut," he said in a statement. Copps also noted that Infinity has run afoul with indecency rules previously.
FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin had encouraged the agency to up the fine for each time the radio hosts discussed an act.
