AN ANALYSIS OF THE FCC’S RULING ON FLEETING PROFANITIES AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE ROAD AHEAD FOR THE HIGH COURT

The holder of an FCC broadcasting license takes that franchise “burdened by enforceable public obligations.” Among those public-interest obligations is a duty not to transmit indecent material during times when children are likely to be listening. The duty of licensees to refrain from broadcasting indecent materials was first set out in the Radio Act of 1927. The U.S. Code now makes it unlawful to “utter[] any obscene, indecent, or profane language by means of radio communication . . . .” View More