As an independent federal agency, the FCC filed the appeal in its own name. The FCC in turn appealed to the Supreme Court.
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WBAI appealed against this decision, which was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 2–1 decision on the grounds that the FCC's definition of "indecency" was overbroad and vague and thus violated the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech. No specific sanctions were included in the order, but WBAI was put on notice that "in the event subsequent complaints are received, the Commission will then decide whether it should utilize any of the available sanctions it has been granted by Congress". įollowing the lodging of the complaint, the FCC proceeded to ask Pacifica for a response, then issued a declaratory order upholding the complaint. John Douglas, an active member of Morality in Media, claimed that he heard the WBAI broadcast while driving with his then 15-year-old son, Dean, and complained to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that the material was inappropriate for the time of day (approximately 2:00 p.m.). Pacifica station WBAI broadcast this version of the routine uncensored on October 30 that year.įederal Communications Commission v. On his next album, 1973's Occupation: Foole, he performed a similar routine titled "Filthy Words", dealing with the same list and many of the same themes. Ĭarlin was arrested for disturbing the peace when he performed the routine at a show at Summerfest in Milwaukee in 1972. It's the thrust of the sentence that makes them either good or bad.
They really, in themselves, have no power.
We give them this power by refusing to be free and easy with them. It's a notion that they have and it's superstitious. You'll see some newspapers print "f blank blank k". It's just impossible to say "this is a blanket rule". Where you really cannot pin down what these rules they want to enforce are. On these other things, we get into the field of hypocrisy. I don't know that there was a "Eureka!" moment or anything like that. One track on the album, "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television", was a monologue in which he identified these words and expressed amazement that they could not be used regardless of context. In 1972, comedian George Carlin released his fourth stand-up album Class Clown. Pacifica Foundationĭuring a performance in 1966, comedian Lenny Bruce said he had been arrested for saying nine words: " ass", " balls", " cocksucker", " cunt", " fuck", "motherfucker", " piss", " shit", and " tits". 2 Federal Communications Commission v.Pacifica Foundation that helped define the extent to which the federal government could regulate speech on broadcast television and radio in the United States. Nonetheless, a radio broadcast featuring these words led to a Supreme Court decision in FCC v. The list was not an official enumeration of forbidden words, but rather were compiled by Carlin to flow better in a comedy routine.
Broadcast standards differ in different parts of the world, then and now, although most of the words on Carlin's original list remain taboo on American broadcast television. As such, they were avoided in scripted material and bleep censored in the rare cases in which they were used. Īt the time, the words were considered highly inappropriate and unsuitable for broadcast on the public airwaves in the United States, whether radio or television. The words, in the order Carlin listed them, are: " shit", " piss", " fuck", " cunt", " cocksucker", " motherfucker", and " tits". The seven dirty words are seven English-language curse words that American comedian George Carlin first listed in his 1972 "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" monologue. A poster in a WBAI broadcast booth which warns radio broadcasters against using the words
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