Let's get back on the original subject, cursing on the air.
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Question about obscene content or cursing on the air.
- Thread starter radioislife2020
- Start date
Not cursing exactly, but I can't believe "Call Me Kat" got past the Fox censors. The primary plot was standing in line for sneakers (and Kat was wearing the prettiest ones) but secondary was her baker getting a job baking naughty cookies. The proper terms were used for body parts, but with the naughtiest humor imaginable.
But there was no swearing involved. You do know there are things like 'exotic bakeries' in real life?
Yes, but the naughty humor was not required.
Even if it was funny?
Oh, it was funny.
Then what's the problem?
…and what in its 35 year history makes you think Fox has censors that are any more restrictive than any other broadcast network, VChimpanzee?
Sometimes presenting adult-themed humor or even something downright raunchy, but trying to say it in a "clean" way can be even funnier than using blue humor. I once worked with a guy who was known for his sometimes off-color jokes, but there were a few older ladies at the station who he respected and refused to curse in front of. Sometimes we'd be in a staff meeting or at a staff dinner and he'd try and tell his jokes while cleaning them up for those women folk. Just watching him try and do so, and his grasping for the cleanest possible terminology when he really wanted to burst into a string of profanities, could be funnier than the actual joke he was telling.
Back in the day when TV sensors wouldn't allow 2 adults to be shown together in bed and you couldn't say the world "pregnant" on TV, etc. some of the shows really got creative and tried to push the envelope so they certainly got their point across without actually saying or showing the restricted thing. Again, sometimes their solution to work around the sensors actually made for a funnier bit!
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In my radio career I said some questionable stuff. But as long as you didn’t use profanity you were gold. Atleast from the fine. But listeners have a lot of power. Just something to keep in mind.
But back then you could use the N-word and the F-word (homophobic slur). So although the list of words you can't say on TV or radio has changed over the years, I don't think it's gotten a whole lot shorter.
The difference is that those words won’t get you FCC fines the way the original “heavy seven” would. They’ll just lose you viewers and sponsors at an unacceptable level.
The "Call Me Kat" jokes actually had double meanings, so that may be why they got away with it. But the second meaning which wasn't actually intended was what made the jokes so dirty.
Now playing on KTUC Tucson (at least before the commercials): "What's New P***ycat" by Tom Jones. That's what it says.
Six. One of the seven has become completely acceptable, which is unfortunate.
"P-u-s-s-y Galore", a character in the Ian Fleming movie Goldfinger, comes to mind. And that was 1964.
When it comes to your concerns about Call me Kat, you might be about sixty years too late.
Family Guy, The Simpsons, and Futurama has made several attempts over the years to directly or indirectly mock Fox's censorship, tongue in cheek style.
You self-censored "pussycat"? It's a female cat! It's not like there's another word for that! I never thought about it before but it's interesting that the song is by someone named "Tom"!
...and it isn't the one you would've expected.
I did no such thing. I said "That's what it says." The stars in the word are from the web site for the radio station, where it was listing the last song played.
At first it didn't seem to be allowed when it meant "urinate", but even that seems acceptable.
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