FCC Lax in Monitoring "Shock Jock" Shows

Cal Thomas | Syndicated columnist | Updated: Jun 26, 2001

FCC Lax in Monitoring "Shock Jock" Shows

If you think the so-called radio "shock jock" Howard Stern is bad, worse is coming.

Infinity Broadcasting, which syndicates Stern's profane and vulgar show, has signed two new hosts for syndication. Already on local stations in New York, Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia are going national with raunchier versions - if that's possible -- of Stern's sex jokes, profanity and insults of public figures.

Once the decline begins, the search for the bottom of the bottomless pit rapidly proceeds.

Whatever happened to the Federal Communications Commission? Congress needs to take a new look at the FCC and either get rid of it, or give it authority to stem the tide of filth. The First Amendment was never intended for raunch like this. It was written to protect political speech, not make the world safe for pornographers and vulgarians.

You don't want to know what these shock jocks have been saying and doing. But you will hear them, or hear about them, soon. Maybe you ought to let any local radio station that carries them know how you feel about this air pollution.

FCC Lax in Monitoring "Shock Jock" Shows