Do you remember the old days....when broadcasting 'cared' about what was said and shown on their programs?
Do you remember when the FCC actually monitored radio and TV station's language and content?
It was a time when management strictly prohibited vulgarity and even frowned upon double-entendre.
Today....you can hear and see just about anything over the air and on the tube.
Now...anyone who knows me will tell you that I'm not a prude...but I do think that our business was better off when it had standards. And I think that it's audience held it in higher regard.
The other night around 8pm, I heard language that, not too long ago, was relegated to the cable premium channels. And it was on one of the major 'over the air' networks!
8pm!!
My four year old grandson is still up at 8pm.
What's next?
Instead of Sex and the City...Sex and Sesame Street!
When radio (and TV) had a moral compass, Howard Stern would never have been allowed to do what he does, MTV would never have sunk to the level of soft core porn and our society might have been a little better place.
I know...I've heard it too...
"Hey...it's a lot worse in Europe. You should see the stuff they broadcast over there."
What's that suppose to mean? If they broadcast vile oversees then it's okay to do it here?
That never made any sense to me.
Some say...."Oh...but censorship is wrong."
Look...dust and dirt are everywhere...but we clean our homes.
Why?
Because we don't want to live in dust and dirt.
Ah...and some of my friends in the business wonder why radio and TV aren't the respected industries that they once were.
It's because they've allowed 'their house' to be filled with 'dust and dirt' and like I said, no one want to live there.
I can remember hearing former FCC Chairman Newton Minow describe TV as the 'vast wasteland'. If my memory serves me well, that was in 1964, when there were three networks and a handful of independent stations.
It was a time when his Commission would have fined me for saying....well...I'm not even comfortable writing it in this blog...but suffice it to say that it was one of the 'kinder'...'gentler' blue words.
Come to think of it...it was what I heard the other night in the 8pm hour.
I wonder what Mr. Minow would have to say about our business today?
Is it too late to clean up our act?
Has the horse left the barn?
Some will say 'yes'...but I don't think so.
If radio and TV were to clean up their homes...I think the company that it's constantly inviting over would definitely appreciate it.
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