The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau has upheld a
challenge by KBOO-FM Portland, Ore., and rescinded its $7,000 indecency fine
against the station for airing the Sarah Jones rap song, "Your Revolution."
The bureau had concluded in May 2001 that the song was indecent and assessed
the base fine.
The station appealed the decision, arguing that the song, in context, was not
actionably indecent.
Jones had also challenged the decision.
"Your Revolution" contains sexually explicit passages that condemn prevalent
attitudes about sexual liberty as little more than a license for male sexual
conquest.
It aired during a two-hour show examining social and political attitudes.
Calling it a close call, the bureau said Wednesday that although the song
indisputably described sexual activity and had, thus, "warranted scrutiny," it
also concluded that it was wrong to have found the song indecent because, "on
balance and in context, the sexual descriptions in the song are not sufficiently
graphic to warrant sanction."
It also said that the fact that Jones has been asked to perform the song at
high-school assemblies was a mitigating factor.
KBOO-FM station manager Dennise Kowalczyk said she was "thrilled with the
decision."
The ruling moots an Oct. 2 challenge of the fine by Jones.
The decision is the second major indecency fine rescinded in a little over a
year.
The bureau threw out a similar $7,000 fine against KKMG(FM) Pueblo, Colo.,
for airing an edited version of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady," the biggest hit
from The Marshall Mathers LP, the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 for
eight weeks.
