In 1978 a radio station owned by Pacifica Foundation

Broadcasting out of New York City was doing a program on contemporary

attitudes toward the use of language. This broadcast occurred on a

mid-afternoon weekday. Immediately before the broadcast the station

announced a disclaimer telling listeners that the program would

include "sensitive language which might be regarded as offensive to

some."(Gunther, 1991) As a part of the program the station decided to

air a 12 minute monologue called "Filthy Words" by comedian George

Carlin. The introduction of Carlin's "routine" consisted of, according

to Carlin, "words you couldn't say on the public air waves."(Carlin,

1977) The introduction to Carlin's monologue listed those words and

repeated them in a variety of colloquialisms:

I was thinking about the curse words and the swear words, the cuss

words and the words that you can't say, that you're not supposed to

say all the time. I was thinking one night about the words you

couldn't say on the public, ah, airwaves, um, the ones you definitely

wouldn't say, ever. Bastard you can say, and hell and damn so I have

broadcast audience is constantly tuning in and out, prior warnings

that we are not responsible enough to do this for ourselves. But I

morality has changed over the years and is still changing daily. I do

airwaves."(Stern, 1995) One with great influence in particular was the

to other broadcasters that the FCC would not tolerate indecent

protests, orchestrated a heavily promoted national letter writing

reasons why. First, "the broadcast media have established a uniquely

seconds. These two important factors of broadcasting gave the Supreme

what does this mean to the American public? This decision gave

turning off the radio...is like saying that the remedy for assault is

amendment protection is because "broadcasting is uniquely accessible

they are invited in. In this case the Court decided that "because the

groups to assure that indecent and obscene material would not be

your spine, grow hair on your hands and maybe, even bring us, God help

Some common words found in the essay are:
Supreme Court, Foundation FCC, Howard Stern, George Carlin, Pacifica Foundation, Pacifica FCC, York City, Infinity Broadcasting, Supreme CourtGunther, Wildmon Wildmon, howard stern, supreme court, indecent material, pacifica foundation, power regulate, indecent obscene, fcc pacifica, infinity broadcasting, carlin's monologue, fcc pacifica foundation, seven dirty words, seven dirty, fcc power regulate, regulate radio broadcasts, 1991 supreme court,
Approximate Word count = 2410
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)