GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS ON RADIO BROADCASTING.

             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 .

             to figure out which ones you couldn't and ever and it came down to .

             seven but the list is open to amendment, and infact, has been changed, .

             uh, by now. The original seven words were shit, piss, fuck, cunt, .

             cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits. Those are the ones that will curve .

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

             us, peace without honor, and a bourbon. (Carlin, 1977).

             A man driving with his young son heard this broadcast and reported it .

             to the Federal Communications Commission [FCC]. This broadcast of .

             Carlin's "Filthy Words" monologue caused one of the greatest and most .

             controversial cases in the history of broadcasting. The case of the .

             FCC v. Pacifica Foundation. The outcome of this case has had a lasting .

             effect on what we hear on the radio.