I think I agree with this ...

From Tom Taylor:

The FCC loses a court decision – by unanimous verdict – on fleeting indecency.

“Fleeting indecency” is the stray f-word uttered by Bono or Cher or Nicole Richie on a live TV awards show. Or the startling s-word from a football coach or NASCAR driver that slipped out during a radio interview. Or the in-studio conversation during a spot break that wasn’t supposed to go out over the air, but did (that really happened in Atlanta and it cost some folks their jobs).

Before the Bush-era zero-tolerance crackdown of Chairmen Michael Powell and Kevin Martin, the FCC would’ve dealt with the naughty-word surprises of the real world with a kind of warning. In the old days, even when the Clinton-era FCC was fining Howard Stern, Mancow, Deminski & Doyle and others, such one-time utterances didn’t trigger fines. But then came the 2004 Super Bowl and Janet Jackson’s breast-flash, and Cher and Nicole Richie trash-talking a little, and Bono saying that winning an award was “f-ing brilliant” (which you could say on British TV).

That all changed the emotional climate in Washington. Especially when the Parents Television Council revved up its protest machine and buried the FCC in hundreds of thousands of complaints. Soon Clear Channel had its own zero tolerance policy (screw up once and you’re fired) and stations were installing 7-second delay equipment like there was an outbreak of Bubonic Plague in control rooms.

With the exception of the pre-planned events (like the Janet Jackson and Cher episodes) and a few others, what's the harm if a "bad" word slips out?  If the air talent has been properly trained on the issues, it won't in regular conversation.  And if Coach XX of the local team says a nasty, well, he's a coach and a trainer of rough men, right?

It's not like the kids haven't heard it on HBO.

I'm reminded of the time at WOSH/1490 Oshkosh when weekend overnighter Steve Conley had a word problem.  He raced into the station on Monday with the aircheck, apologizing like crazy for his gaffe:  he had mispronounced the word "organism" as "orgasm" and he wanted me to hear it and to tell him there would be no FCC fine.  I assured him all was well.  Steve went on to great success in various dayparts at WMC-FM/Memphis.  I bet he said "orgasm" there a lot!

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