Entercom Faced With $220,000 in Indecency Fines

The FCC proposed a total of $220,000 in fines against Entercom-owned KFH(AM), Wichita and KQRC(FM), Kansas City for indecency. The broadcasts in question occurred in 2002 on the morning show “Dare and Murphy.”
The original complaint was anonymous and included tapes of the material. Entercom told the FCC it doesn’t have tapes of the segments in question but confirmed the show aired on the dates in question. The four segments the commission said were indecent included a description of a game called “Naked Twister” in which local strippers participated, “dwells on” descriptions female sexual descriptions, said the commission in its decision. The agency found an interview that aired with a porn star to be too graphic, including one in which anal sex was discussed and another in which the porn star reportedly used a sexual device on a stripper on-air.
Entercom told the commission the material was not explicit and could be open to other non-sexual meaning. The group says the indecency definition is “unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.”
The commission rejected all the arguments, including Entercom’s contention that since KQRC has high ratings, the material is not offensive with regards to community standards.
Entercom was not able to respond to queries by RW Online by press time.
Commissioners Kevin Martin and Michael Copps agreed with the decision to fine the stations, but thought each indecent utterance should have been penalized so the stations were assessed larger amounts.
The fines were the maximum $27,500 each for four violations at $110,00 per station.