The FCC received nearly 300 indecency or obscenity complaints about radio and television stations in the fourth quarter of 2012.
That compares to 723 such complaints in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the FCC’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau.
Overall, the number of radio and television broadcasting complaints increased by more than 104% in the fourth quarter of this year, from 2,714 to 5,544,because of an increase in complaints regarding programming in general.
In Q4 2011, the number of overall programming radio and television broadcasting complaints increased by more than 15%, from 2,083 to 2,406.
The number of interference complaints dropped, to 179 in Q4 of 2012, compared to 233 in the same period in 2011.
The indecency stats come as the Parents Television Council and a 75-member coalition this week sent a letter to the House and Senate Commerce Committees, urging them to oppose efforts by the FCC to relax its indecency guidelines. The commission has received more than 90,000 comments on whether it should establish an “egregious” case policy and relax efforts against fleeting expletives, we’ve reported.