Stations stay tuned for changesafter Powell's exit from FCC
When Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, announced last Friday that he would step down next month, speculation about the agency's future focused first on the world of television, with its wardrobe malfunctions and desperate housewives. But radio has come under the increased scrutiny of the five-person commission as well, and Powell's move raises the question of whether this will change.
Powell's four-year tenure didn't actually make the FCC rules more strict. But under him, the agency interpreted them more conservatively and enforced them more stringently. The result was heavy fines levied on station owners, fines that on-air talents such as Howard Stern and Opie and Anthony say were key in their decisions to leave broadcast radio for the as-yet-unregulated world of satellite radio. (Because satellite radio -- like cable television -- is a subscriber service, it does not fall under the same guidelines as free radio or television.)
It would seem logical, then, that Powell's departure might relax things, right? Think again. "We're not going to do anything different," says Keith Hastings, program director of rock station WAAF-FM (107.3). He cites a climate that has become "ever more careful."
"If I were a guessing man, I'd say that nothing much is going to change," says Hastings. "The administration is the same; the climate is the same."
"At Greater Media we never push the envelope when it comes to decency, so Powell's resignation should have no effect on us," says Don Kelley, vice president and director of programming for Greater Media, which includes WMJX-FM (106.7), WROR-FM (105.7), WKLB-FM (99.5), WTKK-FM (96.9), and WBOS-FM (92.9). Although it won't influence his stations, he adds: "I don't expect things to loosen up for radio."
Just to make sure the group avoids fines, says Kelley, the Greater Media talk station, WTKK, is constantly on a slight delay, and the music stations delay broadcasting their callers, "so there's no risk of airing things we deem inappropriate," he says.
Such delays -- which allow stations to "bleep" callers or DJs who might bring down the FCC's wrath -- have become increasingly common. At rock station WFNX-FM (101.7), for example, general manager Andy Kingston, says: "Since the Janet Jackson 'nipplegate' incident, we have put the station in delay so that any inappropriate live calls or slip-ups can be dumped and not aired." He adds he doesn't foresee any changes in this policy.
The increased caution of station managers goes deep. Several station program directors declined to speculate on what changes a new FCC lineup might bring.
Infinity-owned stations -- including WBMX-FM (98.5) and WBCN-FM (104.1) -- referred questions to corporate headquarters in New York, where spokeswoman Karen Mateo responded, "We would decline to comment [on] the Boston market."
As Tom Taylor, the editor of Inside Radio, says, "Powell swung over the four years of his chairmanship from a relatively loose application of the indecency provisions on content to being a zealot." His resignation, notes Taylor, leaves the agency politically balanced temporarily -- two Democrats, two Republicans -- on some contentious issues. "Stay tuned," he says.
