In this week’s print edition of Washington City Paper, we published excerpts from complaints the Federal Communications Commission received last year about local radio and TV stations, which we obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Filing a complaint with the FCC is quite easy—just click here!—and some of the gripes viewers and listeners had seemed to have been dashed off while someone flipped through channels.
Some of the most amusing ones didn’t make it into print—those from local residents who were outraged that violent films were advertised on TV or the existence of sex (sex!) was acknowledged. After the jump are some highlights of what we couldn’t fit into the paper. Any typos are as they appear in the complaint.
“There was just a young girl on this program who said the word ‘cunt‘ on air… There was no apology and it was clearly audible for myself and my family.”
“The host on DC101 made a comment that when going out at night, the audience should opt to consume one more beer even leaving the bar, and when driving home should blame the swerving on the local windy weather rather than excess intoxication (if pulled over). Ergo, the host was endorsing drunk driving and lying.”
“I am watching NFL Football with my young son on Sunday afternoon and I have had to sit through TWO R-rated movie commercials (one is a horror flick and the other is for Edge of Darkness) with him and I’m not even through half-time yet. This is UNACCEPTABLE and very inappropriate at this time of day.”
“I was trying to enjoy some headline news with my family, to include my 10 year old daughter—she does not need to be exposed to this type of advertising at all and I should not have to worry about broadcast channels discussing sexual activity and porn during what is obviously family viewing time.”
“Jay Leno had Jessica Biel on as a guest and before she came out they played clips from some of her movies. One of them included her in a bra in a scene with (I think it was Adam Sandler). He asked to put his hands on her breasts and she let him do that. He squeezed them, moved his hands around while on them, and commented on them. I do not think this was appropriate for a show on broadcast TV (especially one that’s being described as being in ‘prime time’).”
“Channel 7 News showed a protester carrying a handmade sign and it showed ‘Fuck War.’ I would expect ABC News to have edited there film before being aired. I would have for young children to see this display. I have it recorded and even took a picture of the banner.”
“As we were watching Seinfeld with our family including my 3-year-old son, a commercial advertising the new film CRAZIES was aired. This was wholly inappropriate for this time of night. My child became very deeply upset, as did I. I want to know if there is anything that can be done to stop this happening again.”