The broadcaster concluded with the following:  “We realize that coarse language should not air before 9 p.m. but felt challenged with the idea of editing such an iconic show with a cult following especially in light of how the coarse language was used”.  Space concluded with an apology for offending the viewer.

How about airing the show at 9PM for that week? Or, airing an edited version at 8PM and the uncut version during late night off hours? You could promote that through social media.

I think most of us know that the CBSC is simply an excuse for broadcasters to avoid the CRTC. “We’ll police ourselves,” they told the feds and this group is the result.
 
It seems like a good idea on the surface, but consider what happens whenever a frivolous complaint is received. Someone from the station involved has to find the offending material and cue it up to watch it, and then take the time to respond to the viewer and the CBSC (and there’s a time limit on when they answer, so they can’t put it off for long.) They also have to prepare a statement if they’re found to be “guilty” of whatever sin they’ve supposedly committed and devote airtime to it.
 
When the typically outraged viewer doesn’t find the answer acceptable, it gets kicked over to the Commission. They then:
 
-Have to contact the station involved and get their side of it
-Watch the supposedly offending footage and have a transcript made up of the dialogue involved.
-Contact the viewer if needed
-Set up a session where a panel of judges sits around and discusses what happened
-Look up the code of conduct and debate if it’s been violated
-Issue a decision and tell the station what it is.
-Update the website.
 
All this takes time, money and effort. And for what? Because one viewer heard a dirty word an hour early? I’m all for having stations be responsible to the public, but in too many cases listed on the site, this seems to be a case of too much trouble for too little result.

CBSC Decisions Page 

And by the way, how come none of this applies to the movie channels, like HBO or the Movie Network? They show films featuring swearing, nudity and sex at all hours of the day. Are they exempt? If they're not, they likely wouldn't have enough material to show during the day and no one would subscribe. If the answer is that they're a paid service and you know what you're getting, my answer is: aren't you also paying for cable? What's the difference? 

Finally, a reminder of a complaint so stupid, even the CBSC noted it wasn't worth their time. But they had to spend hours investigating it, anyway. 

I once said " that was a pucking great hockey game" on-air during my show on a rock radio station after a close game where we'd won, barely. I probably popped the P in 'pucking' to make sure I was heard correctly. Two days later I get called into the PD's office, had to explain myself, got praised for the attempt, then chewed out for not realizing that some of the listeners would either mishear the word, or hear it correctly, and still object.

This latest dumb AF kerfuffle about profanity sounds like the CBSC is an organization with people trying to keep their jobs, and justify their paychecks.

I think Stafford's had a scalding comment or three about the CBSC.

FWIW "RadioActive" your topics and postings keep everything percolating at a healthy rate, the content's solid, plus the way the b.y.b. works there's pretty much no such thing as overposting. People can read or not.

Last edited by betaylored (April 27, 2018 7:44 pm)

@betyalored & @Dale Patterson

Thanks for your kind comments about my sometime overbearing verbosity. (There I go again!) I appreciate the sentiment, although I often think my fingers do the walking on this site a little too much!