"Pissed" had different meanings in the US (upset) and Canada (inebriated) for decades

If "pissed" has become common vernaculer for "upset" why would you not use the term unless perhaps you are on AM-740s morning show or the CBC where Old Codger and that idiot Geo are your conservative audience?   

If you are Derringer + main squeeze M. Holloway, wouldn't you want to address listeners in their language?

I’ve also noticed the liberalization of language over the years – especially on broadcast TV, and wondered when this stuff became acceptable. Interesting that I wasn't the only one. It’s slowly but surely spilled over into radio and I have to wonder if the proverbial “seven second delay” will one day be a thing of the past.
 
I believe a lot of this is directly attributable to the rise of cable television, especially networks like HBO, where anything goes uncensored. In order to compete with this more avant-garde newcomer, standards on over the air TV have gradually been lowered.
 
How much have things changed? Well consider this. While “All In The Family” started the ‘adult language’ trend in 1971, it actually sparked a national debate in 1990 when CBS aired a terrible and quickly cancelled TV series based on the John Candy comedy “Uncle Buck.” (Not the equally execrable one that aired this summer on ABC.) In the very first episode, one of the little kids he’s looking after says, “that sucks!”
 
Unless you were there at the time, you can’t imagine the headlines that generated. Newspaper after newspaper ran copious articles discussing whether such language was appropriate on network television – with the common consensus of outrage that it wasn’t.
 
Fast forward three years and ABC introduces “NYPD Blue,” where the network allows a certain number of “shits” and “assholes” per episode, again to howls of protest from some affiliates that refused to air it and protest groups that refused to watch it. Add a little nudity and a pre-show warning and the gloves were off. It spread from there and, along with satellite radio and Howard Stern, where anything goes, it slowly leached onto some radio stations – especially the “Morning Zoo” formats, where being outrageous is part of the job description.

As far as the latter medium is concerned, swearing became quite a regular thing in a lot of hit songs, especially in the 80s and 90s. At first, record companies released cleaner versions for airplay. And then stations just started playing the original. By the time rap and hip hop came along, it was game over for anything censored.

And I believe that's how we got here. 
 
One last observation. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes a cancelled network show winds up being taken on by a cable outlet, allowing a formerly clean script to add swearing and more excessive sexual situations. “Unforgettable,” a cop drama starring Poppy Montgomery, went from CBS to A&E (although it’s since been cancelled there, too) and got what I can only describe as a bad case of the “shits,” with the word appearing way more often than it needed to.
 
The same thing has happened to the Seth MacFarlane animated comedy “American Dad,” which went from Fox to TBS in the States. A lot of off-colour language has regularly surfaced there, too. And you know what? It doesn’t add a single thing to either show. Frankly, I find it somewhat annoying, since you can tell they’re only using it because all of a sudden, they can.
 
Anyway, that's my long winded explanation of why I think this trend has expanded from “sucks” to everything but “f---ks.” And as noted, that may be coming to an OTA radio station soon.
 
And finally, I've always believed it’s better to be pissed off than pissed on! 

Charlie wrote:

unclefester wrote:

  

One afternoon guy in particular in the S.W. Ontario market  
It seems like it's for the entertainment of the newscaster and the newsroom staff more so than the audience...

Anyone else know what I mean ??



I know what you mean, and who you mean. Just tell me the temperature Henny Youngman.





 

 

I had no idea it was THAT obvious...glad I'm not alone...









 

Last edited by unclefester (August 7, 2016 9:58 am)

Kilgore wrote:

      Boycott the s.o.b.  

...deport !!











 

Last edited by unclefester (August 7, 2016 2:08 pm)

Charlie wrote:

unclefester wrote:

Kilgore wrote:

      Boycott the s.o.b.  

...deport !!

I miss the Toronto Sun online comments.











 

 

     Ah Charlie....you do get around...

deport = Toronto Sun = Great Gazoo....no ??





 

Back to the original thread, I have always believed as broadcasters it is our responsibility to set the bar a little higher​.This came to mind while listening to certain on air heads using a phrase such as  "he played a hell of game last night " on the local all sports outlet.   I do believe that as communicators we can come up with other far more appropriate and descriptive words to describe what happened.   Words such as hell, farting and pissing away may have now become acceptable but that does not mean we should be using them.We should be better than that.

I don't even like extroing 'Hell No' by whatsherface.

I don't mind typing shyte here at THIS site but I'd never use it on the air.  All of a sudden the TV show 'Suits' is allowed to use terminology one might use to describe going to the bathroom...and the body parts which might be employed 'do' exactly that.  They OVERDO it.  It's annoying.  On the radio?

It doesn't work.

A caller to the Jim Richards Showgram today made reference to the man whose dog got shot and killed by the neighbouring farmer after the dog attacked his pot bellied pigs. You know the story. The lady caller called the now deceased dog's  owner..."a prick"...Don't  hear that one very often...















 

Last edited by unclefester (August 11, 2016 12:47 am)

Kilgore wrote:

What other SOWNY-area broadcasters have been stand-up comedians?

RB's Mike Bullard is the obvious one who comes to mind.

AM640 fill-in host Lorne Honickman tried his hand at stand-up a long time ago, but is now a lawyer.

I believe John Oakley was a part owner of some comedy clubs in Montreal, although I'm not sure he ever did an act. He now attempts to play a comedian on radio, with varying levels of success.

And CKTB's Larry Fedoruk did his time on stage for a period several years ago. 

I wanted to be a stand-up comedian, but I like to work sitting down.

(It was that kind of material that quickly convinced me I shouldn't even try...)  

Kilgore wrote:

   AM 640 reported that the dog attacked the farmer's pigs (not sheep).     

And apparently they would be right...
 

=12pxI thought Byron MacDonald was "someone's politically incorrect dad" just filling in.

His bio surprises me: http://www.cbc.ca/mediacentre/byron-macdonald.html#.V6zIvdQrK9I

Ever so slightly off topic but I can recall from just a couple of years back a headline in the Toronto Sun that only made it to the online edition but was pulled within the hour.

It was a story on Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey and it had to do with him leaving a game or not being able to perform because of a stiff elbow...

The headline read "...Stiff Dickey Unable to Perform..."  It  lasted only minutes until somebody at the Sun took it offline... 

And that sort of illustrates the point I made earlier...that these double entendre types of headlines or intros are I think quite often mostly for the amusement of the news room staffers...














 

Last edited by unclefester (August 13, 2016 10:25 am)

On the subject of loosened language on broadcast TV and radio, here's an astounding excerpt from Steven Bochco's new tell-all about the making of "NYPD Blue." In it, he recounts how he negotiated 37 agreed-upon dirty words per episode with ABC's Standards and Practices Dept., and when the censors balked at someone giving one of the cops the finger, he threatened to have the character say "asshole" 37 times in a row - as per the agreement.

The finger stayed in!

This terrific read also confirms what you always thought about former "Blue" star David Caruso and why they couldn't wait to write him out of the show with all due haste.

All in all, a good quick weekend read if you remember that show or want some insight into what really went on behind one of the most successful - and game changing - cop shows to ever appear on TV.

Steven Bochco on 'NYPD Blue's' Crazy First Year and David Caruso's Outrageous Demands