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Media
OfCom to issue new radio rules over explicit lyrics
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 1 November 2011
UK radio stations are to get new guidelines from media regulator OfCom regards songs containing sexually explicit lyrics, which, in OfCom’s mind, includes any use of words like ‘fuck’, whether used in a sexual context or not.
It’s all part of government efforts to reduce the exposure of young people to sexual imagery, and the new radio rules come amid concerns too many inappropriate tracks are being played during times of the day when children may be listening, especially breakfast and drive time. I blame the fucking rappers myself.
In theory rules banning inappropriate lyrics already exist, but the media regulator says too many stations are routinely breaking those rules, and the new guidelines will be more explicit regards what is, erm, too explicit for prime time airing. The new rules will apply to both BBC and commercial stations.
Says an OfCom dude: “OfCom takes its role in protecting children from offensive language on the radio very seriously. We are concerned that there have been a number of recent cases where offensive language was broadcast, some at times when children were particularly likely to have been listening. That is why we held a meeting with the radio industry this week to discuss the issues. We intend to publish guidance by the end of the year to clarify the rules in the broadcasting code”.
One particular breach of the ‘fuck’ rules on radio recently, which we never got round to reporting on at the time but which made for amusing reading, saw a Scottish community radio station called Brick FM – when held to account by the media regulator for letting the F word go out during daytime broadcasts – defend themselves by claiming that ‘fuck’ was a “commonly used word in Scotland” and therefore “is not considered offensive locally”.
Then again, they also claimed, when criticised for playing Dr Evil track ‘More Punany’ at 3pm, that the reggae singer was chanting about panini sandwiches, so I don’t sense they were taking the OfCom regulations very seriously.
