My show has been canceled because I am under the investigation of the FCC. Apparently I am being investigated for promoting Satanism and having excessive amounts of POM's on my show. I'm not sure what this means and this is all I know. So, I guess the Stress Factor's down for now. But I'm not going down without a fight. Does anybody have any suggestions on what I should do right now? This stuff is really serious. This is metal versus censorship.
Please help!

-Foghorn
Host of WUML's The Stress Factor (2004-2008)

WOW

one can't promote Satanism on the radio but its fine to promote Christianity? (not that you promote satanism in the first place)

WHAT?

whats POM?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pom

yea i was just gonna ask its none of these

Pomeranians?

Cast a hex on them?

pottys of mouth?

pomegranates

He has a bunch of pro-weed legalization ad's so i think it would have something to do with that.

Foghorn, If you find out more about what you're exactly in trouble for keep us posted, I'd like to send them a letter.

Foghorn....
this sucks!
I had so much fun interning on this show..
POM is Potentially Offensive Material
something like Fuck, Pussy, anything that my offend someone.
I could see getting introble for that... but not satianism.
maybe we should have laid off on the willy nelson PSA.

i wasn't aware there were limit restrictions on ads. i'm gonna rat out budweiser.

^never mind. isn't everything potentially offensive? i get offended by car ads.

hmm i don't know...
a lot of the music that was played on the show had a good amount of swears and POM's on it....
maybe playing a band called anal blast on the air isn't a good thing...
but yeah the satanism thing sucks.

maybe they should move the show in another time slot like 10-12 or something so we can get away with a little more?

PS dude you don't need WUML to do the stress factor...
Do a Podcast! FCC got nothin on that!

this sucks as I tried to tune in this week. POM is the gray area. fuck would be offensive material. POM is culturally defined. which was good enough people back in the typical radio audience. like a radio show in the south wouldn't get away with saying the line "I was going to sodomize jesus" while in the liberal north, they/we say it all the time. it's about knowing you audience. if you play polka music and your average listener is over 70, playing a toilet flush will raise their irie.

what basically happened here is either someone at WUML hated the show, some one at the lowell sun got their panties in a bunch when their kids were istening to it, or a listener complained (possibly someone who wanted to hear this weeks coupons).

the FCC will not investigate unless there is a complaint. your show isn't under investigation, the license would be (as of 1995 all radio stations have one license).

with that said, hail satan.

I actually may know of someone who may have made the complaint....
either way this sucks dude.

you can not ply swears out of safe harbor. doing so will probably result ina fine if caught.

OMG...you can't be serious!!! There is no difference from when Trish and Bill Chapman did it, to Ian, to Tim, to Myself and now you...NONE!! We ALL played metal that once could interpret as '"Satanic", Slayer being the most obvious. This show is an INSTITUTION, been around for almost 30 years!!! Start an online petition and call the ACLU and work with the administrators...I know they're pretty uptight BUT they can and will work with you...I think it used to be Mary Connley...not sure who it is now...but GET PRO-AVTIVE. If you let them just cancel you, you will NEVER get that slot or show back GUARANTEED. The administration would just assume do away with it and not have the headache, trust me!! This is not a time to mourn but to fight man!! I will help if I can, let me know...START THE PETITION and SPREAD THE WORD...you're in for a fight and if it's going down, go down swingin'!!

that's ridiculous that they cancelled your show. sorry to hear it.

fingers crossed, but this has to be bull. the fact alone that there wasn't any kind of formal documentation on the complaint seems crap... if there is one thing bureaucracy is good at is the creation of paperwork (though i guess the delivery of said paperwork may be another thing).

the only legit complaint would be on POMs. the FCC is a government institution and is therefore bound by the first of amendment "to observe a stance of neutrality toward religion, acting neither to promote nor to inhibit religion" (according to their own website: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/enf/forms/rm-2493.html). furthermore the reverend is right that any POM investigation/fines would be addressed to the radio station, not the show itself.

if there is no direct notification filed by the FCC soon, i'd assume "hoax" but at the same time, the safest thing to do is to go on hiatus. if there is an actual investigation, foghorn/radio management SHOULD get an actual and official notification (i'd hope) within the next week or two.

LONG LIVE FOGHORN!

actually isn't the FCC just there to enforce frequencies? Such as making sure one radio station doesn't overpower another or take over their frequency. I'm pretty sure i read that the FCC really doesn't have any right to censor or give out fines at all but they do it because it has become so common for them to do so. I have no problem with the FCC enforcing that my neighbors baby monitor doesn't interfere with my wireless mouse working or that kinds of junk but i am forcefully against the FCC getting involved in any kind of censorship or fining of what they consider 'offensive'

Dude that sucks. I had a lot of fun playing in your studio. I mean sure, the music has a lot of POM's but it's not like you can really understand what most of them are saying anyway. Hopefully everything works out man.

uhhhh wut

I think you are fucked dude :( ....

Between 6 A.M. and 10 P.M. – when there is the greatest likelihood that children may be watching –airing indecent material is prohibited by FCC rules. Broadcasters are required to schedule their programming accordingly or face enforcement action. Similarly, the Commission has stated that profane material is prohibited between 6 A.M. and 10 P.M.

like I said SAFE HARBOR.
10pm to 6am.


and detooxia: I've been living under the fcc rule for over 12 years. tell the $300,000 each station for re/broadcasting janet jacksons boobie, all the fines thhat stern soaked up, and george carlin and his 7 words.

dertoxia: the FCC is all about censorship... hence the huge hulabaloo (and $550k fine that was issued to CBS) in that result from janet jackson's tit begin aired during the superbowl in 2004. according to wikipedia, that is a record fine, which is funny because the fines for airing of POMs on radio, if i remember correct are much higher. (exactly as the reverend said).

sxealex; the reverend: i dunno about the6am and 10pm thing, cause there is a bunch of programming that is definitely rated "R" that broadcast's during the day... maybe there is a difference between "free access" television and the broadcast networks such as abc, cbs, nbc, fox, etc, but even those definitely air even pg-13 and m rated shows before 10pm (to my knowledge). not trying to start an argument, just trying to figure out how true this could actually be!

LONG LIVE FOGHORN!

fuck....

i was going to email you about rohirrim playing on the air soon

this fucking blows

i cut and pastered from here
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/freespeech.html

the FCC doesn't control cable. cable governs itself. cable doees a good job under the threat of the FCC going to congress and getting oversight powers

very unfortunate. im going to umass lowell next year and was hoping to become involved with TSF :(

and pesk, I've been a contract broadcast engineer since 2004, but I have an FCC law lawyer on retainer for things like this.

sxealex: ok, but the wording is also weird to me.. the simple inclusion of the word "watching". we all know children don't listen to the radio anymore (haha!). and going back to my previous statement, at the very least the numerous news shows on major broadcast networks often include details that would be considered profane for the sake of children. i remember as a child my parents sometimes telling me to cover my ears or leave the room if a particularly graphic piece of news came on the air. i mean look at shows like TMZ or Entertainment Tonight... they cover all kinds of what could be considered "profane" content.

i feel that anyone could show up at the studio and say "im filing a complaint against so and so for this and that!!" again, not trying to discredit the possible seriousness of this or start a fight. as a friend of foghorn, im simply trying to figure out anyway that this complaint could actually have credibility

LONG LIVE FOGHORN!

edit: the reverend: in that case, what is your more direct opinon about the validity of this complaint? im hoping that foghorn doesn't even need a lawyer at this point! i feel that this is a totally baseless complaint that someone felt the need to deliver in person and just cause a huge muck-up, but i don't know the full details either so who knows. my fingers are still crossed!

im just saying that the FCC was created to regulate radio and telecommunications channels. they werent created to censor or fine.

fuck the fcc.

detoxia: you would be wrong there. that was the pre-FCC group. which you might be remembering if you live before wwii.

and pesk: yes, anyonee can file a complaint. tv shows with mature content huve disclames (like south park). the FCC item here is the obsceene and the indecent. 2 different things. in the end though, the lowell sun owns wuml.

so then is there a possibility that airing something as simple as a disclaimer before the show would solve the issue? i have no knowledge of any radio station/show that has ever done that, and readily admit that i have absolutely no broadcasting knowledge compared to your numerous years... 3/4ths of school year on a college radio station in jersey that had a broadcasting range of less than 2 miles definitely is crap haha.

It's a hoax. FCC won't investigate Satanism.

It's pretty likely...there's a religious group who has wanted WUML's signal for YEARS. But if this was a country based in religious freedom, if Satanism is the complaint it NEEto be deemd as baseless undre freedom of religion laws. The POM's...if the complaint sites SPECIFICS, the station, not just the show, can go down...

I really hope it's a hoax! No news at all yet. I'll post when I hear anything else.

pesk: if you have never heard a disclamer on a station, then you don't listen to enough radio. ever rush has a disclamer for certain parts. I've heard oreilly use on too. npr does them all the time. a ddisclamer is just a warning that can help you in a investigation. it's like the "the contents are motherfucking hot" warning on a coffee cup. if the mcdonalds is still deemed negligent, they will pay up, but the warnning disaudes people from being stupid.

I dont know much about anything, but I'm pretty sure that when a college decides to shift gears and dissolve clubs or radio shows, they pretty much do it for any reason, ideally they would need enough complaints so as to avoid student retaliation (see PCU...) but its pretty much we giveth and taketh away, FCC or no

I havent said anything other than cut and pasting from the fcc site take the wording up with them pesk

If it's not a hoax I would be more than happy to help anyway i could. Especially concerning the satanism thing, as i consider myself satanic. I would be willing to go so far as to go to the FCC building:

1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02169

..in person and find out if there is a real complaint filled. I have been trying to no avail to locate their telephone number, but thats SUPRISINGLY not readily availably online. I am sure you can find out about complaints in person their, and its pretty close to where i live in southie if you need me to help by going their.

I also don't know WUML's charter with the school (especially since they aren't WJUL anymore), but if they are like 99% of all other station, once you aren't a student, you are a community volunteer and can lose a show rather easily.

this is all my fault. shouldnt have made fun of that black stripper on the air. hahaha.

So I'm starting to feel like this is a hoax. I learned this morning that the person I found this out from received a phone call from "the FCC." So, technically it could have been anyone. Also, my general manager knows nothing. You'd figure that they'd send me a letter before they called my show. I guess we'll have to wait and find out. I'd like to think it's a hoax, but when someone tells you that you're being investigated, you tend to take it seriously. Thanks for all the support everyone, btw! It means alot.

If I don't hear anything be my next show I might be interested in stopping by their office to see if someone filed a complaint. That is odd that they don't have a phone number listed.

good luck man, i hope this is not serious.

I hope it's a hoax, man. That's some bs right there. In any case, fuck the FCC

yeah, it is odd. I tried google-ing it with the address, i tried www.whitepages.com , i tried 411, and still i couldnt find a number. I found a website devoted to listing the numbers of FCC agents that have harrassed various radio shows/broadcasters, and that website only had the address for the quincy office listed and no number. But seriously dude, i am not sure where your from, but i take this as an attack on MY rights. And if you can't find out exactely whats up with it, it will only take me 10min to get there. I am not sure what they will tell me there, but I would imagine that complaints filed would be public. If they werent public, then they could at least tell me what YOU would have to do to verify the validity of the complaint. Which obviously there HAS to be a way to do, otherwise people could pull this shit everywhere, and anyone with the balls to speak their mind on the air would be pulled from the rotation.

So, the FCC has been called. Don't know where the number came from. Kicking around the station I'd assume. But my GM tells me my show isn't being investigated. Quite a relief. Someone is laughing somewhere. I'm not. But, my show will air next week. Sorry for the bullshit. At least it took less than a day to figure it out. And I know that if it does ever happen the FCC will encounter a healthy ammount of protest!

excellent news

you should change the thread title to:

"The Stress Factor has been canceled indefinitely!...just kidding!!!"

Good to hear man, Hail Satan.

make damn sure you keep it a tad tame for the next couple of weeks...because of your fear and interest in seeing if you were being investigated, you just might be short term. Keep this institution alive!! Hopefully I can come down and do an all thrash show again sometime soon!!

Hell yea! That would be fun. Btw, Pessimist told me to say hi to you.

So, next week's show is going to be sick, just to make up for wasted time. There are so many cd's I got from Deathfest that I have to play. But I'll keep it on the tamer side for a bit, good call. This has been fun, but I'd like for it not to ever happen again; real or fake.

Hail Satan indeed!

at my company where there were lay offs, the CEO said something like "for all those who thought they would be laid off. take this time ti work on what ever it was that made you think it would be you." before 10pm, there can be no swears.

Censorship is one of the greatest atrocities to humanity.

and radio frequencies and owned by the government and licensed to people. it's called controlled speech.

Pat this is great news!
Can't wait to get down to the station.

LONG LIVE FOGHORN

im so much happier now then when foghorn first gave me a phone call saying he was under investigation!!

LONG LIVE THE FOGHORN!! MAY HE FOREVER BE FORTUNATE IN HIS RADIO FORAYS!!

foghorn for the gold!

It feels good to be on the air again!

i hear pianos

oh, opeth

revocation ftw

Yea dude. One track just doesn't cut it either.

...the sacred flesh
Sodomize the holy asshole.