A recent ad broadcast on Bend radio station 92.7 FM described a musician as “damn good.”

Had that broadcast happened a generation or two ago, it may have stirred some controversy. But today, using the word “damn” in a radio or television broadcast is unlikely to draw any attention.

“Frankly, I think the genie is out of the bottle when it comes to use of certain language in our culture,” said Clay Calvert, a faculty member at the University of Florida and First Amendment expert.

“Damn” has become, to some extent, an accepted term in everyday vernacular, making it unlikely that a radio listener or TV viewer would file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, Calvert said. To land a fine from the FCC for using inappropriate language on public airwaves, the FCC says a broadcaster must use language that — in very broad terms — would be considered patently offensive by an average person using contemporary community standards.

Even swear words considered worse than “damn” might make it — and have made it — on the radio or TV without any repercussions from the FCC, Calvert said, because the FCC might not be notified. The FCC does not monitor television or radio broadcasts and only investigates consumer complaints.

It will only fine broadcasters using public airwaves if the commission determines the language used was obscene, indecent or profane.

That doesn’t mean broadcasters are loose-tongued, figuring they won’t get caught.

Mike Flanagan, the program manager of Bend Radio Group, which operates 92.7, said “damn” and “hell” are words that have become more accepted in broadcast, but the station may choose not to air those words or other content.

“You have to know your listener and what is going to offend them,” Flanagan said, after mentioning that listeners to 92.7, a rock station, might not be as offended by certain words as other people. “You really have to take it on a case-by-case basis.”

Radio and television directors also choose not to use foul language because they are wary of the consequences: potential FCC fines and lost advertisers. Through case-by-case analysis, Flanagan said, he decides what he thinks might be considered offensive to a level that could result in either scenario.

FCC guidelines

FCC fines are hefty, much more so than they were even five years ago. Before 2006, FCC fines for obscene, indecent or profane content could draw a maximum fine of $32,500 per violation, with a ceiling of $325,000. But in 2005, Congress passed legislation that upped that fee to $325,000, with a ceiling of $3 million.

Complaints to the FCC are reported every quarter, and television- and radio-related complaints range from about 75,000 to more than 200,000 per quarter. When the FCC rules on a complaint about obscenity, indecency or profanity, it considers myriad factors.

Primarily, the content is regulated to protect minors from speech that might be considered harmful, said Calvert, the free speech expert. Obscene content would be words that depict sexual content or organs — or what those organs do — in a patently offensive manner meant for shock value, he said.

Indecent content is like “Obscene Lite,” Calvert said — typically similar to obscenity, but not necessarily to the level of obscenity, according to the FCC. Profane content is defined by the FCC as “including language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance.”

Obscene content is never allowed on broadcast television or radio. Indecent or profane content is regulated from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. — hours that children are most likely to be around for broadcasts — leaving an eight-hour window for broadcasters to more freely say what they wish.

Most broadcasters, except ones that show a late-night comedy host or a comedy show like “Saturday Night Live,” also will avoid showing indecent or profane content during 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. because, in part, of advertisers that might pull ads, Calvert said.

The FCC language rules don’t apply to subscription cable channels, like HBO or Comedy Central, because their content doesn’t come free over the airwaves, as NBC or CBS content does. Still, those channels typically don’t broadcast material that might be considered indecent or profane because those broadcasters are trying to be acceptable to more cable providers while also keeping advertisers in mind, Calvert said.

Crackdown after 2004

Before the well-known slip-up at the 2004 Super Bowl, Calvert said, indecent or profane content wasn’t as stringently regulated.

“It truly was not until the 2004 Janet Jackson incident that we truly saw a crackdown on this type of speech,” he said.

Since then, the FCC fines have increased tenfold, and complaints have been more closely reviewed, Calvert said. That doesn’t mean fines are levied left and right, however.

The FCC found that Bono, the lead singer of U2, violated profanity standards when he used the F-word after winning an award at the Golden Globes in 2003. Calvert said NBC wasn’t fined for it, however, because the word was a one-time slip-up, used as a descriptor of enthusiasm.

In this context, the F-word was not used for anything sexual, Calvert said. That’s why, with the FCC, context is key, he said.

The same thing goes for films like “Saving Private Ryan,” which has graphic language but has been allowed to be broadcast on television with its script intact. Because it is showing reality, the FCC has not fined broadcasters that show the film.

“In the context of a real war, this is reality,” Calvert said. “It’s unrealistic for a soldier to say, ‘Oh shoot, I got shot!’”

Society’s standards

Standards of acceptable broadcast language have clearly changed over time, Calvert said, as seen with the word “damn.”

It was a controversial word in the 1939 film “Gone With the Wind,” in part because the industry guidelines that regulated films at the time, popularly known as the Hays Code, didn’t allow words like “damn” in films. But, as most people know, the memorable quote, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn,” made it into the movie.

The FCC was established in 1934, but first received authority from the Supreme Court to make profanity, indecency or obscenity regulations on language in 1978, Calvert said. That was sparked, in part, by a routine that comedian George Carlin began performing in the 1970s, pointing out the language that is prohibited on television, Calvert said.

Flanagan, of Bend Radio Group, said he thinks more coarse language will become socially accepted in coming years, such as s—. Some late-night television shows have already broadcast the word without being fined, he said.

The Bulletin’s ethics guidelines prohibit the use of expressions that are considered vulgar or profane, unless they are essential to the meaning of a story. Print media are not subject to FCC regulations.

Even though they might be able to use it without being fined, Lee Anderson, news director for television news broadcasts KTVZ and KFXO, said he chooses not to use words like “damn” in broadcasts.

“I’d just rather err on the side of not saying it,” Anderson said.