FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Enforcement Bureau, Investigations and Hearings Division
445 12th Street, S.W., Room 3-B443
Washington, D.C. 20554



										In Reply Refer to:
										EB-00-IH-0278/RBP
										ID# 52259

Ms. Susan Johnson

Dear Ms. Johnson:

This is in response to your complaint against radio station WLAN-FM, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for 
allegedly airing indecent material on June 8, 2000, after 6:00 p.m.  In support of your complaint you 
submitted a general description of the station’s programming.

While I understand that you are offended by the programming you describe, I do not believe that any 
FCC regulatory action can be taken in this case.  The Commission has defined indecency as material 
which, in context, depicts or describes sexual or excretory activities or organs in a patently offensive 
manner as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium.  In determining 
whether broadcast material is patently offensive we look to, among other things, the explicitness or 
graphic nature of the description of sexual or excretory organs or activities and whether the material 
dwells at length on such organs or activities.  Subject matter alone does not render material indecent.  
Based on the information you have provided, we do not have sufficient information to determine that the 
material about which you complain is indecent.  Accordingly, we are dismissing your complaint.

To assist you further, we include an information sheet regarding enforcement against indecent and 
obscene programming.  The enclosure discusses the law with respect to obscene and indecent broadcasts 
and our enforcement procedures.

I recommend that you voice your concerns to station management, as the views of station listeners will 
often influence a change in programming.

Thank you for your interest in this matter.


							Sincerely,



							Charles W. Kelley
							Chief, Investigations and Hearings Division
							Enforcement Bureau

Enclosure



 
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