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<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>We have exactly the same sort of situation as described
by Julian, and I think his stance is eminently sensible and pretty much the same
as ours.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>We have thankfully only ever had one complaint, despite
a few songs slipping through over the years. The complaint regarded a track
played in a Gaelic presented programme, but the offensive wording was in English
- which raised some interesting discussion. Especially as one very common and
frequently used word in Gaelic presentation sounds very similar to an offensive
English word!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Our instructions to presenters if something untoward
does slip by is simply to end the item, say a very simple direct apology for the
oversight, move on and not refer to it again.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Ironically, our presenters most likely to play an
accidentally unsuitable track for younger listeners, are of course the younger
ones themselves! They are very good and generally very careful to self-censor,
more so perhaps than the adults. However, the fact is that the copies of tracks
that they listen to privately are generally the uncensored ones, and they have
to remember to be extra careful when using their own tracks in the
studio.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>We have in the past also had a show later in the evening
where we allowed pretty much anything (excluding in-your-face obscene)
incidental to a very wide range of non-radio edit music including punk, reggae,
and modern indie, and never had a single complaint, not even an informal adverse
comment. I guess this is because it was clearly in the nature of the show, and
those liable to be offended would not have listened to it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>I think common sense and decency are better guidelines
than any further regulation in this area. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Alex</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=julian@10radio.org href="mailto:julian@10radio.org">Julian Mellor</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=cma-l@commedia.org.uk
href="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk">CMA-L</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, September 19, 2011 11:11
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [cma-l] Offensive language
on radio - how to avoid the pitfalls</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>This has already raised some issues and concerns for us.
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Underlying it is I think the whole regulatory setup of radio i.e.
everyone plays by the same rules. In itself there's nothing wrong with
that, but when the rules are written by organisations with professional and
paid capacity, those rules can easily be blind to the challenges that they
pose to organisations running under limited volunteer
steam.</DIV>l</BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>