Wednesday, December 2, 2009

January 4, 1970 WUHY-fm, Philadelphia Pa Jerry Garcia (tapers alert)


The "Washington Wire" of the Kokomo (IN) Tribune includes the following brief AP Wire story:
The Federal Communications Commission has fined Philadelphia radio station WUHY-fm $100 for airing a program featuring four-letter words.
In a majority opinion the commission said the Jan. 4 broadcast had "no redeeming social value and is patently offensive by contemporary community standards."
The program featured a tape recorded interview with Jerry Garcia, leader of "The Grateful Dead" musical group.
The Dead were playing Fillmore East on January 2 and 3, 1970, and no doubt a Philly dj got a backstage interview with Jerry, who must have used the dreaded f-word at some point. Anticipating Michael Powell and the Bush-era FCC, the broadcast seems to have been deemed to have been of no redeeming social value.

Tapers, I'm counting on you--this time, there's an Internet.

3 comments:

  1. I have always wanted to hear a tape of this. I assume someone recorded it, but have never seen a recording listed. Might a copy have been entered into evidence or whatever somewhere?

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  2. BTW, here are some cites and such:

    In re WUHY-FM, Eastern Education Radio, 24 F.C.C.2d 408, 409 (1970)

    RELEASE-NUMBER: FCC 70-346
    April 3, 1970 Released; Adopted April 1, 1970

    See also:

    Hall, Mildred. 1970. Fit or Unfit for Radio? FCC Seeking Test Case. Billboard 82 (April 18,), pp. 1, 10.

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