FCC begins Investigation of Round Table
Tennessean editor's scatological performance draws ire of Feds
Listeners who were looking forward to an interesting hour of talk radio last Thursday when rookie Tennessean editor E. J. Mitchell came by Teddy Bart's Round Table for a chat were rewarded with a memorable broadcast. By the time the editor's scatological performance was over, the local political talk show institution was facing calls from angry listeners and an obscenity investigation from the Federal Communications Commission.
According to FCC obscenity recognition software (manufactured by the Winston-Smith company of Chestnut Tree, Texas, the same company that is providing Metro Government with its new public surveillance cameras), Mitchell said "shit" 17 times during his one-hour guest slot. For good measure, he also chose to defend his paper's coverage of Sen. Bill Frist by bizarrely asserting that "If Frist so much as farts, we're there to cover it."
The Round Table, which is broadcast live on WAMB-AM and is videotaped and distributed statewide to public access television stations, is typically a reasonably respectful discussion of issues. It attracts a loyal audience of ear-to-the-ground types who follow local and state politics. Repeated examples of crude language from a community leader is a new experience for the show.
An FCC official said the context and nature of the program was not a mitigating factor in its investigation. "We don't let Howard Stern get away with this, and we're not going to let Teddy Bart get away with it."
Bart, who has hosted the show for 20 years and who was obviously growing agitated with Mitchell's language during the broadcast, said this was the first time he had ever been the target of the FCC.
"I'm shaken, but not stirred," he says of the possible $10,000 fine. "We added bleeps to the TV rebroadcast, but If we have to start using a seven-second delay on the radio when we have journalists on the program, then we will."
For his part, Mitchell was apologetic about the problems his barnyard language brought. "Well, shit," he says. "I didn't mean a damn thing by it. This shitstorm is just a bunch of bullshit."
(The Fabricator is satire. Don't believe everything you read.)
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