No Rock And Roll Fun

SWEARING AND BREAKING-IN: Quite a bumper lot of stupidity in the latest Ofcom Broadcast Complaints Bulletin[pdf document]. BRMB in Birmingham continues its record as possibly the most half-assed radio station in the country, as a cover host on their lunchtime show got an emailed joke that he didn't understand, so he read it out anyway. It revolved around a double meaning of "spade."

Meanwhile, a presenter on Fox FM inadvertently let slip a "those two are fucking..." while talking about Peter Andre and Jordan; she was let off as she'd apologised and had stopped short of using the next word you'd expect there.

And Radio One was up before the beak for Elton John's swear fest on the Chris Moyles programme. Now, we like a light regulatory touch as much as anyone, but there seems to be a slightly starry double standard at play here: Elton John was excused on the grounds that his "fuck" was accidental and his breakfast time "wank" and "bollocks" were playful:

It was obvious that the first swearword was a genuine slip. The further use of mild swearing was intended to be light-hearted and mischievous. In view of the nature of the error, the on-air apologies and the action taken, we consider the matter resolved.

We're a little surprised that the usually Victorian Ofcom now accepts that the sort of language it describes as "offensive" can be light-hearted - we're wondering what precedent this is setting for future judgements.

Meanwhile, there were four complaints about the Filthy Gorgeous video from the Scissor Sisters - as rudely included on the CD for you to, uh, try your judgement at home. All were rejected.

music radio ofcom chris moyles scissor sisters