Shock jock

From Free net encyclopedia

A shock jock is a slang term used to describe a type of radio broadcaster (sometimes a disk jockey) who attracts attention using humor that a significant portion of the listening audience may find offensive. The term is usually used pejoratively to describe evocative or irreverent broadcasters whose manners and on air behavior is offensive to the speaker.

Contents

[edit]

Background

The idea of a performer or entertainer that breaks taboos or places their careers in the realm of the currently offensive is not a new one. Despite insistences of some decency activists, there are few eras of history in which there have not existed notoriously offensive performers (Benny Bell, Le Pétomane, Redd Foxx, Lenny Bruce, to name a few). Shock jocks, as the current incarnation of this phenomenon, entered the American radio scene during the 1970s, and are still common into the 2000s.

Shock jocks may be informally identified by a number of common behaviors or conditions. Many such broadcasters revel in the fact (or belief) that a good portion of their listening audience consists of people who strongly dislike them; which of course, is an ironic but welcome boost to the broadcaster's ratings.

Shock jocks also tend to push the envelope of decency in their market, and generally show a lack of regard for communications regulations (e.g. FCC rules) regarding content. It is not at all uncommon for a shock jock to find him/herself fined by regulators for "going too far"; in fact, some broadcasters consider such an incident as a badge of honor. Also, such incidents are typically followed by a media circus, which of course provides more promotion for the broadcaster and brings more attention to their antics.

Popular envelope-pushing topics for shock jocks include sex, especially kinky and/or scatalogical topics (toilet humour), or just unabashed innuendo. Dialogue approaching or committing thinly veiled or excused racism, homophobia, exploitation of women, ridicule of the disabled, etc., are also tools of the shock trade. One increasingly common theme of shock jocks is to promote weekly highway "flashing" days, with names such as "Whip'em Out Wednesday (W.O.W for short)", where women are encouraged to expose themselves to other motorists. The Liz Wilde Show features "Blow It Out Yer Ass" Fridays, where nudity and sexual content dominates the broadcast.

Many shock jocks have been fired as a result of such punishments as regulatory fines, loss of advertisers, or simply social and political outrage. On the other hand, it is also not uncommon for such broadcasters to be quickly re-hired by another station or network.

Shock jocks in the U.S. are under greater pressure since the introduction of a new law in March 2004 which increased the fines on radio stations for violating decency guidelines by a factor of nearly 20.

[edit]

Famous incidents

Some major popularized incidents involving shock jocks:

  • December 6, 2005: An Opie and Anthony fan, sounded an air horn near WABC-TV Reporter Anthony Johnson during a remote broadcast in New Jersey, in an attempt at that month's "Assault on the Media" contest. Police questioned the fan but did not file assault charges. The incident prompted New Jersey governor Richard J. Codey to release a statement condemning such harassment. Opie and Anthony, who were not charged, left mid-broadcast several days later to meet with XM Director of Programming Eric Logan regarding the incident. 40 minutes later, the duo returned to the air and announced that they would be allowed to keep their jobs.
  • Another incident involving Opie and Anthony happened on May 19, 2005 when one of the show's staff stepped behind WCBS-TV reporter Arthur Chi'en holding an Opie and Anthony poster. After finishing the last syllable of his report, Chi'en turned to the staff member and yelled "What the fuck is your problem, man?" before the studio could cut to the pre-recorded segment of the report. The obscenity was aired live, and despite his apology, Chi'en was fired later that day. Since then, he has been hired by WPIX-TV.
  • May 12, 2004: Marconi and Tiny, two Portland, Oregon disk jockeys, played the audio portion of the video of Nick Berg's murder on their morning program several times, accompanied by music, jokes, and laughter over the scenes. The pair was fired the same day.
  • April 8, 2004: Howard Stern's show was dropped by Clear Channel Communications the few stations of theirs that had carried the show after they were fined $495,000 USD for a variety of individual statements made in a single Stern show. Stern used his remaining market share to criticize Clear Channel and the Bush Administration. He later left the public airwaves to move to satellite radio, which is not subject to the same FCC decency regulations.
  • January, 2004: Clear Channel is fined $715,000 USD for an airing of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, which included (among other things) a scene involving explicit sexual conversations between children's cartoon characters. Bubba is fired shortly thereafter.
  • December 12, 2002: Porn actress Mary Carey submits to an IQ test on the Howard Stern show. Mary flunks, and is forced to clean Howard's toilet bowl with her hair.
  • August 23, 2002: New York shockers Opie and Anthony hold an annual contest for listeners who receive points for having sex in interesting places or circumstances. A couple is arrested for having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, and the disk jockeys are fired from WNEW shortly thereafter.
  • February 27, 2001: Bubba the Love Sponge has a pig castrated and killed on-air. Bubba is charged with animal cruelty, but acquitted.
  • April 1, 1998: Opie and Anthony are fired from Boston radio station WAAF for an April Fool's Day prank announcing that the mayor of Boston had been killed in an accident. The pair are soon hired by New York station WNEW.
  • April, 1995: On the Don Imus radio show, U.S. Senator Al D'Amato puts on a comical Asian accent and criticizes judge Lance Ito for personal interest in allowing television cameras in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Imus is criticized for keeping D'Amato on air because of the shock value of the senator's comments.
  • June 1984: Howard Stern Has a nude woman in studio at 66 WNBC, being the first disc jockey to have a nude woman in the studio while on air.
  • July 12, 1979: WLUP Chicago disc jockeys Steve Dahl and Garry Meier stage "Disco Demolition Night" at Comiskey Park between games of a scheduled Chicago White Sox-Detroit Tigers doubleheader. Fans were granted admittance to the games for 98 cents if they also donated unwanted disco records to be blown up at Comiskey's second base during the event. After the records were blown up, fans spilled onto the playing field and rioted, causing the White Sox to forfeit the scheduled second game.
  • February 1974: Larry Lujack of WCFL Chicago responds to a fan's letter on-air by stating he'll play more Jim Croce records "when [Croce] goes back into the studio and makes some more." (Croce had died in a Louisiana plane crash five months earlier.) The resulting protests from Croce fans led to an on-air admission by Lujack a few days later that the statement was inappropriate.
[edit]

Noted shock jocks

Evocative or outspoken broadcasters have been branded with the "shock jock" label across all ends of the spectrum of radio (and TV) broadcasters. Most range from the sexually indecent to the politically offensive. Some broadcasters variously identified as "shock jocks" include:

[edit]

United States

[edit]

United Kingdom

[edit]

Other countries

[edit]

See also

[edit]

External links

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Shock_jock"