It's About Time

The fact that Don Imus had to get fired for something like this to happen is too bad, but it's good to see that some in the African American community's consciousness seemingly has been raised too: Jackson Radio Station Bans Offensive Music:

"Hot 97.7, a hip-hop station, is taking a closer look at what they put out over the airwaves. Their goal is to eliminate anything that would be offensive to listeners, whether it's violent, sexist, or racist. Station G.M Terrill Weiss says, "It's art; I understant it's art, but the message sometimes is so negative that young people listening to that music get the impression that it's acceptable to use that kind of language, and to have those kinds of attributes, and we don't want to perpretrate that."

The station's entire playlists will have to be re-vamped, every song's lyrics examined to deterimine if it's acceptable to hit the air. Anything deemed too hard or offensive will be banned. That goes for syndicated programming, too. Weiss says, "We're looking at that right now -- whether or not we can continue with Russ Parr, because he tends to use some of that shock value on air, and we don't want him to represent us that way."

- David Kenney, WLBT-3 TV