Radio tv censor beep sound1/5/2024 ![]() ![]() ![]() While the First Amendment protects political speech, it does not protect profanity, and in 1964 the Supreme Court gave the Federal Communications Commission the authority to police language in broadcasting. The history of broadcasters’ bleeping out profanity reveals a lot about our culture’s ongoing negotiation of a murky concept. It’s been framed as a harbinger of “‘anything goes’ reality television” or “ trash TV” and decried for setting a “ new standard for tawdriness” and for providing audiences with the “guilty pleasure” of “ chair-throwing.”īut as a media historian interested in the ways that sound structures our experience of TV shows and films, when I think of “The Jerry Springer Show,” I think of the sounds – the studio audience chanting “Jerry! Jerry!,” the boxing bell ringing when fists start flying, and the sonic dissonance between the heavy metal-tinged theme song and the soothing, paternal tone of its host.īut one of its most iconic sounds was added in post-production: the 1000 hertz censor bleep, which became more prevalent as the behavior on the show grew more profane.Īn episode of the ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ features all the sonic hallmarks of the program – a chanting crowd, the slap of hand to skin and a cascade of bleeps. Helping to normalize outrageousness in culture, it taught content creators that shamelessness is a lucrative industry. Since Jerry Springer’s death on April 27, 2023, writers have been working through the cultural significance of his eponymous daytime talk show.įor 27 years, Springer’s circus of sensationalism was a remarkably durable and bankable commodity. ![]()
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