College DJ Loses Show Over Raunchy Antics

College radio station WMSC 90.3 FM at Montclair State University in New Jersey faces possible FCC fines after alleged illicit activity from the station made its way online. According to the AP story on Philly.com:

"[Randy] Rogers and a fellow DJ, who calls himself Jay Jay Smooth, are under investigation by the university for a show on WMSC-FM that may have included naked women, lap dancing and other sex acts. The show was pulled from the air this week when videos, apparently from a February event called the Kinky Olympics, surfaced online showing raunchy activities that may have occurred inside the college-owned studio...Minne Ho, a university spokeswoman, said the students may face expulsion from the school and the station could face fines from the Federal Communications Commission."

The DJ involved plans to continue a tamer version of his show online. It always strikes me as annoying and selfish when DJs put their stations at risk for FCC fines, since expensive fines can cripple low-budget college radio and jeopardize a station's future. I'm sympathetic to things that are FCC gray areas (and there are many, including playing specific song lyrics and dirty words), but if these allegations are true, this DJ was doing things that clearly fit into the banned indecency/obscenity categories. From the station's online schedule it looks like the show aired from 7-10pm, typically not considered "safe harbor" for more salacious material.

The article also mentions that:


"The school also is considering plans to remove control of the radio station from the student government and place it under the control of an independent board...Earlier this year, university administrators moved to separate the school's student newspaper from its student government after the Student Government Association cut off funding for the paper after a dispute over articles critical of closed meetings."


I can't believe this stuff about the Student Government's interference in campus media. I wonder what their involvement with the radio station has been?

You can read about the history of freeform station WMSC (originally WVMS) on Wikipedia, including the story of a 27-hour broadcast they did on WFMU in 1967 in order to gain more exposure for the station.