e hear on the radio.
             This landmark case gave the FCC the "power to regulate radio
             broadcasts that are indecent but not obscene." (Gunther, 1991) What
             does that mean, exactly? According to the government it means that the
             FCC can only regulate broadcasts. They can not censor broadcasts, that
             is determine what is offensive in the matters of speech. Before this
             case occurred there were certain laws already in place that prohibited
             obscenity over radio. One of these laws was the "law of nuisance".
             This law "generally speaks to channeling behavior more than actually
             prohibiting it."(Simones, 1995) The law in essence meant that certain
             words depicting a sexual nature were limited to certain times of the
             day when children would not likely be exposed. Broadcasters were
             trusted to regulate themselves and what they broadcast over the
             airwaves. There were no specific laws or surveillance by regulatory
             groups to assure that indecent and obscene material would not be
             broadcast. Therefore, when the case of the FCC vs. Pacifica made its
             way to the Supreme Court it was a dangerous decision for the Supreme
             Court to make. Could the government regulate the freedom of speech?
             That was the ultimate question. Carlin's monologue was speech
             according to the first amendment.(Simones, 1995) Because of this
             Pacifica argued that "the first amendment prohibits all governmental
             regulation that depends on the content of speech."(Gunther, 1991)
             "However there is no such absolute rule mandated by the constitution,"
             according to the Supreme Court.(Gunther, 1991) Therefore the question
             is "whether a broadcast of patently offensive words dealing with sex
             and excretion may be regulated because of its content. The fact that
             society may find speech offensive is not a sufficient reason for
             suppressing it."(Gunther, 1991) The Supreme Court deemed that these
             words offend for the same reas...