"& now Denver is lonesome for her heroes"

[oddharmonic]

Fifty years ago this month, a San Francisco municipal court judge ruled that Allen Ginsberg's poem "HOWL" was not obscene.

Last week a public radio station chose not to broadcast a 1959 reading of the poem due to fear of an FCC fine.

You can listen to an online broadcast of the poem at HOWL Against Censorship.

Comments

[king_chiron]

Lame on the part of the radio station, they should have just read it and then challenged the issue in court, they'd have an army of civil liberties lawyers standing behind them for free.

[clearmind]

I figure they're making sure and identifying and signing on each of these lawyers first by saying they won't broadcast. Once they have a commitment of enough resources to go up for the FCC, then they may make the broadcast.

Challenges like this are best when you have all your ducks in a row first.

[king_chiron]

Right, like they'd have trouble find lawyers to take the case?! The ACLU would obviously throw everything they have behind the case, I think the station is just being cowardly.

[clearmind]

Better to know than to assume.