DJs & songs with swearing

betelgeuse

Did anyone hear Larry Gogan on Thursday pulling The Frames song Revelate just when it got to the line "I ****ed it up"? He was plugging the new Fab 50 CD and was obviously listening to see whether it was the clean version or not (if such a thing exists by the way... I normally switch station when this execrable band are played)... I know this because we heard the 'f' of '****ed' before he interjected and hastily put on something else instead.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that yesterday (Friday) morning Gerry Ryan played an Eminem song, I can't remember which one, but it was full of unedited 'mother****ers' and a few plain old '****s' and not an eyelid was batted.

So... do RTÉ actually have a policy in this area or is it up to the individual presenter whether or not album versions of tracks are played on air? I know Pat Kenny got in trouble a few years ago for playing the wrong version of that Beautiful South song ("Don't marry her, **** me").

Ray777

I think I remember hearing that RTÉ (television or radio) don't have any official rules on swearing - The Gerry Ryan Show certainly doesn't anyway. I remember an interview with Colin Farrell a couple of years ago, where the word 'c*nt' was used at least five times, and I lost count of the number of 'fucks'. Irish audiences are far more mature, regarding swearing than British audiences. If someone says 'shit' on British television or radio before 9pm, it becomes an issue of national importance. Idiots.

garred

Yeah, heard that song on the Gerry Ryan show. I think he gets away with it more than other radio statons do. Its strange cause he is the housewives favourite and the time slot it does be on. He curses himself on the show, especially when doing his "scanger" impressions or talking about them.

iplogger1

I remember in 1982/83 when Marvin Gaye's hit "Sexual healing" was
in the charts Larry would just refer to the song as "Healing".
It kind of underlines how prudish things were back then (which
isn't that long ago to be honest and was well after the Punk
revolution and the whole heavy rock 70s/80s.

radioman

There isn't any official radio censorship of swearing in this country, that's a good thing in my opinion. Any station that uses edited versions of songs etc does so from their own internal policy. There's nothing to stop a presenter playing uncensored Eminem but 99% don't just to avoid the hassle of angry parents and the like calling in.

Ray D'Arcy is known to use the f word now and again, he even reads it out if it's included in emails and texts.

betelgeuse

I agree radioman, I think it's great that we in this country are mature enough not to get up in arms over swearing on the radio. It just seems strange to me that there can be so much inconsistency between different shows, even ones that are on the same station.