User:Czar/drafts/YBC v. FCC

Yale Broadcasting Co. v. FCC is a 1973 United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia case that upheld the Federal Communications Commission's right to require broadcast station management to be aware of the meanings of drug-related music lyrics.

Background
[See NYT articles on Nicholas Johnson at YBC and encouraging legal challenge]

In the early 1970s, in acknowledgement of popular music that glorified drug use in coded language, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Notice for broadcast station management to make reasonable efforts to be aware of the meanings of drug-related music lyrics. The FCC clarified the Notice with a Memorandum that this music was not prohibited and they would not pursue stations who played drug-related music, but that station management needed to know the content of their music to judge whether to broadcast it.

The Yale Broadcasting Company sued the FCC arguing that the Notice and Memorandum infringed on constitutional, free speech.