From a Howl to a Whisper

Fifty years ago, a San Francisco Municipal Court judge ruled that Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" was not obscene. To celebrate that anniversary New York City Pacifica Foundation radio station WBAI posted a reading of the poem online. Why not broadcast that reading? Station officials say they fear the Federal Communications Commission would fine the station $325,000 for each curse word in the poem, which could cost them millions of dollars.