Well the whole issue of what is appropriate for the airwaves is once again the subject of much discussion in the media. Sadly some of the pronouncements on the matter might be lacking in intellectual refinement ,however, this should not be allowed to devalue the importance of this debate.


Vybz Kartel and Spice's single Rampin Shop under intense scrutiny.
The song Rampin Shop is under intense scrutiny for its graphic depiction of sexual engagement. There have been calls to remove all reference to the song from Kay Osbourne the head of TVJ and it seems that Francois St Juste, the man who is in charge of the radio services of the RJR Group (the parent company of TVJ), sees nothing wrong with playing the radio edit of this sexual romp.

Osbourne has pointed out that TVJ is a family station and as such should not be promoting certain images in the media. There are those who are arguing that while there is a scatological street version of the song, this should not prevent a radio or television station from playing the radio edit. The fact is that traditionally artistes have often done two versions of their songs when they want to appeal to different segments of the market.

Our artistes tend to customise their works through specials which are often cruder versions of what is permissible on the electronic media. The question that is being asked is whether the decision to air a song on radio be contingent on the contents of its unedited street version? There are those who will argue that this measure might indeed be extreme, according to this argument the electronic media should concern itself with material which directly falls under their purview. The street version of a song, the argument goes, should not be a part of the concern of the stations. If the radio edit is clean then the stations should not ban the work some would claim.

One can of course argue that if a work that has not breached any of the canons of broadcasting is banned because it has a version that is not fit for airplay, that it is possible to restrict access to an artiste who has made utterances in the public domain that is deemed inappropriate. For example, it could mean that we could reach the stage where a work from Kartel or Mavado is not played because of what is seen as their obscene behaviour at Sting.