free-speech

'Howl' too hot to hear

50 years after poem ruled not obscene, radio fears to air it

Joe Garofoli
Chronicle Staff Writer
The San Francisco Chronicle

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Fifty years ago today, a San Francisco Municipal Court judge ruled that Allen Ginsberg's Beat-era poem "Howl" was not obscene. Yet today, a New York public broadcasting station decided not to air the poem, fearing that the Federal Communications Commission will find it indecent and crush the network with crippling fines.