It's impossible for an elected official to be any more equivocating than that. Hard-core porn is "acceptable adult entertainment" to some. I doubt Powell would consider openly racist broadcasting to be "acceptable adult entertainment." But radio and TV broadcasters should never assume that they are only being monitored by adults, especially in the middle of the afternoon.

If Powell gets "queasy" assessing fines, everyone who hears or reads what Detroit's WKRK-FM put on the airwaves last year would be well-served by having an airsickness bag handy. The "Deminski & Doyle Show," which airs from 3 to 7 p.m., had an extremely graphic discussion with callers about "funky sex maneuvers," which carried names like the "Cleveland Steamer,"" the "Chili Dog," the "Rusty Trombone" and the "Manhattan Hot Platter." Most of them involved males demeaning a female partner with defecation, even diarrhea. It's hard to imagine, but it grew even more offensive, as callers began laughing about the fun of punching women in the stomach or the nose after they performed like Monica Lewinsky in the White House.

What self-respecting father of daughters would not hit a seven-second delay button to screen out every one of these callers? But Deminski & Doyle did nothing but encourage them. And for that, they should have followed in the footsteps of "Opie and Anthony," who were fired last August for encouraging sex acts in a Catholic church. What these poor excuses for adults were encouraging was worse: not only incredibly vile talk, but also encouraging violent and demeaning action toward women.

Powell and the other FCC commissioners need to put the "queasy" feelings aside and have some moral backbone. Washington needs to speak out and at the very least make local communities aware of the utter lack of "community standards" they uphold.

None of this will happen without public outcry. But then what? Let's say a concerned Detroit citizen tried to take the transcript of this perverted sex-with-excrement segment and place it in a full-page ad in a family newspaper -- a media outlet, I'm sad to report, which is not usually a playground for children or teenagers. I doubt a family newspaper would accept the ad. So why should the radio industry, with millions of young listeners, be less responsible?