Last week, a federal court overturned the Federal Communications Commission's policy on indecency fines, getting a sigh of relief from broadcasters and jeers from the agency. The decision, handed down June 4 by a federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel, says the agency's definitions of indecency and profanity are too vague and subjective.

But one local radio personality says the decision is irrelevant, at least in his case.

While the court decision and the FCC policy were focused on "fleeting expletives," as the court decision put it, WCMF's Brother Wease says there's not much chance those words would make it on the air at his station anyway.

"The FCC is not as tough on us as our own companies," says Wease.

CBS Radio, CMF's owner, put out a directive five years ago telling its on-air personalities what words they aren't allowed to use.

In addition, his show is broadcast on delay, he says, so anything out of line would be bleeped. That's now a common practice with live broadcasts for television and radio.

It's the new reality of broadcasting live over the airwaves. (Cable and satellite get to play by different rules.) It all started with Janet Jackson's 2003 Super Bowl Halftime Show nipple slip. Then there were the unanticipated f-bombs on live awards shows. Indecency fines from the FCC began to pile up, and broadcasters shortened the leash on program writers and live-show personalities alike.

Then along came Don Imus and his characterization of the Rutgers University women's basketball team. The FCC levied no fines, nor did it weigh in at all. It wasn't profanity, after all, that got Imus in trouble. But the public spoke, and Imus's long-running show was canceled.

Some conservative commentators complained that the cancellation violated Imus's right to free speech. But that wasn't an issue of free speech, Wease insists. Imus had a solid base of listeners and was given the freedom to say whatever he wanted. It was a matter of economics: advertisers began pulling their accounts, and listeners started tuning out.

"Once he wasn't going to make money, they had to let him go," says Wease.

People on his show, adds Wease, have made comments worse than the comments on the Imus show. (Apparently, though, local advertisers haven't gotten upset enough to pull their ads.)