Speaking of Howard Stern and the FCC rules, pardon me if I don’t shed a tear for the public-radio axing Catherine Seipp describes today. She calls it an “accident” that Sandra Tsing-Loh wrote and read the F-word — in a taped piece, no less — expecting her engineering helpmate to create a supposedly funny bleep. What a tedious device.

You can argue that the Santa Monica NPR boutique at KCRW is hypersensitive. (If only it were this sensitive to liberal bias!) But as Jonah notes today, the FCC rules are very clear that the F-word is not to be used on the radio — especially when it’s used properly. (The FCC made a joke of itself in suggesting rock star Bono was okay using “F-ing brilliant” on the Golden Globes award because it was an “adverbial intensifier”).

Free speech does not mean you are entitled to your own radio commentary gig. Seipp ends up explaining (another “accident”!) that public broadcasting often leads to private bling-bling (the two “Southern California best sellers” no doubt were helped by the radio exposure). Take your cash and count yourself lucky, Sandy baby. Most of us never receive the privilege of that taxpayer-funded playground.