After nearly five years of wrangling over everything from Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction to Cher's use of a "fleeting expletive" on live TV, the rip-roaring debate over naughty words and pictures is now in its final stages.

At least let us hope it is.

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to give the final verdict on cases regarding whether TV and radio stations can legally air indecent content. At last, we'll all know for sure whether an accidental four-letter word could doom a radio station to a killer six-figure fine. The issue of indecency on the airwaves has distracted the Federal Communications Commission ever since singer Jackson accidentally flashed an audience of millions during the 2004 Super Bowl. Politicians were outraged and promised a crackdown to protect America's youth from ever seeing a middle-aged breast on television again.

Fearing big fines, TV and radio stations have since been very careful about allowing rough language on the air. PBS bleeped words on "Masterpiece Theater," and San Diego's KPBS-TV sanitized "The Cotton Club," the Francis Ford Coppola film.

"I know that doesn't sound very courageous," station general manager Doug Myrland said at the time, "but I have to think about our members' money."

As for poor CBS, which broadcast the Jackson-exposing Super Bowl, it got socked with a $550,000 fine by the FCC. Last July, however, a federal appeals court threw out the FCC fine, saying the agency acted "arbitrarily and capriciously." The case isn't over. The FCC just appealed the case to the Supreme Court.

According to The Associated Press, the FCC "said the 3rd Circuit incorrectly applied a rule -- since changed -- regarding expletives that required that a profanity be repeated before it would be deemed indecent. The FCC contends the rule didn't apply to images. The Supreme Court should soon decide whether to hear the case.

Meanwhile, the justices heard a related case earlier this month, this one about fines levied against Fox after celebrities Cher and Nicole Ritchie uttered dirty words during live awards shows in 2002 and 2003. At issue is whether the FCC can fine broadcasters over "fleeting" expletives that someone utters out of the blue. (Imagine a radio broadcaster spouting a four-letter word when his chair breaks beneath him during an interview.)

Critics say broadcasters should get a break when rough language erupts during live programming, especially when the words aren't used in connection with what's known in polite society as "sexual or excretory activity." In its story about the Supreme Court hearing, The Associated Press helpfully pointed out that U2 frontman Bono used a very bad word as a "modifier" during an award show, saying an award was "(very bad word)ing brilliant." Cher, meanwhile, used the word as a "metaphor" when she made an anatomically awkward suggestion about what her critics should do.

However, a government lawyer warned the Supreme Court that eliminating the policy banning the words could conceivably lead to the extreme case of "Big Bird dropping the F-bomb on Sesame Street." (Seriously, that's what he said.) At the Supreme Court hearing, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg complained that there "seems to be no rhyme or reason" behind the FCC's policies. After all, the FCC didn't levy any fine after the airing of dirty words during a broadcast of "Saving Private Ryan." But Justice Antonin Scalia pointed out that dirty language is dirty for a reason: that's why people "don't use 'gollywaddles' instead of the f-word."

What does all this mean for radio? If the Supreme Court puts the FCC in its place, it may make stations more willing to broadcast live programming. And it could allow radio programmers to stop worrying that they'll get socked with huge fines if someone says something they shouldn't on the air.

---

Last week's column about the right wing's hyperventilation about the return of the airheaded Fairness Doctrine attracted a few comments online.

"Hillary" wrote: "Randy, Randy … your right-wing bias is showing. Tuck it back in before someone attaches a Fairness Doctrine to you! Meantime, as for all the right-wing blather on SD radio, perhaps radio programmers should study how SD County voted in the Obama presidential election: solid blue, baby.

"Maybe it's time to get Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz and Randi Rhodes on SD radio!!"

In fact, liberals did have an AM talk station to call their own: KLSD. The talk format floundered and went off the air in 2007. Some lefties blamed a vast right-wing conspiracy that included the GOP-leaning owners of KLSD. In reality, the station was doomed by so-so ratings, weak programming and lack of advertising.

Yeah, baby, San Diego may have gone blue in 2008, but KLSD seemed to have trouble avoiding the color red. Fairness Doctrine or not, for-profit radio stations need to make a profit to survive. No law will change that.

---

Inspired by the commenter, Randy Dotinga is now going to call everyone "baby," with the possible exception of his boss. E-mail him at NCTimesRadio@aol.com.