Is the film Night of the Living Dead too racy for daytime television? What about double entendres about “spotted dick” pudding? Or a travel documentary about Paris featuring burlesque dancers and a museum with nude paintings? These were just some of the federal obscenity complaints that made Hot Spring County, Arkansas, the most prudish place in America.
The most infamous job of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is to punish obscenity on the airwaves, and it’s always relied on public feedback to do so. In the 1970s, a complaint about George Carlin’s “seven dirty words you can’t say on television” routine led to a Supreme Court ruling allowing the FCC to regulate “obscene, indecent, and profane” content on the airwaves.
New technologies have made this power less relevant, since cable news and online streaming fall outside the FCC’s jurisdiction. They’ve also made it easier to see who’s complaining. For a decade, the FCC has published the time stamp and ZIP code of each individual obscenity complaint online.
By far, Hot Spring County was the most complaint-dense place in the continental United States, with over 51 complaints per 10,000 residents over the past decade. The runner-up, Yankton County, South Dakota, had only 21 complaints per 10,000 residents. Rounding out the top three was Lake County, Indiana, just outside of Chicago, with six complaints per 10,000 residents.
Outside the mainland, Puerto Ricans also make a lot of complaints to the FCC. The capital city of San Juan sent 824 complaints over the past decade—an average of 25 complaints per 10,000 residents. Of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipios, 29 had more than six complaints per 10,000 residents.
Places with fewer than 40 complaints are excluded from the calculation. Because the actual content of the complaints isn’t available online, Reason filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Hot Spring County residents’ messages to the FCC.
Many of the complaints were the expected gripes about cursing in rap songs and violent action movies. A few of them were stranger. Complainants were disgusted by an episode of The X-Files showing a psychiatric patient throwing “dookie,” a documentary showing an animal dissection, and a razor commercial that showed women “behind tiny bushes trimming them into the runway/heart shapes that girls trim their pubic hair aka bushes into.”
FCC officials may have gotten tired of hearing from the good people of Hot Spring County. At least, that’s what the person complaining about the Paris travel show thought: “Yes this is a regular broadcast channel—NOT A CABLE CHANNEL—for the FCC reviewer that inevitably deems every channel cable so they don’t have to deal with it! Ugh!”
Top 100 U.S. counties for FCC complaints per 100,000 residents:
| Ranking | County Name | Complaints Per 100,000 Residents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot Spring County, Arkansas | 514 |
| 2 | San Juan Municipio, Puerto Rico | 252 |
| 3 | Yankton County, South Dakota | 211 |
| 4 | Bayamón Municipio, Puerto Rico | 191 |
| 5 | Cayey Municipio, Puerto Rico | 183 |
| 6 | Guaynabo Municipio, Puerto Rico | 175 |
| 7 | Woodson County, Kansas | 160 |
| 8 | Boise County, Idaho | 157 |
| 9 | San Juan County, Colorado | 155 |
| 10 | Piatt County, Illinois | 152 |
| 11 | Wheeler County, Oregon | 141 |
| 12 | Trujillo Alto Municipio, Puerto Rico | 135 |
| 13 | Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska | 135 |
| 14 | Throckmorton County, Texas | 133 |
| 15 | Lyman County, South Dakota | 131 |
| 16 | Hormigueros Municipio, Puerto Rico | 127 |
| 17 | Rooks County, Kansas | 120 |
| 18 | Gurabo Municipio, Puerto Rico | 107 |
| 19 | Carolina Municipio, Puerto Rico | 106 |
| 20 | Douglas County, Missouri | 105 |
| 21 | Armstrong County, Texas | 103 |
| 22 | Caguas Municipio, Puerto Rico | 99 |
| 23 | Esmeralda County, Nevada | 97 |
| 24 | Mayagüez Municipio, Puerto Rico | 93 |
| 25 | Dorado Municipio, Puerto Rico | 82 |
| 26 | Quebradillas Municipio, Puerto Rico | 82 |
| 27 | Trinity County, California | 80 |
| 28 | McIntosh County, North Dakota | 79 |
| 29 | Juncos Municipio, Puerto Rico | 78 |
| 30 | Aguadilla Municipio, Puerto Rico | 78 |
| 31 | Taos County, New Mexico | 76 |
| 32 | Cabo Rojo Municipio, Puerto Rico | 75 |
| 33 | Briscoe County, Texas | 74 |
| 34 | Ciales Municipio, Puerto Rico | 74 |
| 35 | Humacao Municipio, Puerto Rico | 74 |
| 36 | Williamsburg city, Virginia | 73 |
| 37 | Quay County, New Mexico | 73 |
| 38 | Toa Baja Municipio, Puerto Rico | 71 |
| 39 | Saunders County, Nebraska | 70 |
| 40 | Campbell County, South Dakota | 69 |
| 41 | Isabela Municipio, Puerto Rico | 68 |
| 42 | Orocovis Municipio, Puerto Rico | 68 |
| 43 | Perkins County, South Dakota | 67 |
| 44 | Lane County, Kansas | 66 |
| 45 | San Germán Municipio, Puerto Rico | 65 |
| 46 | Barranquitas Municipio, Puerto Rico | 64 |
| 47 | Furnas County, Nebraska | 64 |
| 48 | Lake County, Indiana | 63 |
| 49 | Lajas Municipio, Puerto Rico | 63 |
| 50 | Toa Alta Municipio, Puerto Rico | 62 |
| 51 | Moca Municipio, Puerto Rico | 62 |
| 52 | Ponce Municipio, Puerto Rico | 61 |
| 53 | Yauco Municipio, Puerto Rico | 61 |
| 54 | Vega Baja Municipio, Puerto Rico | 61 |
| 55 | Lares Municipio, Puerto Rico | 60 |
| 56 | Aguas Buenas Municipio, Puerto Rico | 59 |
| 57 | Aguada Municipio, Puerto Rico | 59 |
| 58 | Yabucoa Municipio, Puerto Rico | 58 |
| 59 | Monona County, Iowa | 58 |
| 60 | Sheridan County, Nebraska | 58 |
| 61 | Vega Alta Municipio, Puerto Rico | 57 |
| 62 | Nance County, Nebraska | 57 |
| 63 | Cook County, Minnesota | 56 |
| 64 | McCone County, Montana | 55 |
| 65 | Arecibo Municipio, Puerto Rico | 54 |
| 66 | Piute County, Utah | 53 |
| 67 | Aibonito Municipio, Puerto Rico | 53 |
| 68 | Añasco Municipio, Puerto Rico | 53 |
| 69 | Cidra Municipio, Puerto Rico | 51 |
| 70 | Las Piedras Municipio, Puerto Rico | 51 |
| 71 | Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska | 51 |
| 72 | Worth County, Missouri | 50 |
| 73 | Manatí Municipio, Puerto Rico | 50 |
| 74 | Perry County, Pennsylvania | 50 |
| 75 | Mitchell County, Kansas | 50 |
| 76 | Prairie County, Arkansas | 49 |
| 77 | Canóvanas Municipio, Puerto Rico | 49 |
| 78 | Corozal Municipio, Puerto Rico | 49 |
| 79 | Juana Díaz Municipio, Puerto Rico | 48 |
| 80 | Potter County, Pennsylvania | 48 |
| 81 | Clay County, Texas | 48 |
| 82 | Luzerne County, Pennsylvania | 48 |
| 83 | Keweenaw County, Michigan | 48 |
| 84 | LaMoure County, North Dakota | 47 |
| 85 | Osceola County, Michigan | 47 |
| 86 | Robertson County, Kentucky | 47 |
| 87 | Carbon County, Wyoming | 46 |
| 88 | Chugach Census Area, Alaska | 46 |
| 89 | Sierra County, New Mexico | 46 |
| 90 | Peñuelas Municipio, Puerto Rico | 45 |
| 91 | Adjuntas Municipio, Puerto Rico | 45 |
| 92 | Tensas Parish, Louisiana | 45 |
| 93 | Hamilton County, New York | 45 |
| 94 | Fredericksburg city, Virginia | 45 |
| 95 | Guayanilla Municipio, Puerto Rico | 44 |
| 96 | San Lorenzo Municipio, Puerto Rico | 44 |
| 97 | Rincón Municipio, Puerto Rico | 43 |
| 98 | Cataño Municipio, Puerto Rico | 42 |
| 99 | Santa Isabel Municipio, Puerto Rico | 42 |
| 100 | Grand County, Utah | 41 |
Source: FCC Open Data; U.S. Census 2020
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