MASON'S LINE: STAY CREATIVE.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media

Somewhere out there is a line. How fine is it? We can't be sure.

Many fear it. A few attempt to cross it. But worst, most have no clue if or when they're going to be tripped up by it.

``I don't even know where it is anymore,'' Steve Mason, the KSPN-AM (710) weekday afternoon sports-talk show host, was trying to figure out the other day over breakfast in Santa Monica. ``That's the strangest thing, and it differs from company to company, from format to format. And no one's willing to tell you exactly where it is anymore, not even the FCC.''

In this post-election, morality-charged climate that continues to hang over all media a year after the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl, creative minds like Mason wrestle daily with what can and can't be said on the Federal Communications Commission-influenced radio and television outlets.

It isn't even a matter of Mason wanting to mock that ambiguous divider between good and bad taste to draw any kind of attention to himself, like so-called shock-jocks Howard Stern or Don Imus - who Mason actually used to compete against head-on when he did a general morning talk show at New York's WNEW radio a few years ago.

It's just that this ominous, dark-cloud atmosphere, the threat of heavy fines by the government agency in response to ultra-sensitive listeners and viewers, that has, in some tangible ways, squashed some of the playful enjoyment that is the foundation of sports-talk radio.

Mason, who turns 40 next month, has been in the radio business since he was 15 back in Ohio, both local and syndicated, doing sports, politics and entertainment. His return to the Los Angeles market to team up again with John Ireland less than a year ago and revive the edgy ``Big Show'' humor they generated for five years (1994-99) at another local station was a big part of what lured Mason away from a nice gig with the upstart all-sports XPRS-AM 1090 in San Diego.

On ``The Big Show,'' Mason calls himself ``the generator'' while Ireland is ``the reactor,'' meaning it's on Mason to stir things up and watch Ireland squirm. But for Mason, dancing on eggshells doesn't make this formula any easier.

``Sometimes I find I'm pushing things too far so I'm constantly reeling myself in,'' Mason said. ``And it's more out of fear of getting fired. I've seen it happen when guys go too far. And the other problem in radio is that there are only three companies you can work for and if you burn one bridge you've eliminated a third of the jobs you can go for.

``You've just got to be real careful now. What's indecent? I have no idea anymore. If you look at the Super Bowl, you see the Cialis ads and the GoDaddy.com girl with her top coming off, but some of the ads that Fox killed didn't sound that over-the-top. Why this and not that? The Super Bowl was just an example of how it's better to play it safe than sorry.

``There's this need to be more even handed, especially in this city and New York and Chicago - the places where you're expected to push the envelope. But if you're tepid, then you have to then create the illusion you're pushing it when you're not.''

One way the new ``Big Show'' seems to accomplish that is the recent addition of a daily segment called ``Radio Graffiti,'' where listeners are invited to come on and say whatever they want in a 10-second-or-less sound bite. Mason figures he or the board operator hits the seven-second delay button a couple of times each segment to eliminate profanity, sexual innuendo or something ``that's just too mean-spirited.''

Years ago, that kind of segment was ``much more raunchy'' when the two had it on their weeknight show, Mason said. It took almost a year into this new show to revive it in a way station management was convinced that it would be controlled enough to avoid FCC penalties.

In fact, Mason said he thinks listeners are so aware of the ramifications in place now for radio stations that they try to censor themselves, not wanting to get the shows in trouble.

``We had a woman come on the other day and say someone could `Go to hell,' and then she quickly added, `Can I say that?' '' Mason said. ``Who knows if she can?''

Ireland, who's familiar with the FCC's chilling effect from his work as a reporter with KCBS-Channel 2 and KCAL-Channel 9, says the way he checks himself is to remember what a teacher once told him about working on-air.

``He said pretend you're talking to three people: A 10-year-old kid, your hard-to-please boss and your grandmother,'' Ireland said. ``The kid makes you keep it simple, the boss keeps you from making it boring and your grandma keeps you from getting dirty.

``I can do all that, but if an interview subject goes off in an interview, they only recourse the stations have are to put everything on delay, which is what more do now, so they save themselves FCC fines.''

For Mason, his internal compass for determining what he'll try to do or say each show is whether he can look at himself in the mirror. His intent isn't to be mean-spirited or alienate listeners with negativity. But that still doesn't make things any easier.

``The tone is always important,'' he said, ``and I hope I'm just helping to create entertainment and not to get anyone fired.''

Including himself.

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Photo:

Steve Mason gives KSPN 710-AM's ``The Big Show'' an edge without crossing the FCC.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

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