RADIO STATION PROGRAMS SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK 'N' ROLL

It's called "Party Radio," but unless Cypress Hill's "Hits From the Bong"
and King Missile's "Detachable Penis" are familiar tunes to you, it's
probably unlike most parties you've attended.

In June, the Arizona station KPTY-FM 103.9 began letting fly with a barrage
of sex and drug references aimed squarely at a high school- and college-age
audience. Some listeners say the station is most popular with even younger
and more impressionable listeners.

"We're in the attention-getting business," says Mark Waters, the station's
general manager.

The effort to attract attention got so raucous that the station's
best-known personality, the deejay known as Super Snake, left in
mid-September. "When they started giving away bongs," he said, referring to
the water pipes typically used to smoke marijuana, "that was it for me."

Station management denies that it promotes drug use, but agrees that the
station is doing what it can to get noticed by its target audience.

KPTY may be just another player in a radio environment that includes the
often raw sexual advice of Loveline, the extreme sex-oriented antics of
Howard Stern, and the double-entendre humor of almost every FM deejay in
town.

But with the exception of Stern, whose local audience tends to be older,
KPTY probably is the only station that makes a point of using frequent sex
and drug references.

"It's been a long time since a (local) station rocked the boat like the
Party," said Waters, who conveys a businesslike attitude.

Still, some listeners smell something more ominous than merely "rocking the
boat."

Bob Huey of Phoenix, who has a 13-year-old daughter, has forbidden the
station in his home -- "not because of the song selections, but because of
the apparent station policy of pro-drugs and pro-sex, as expressed by the
deejays."

Several program elements reflect the apparent pro-drug tilt, including the
morning show, which is called "Wake and Bake," a reference to smoking
marijuana. The station for a while did a bit called "Chronic Calls," in
which callers were supposed to act high on drugs.

The message comes at a time when a recent survey reported one in six
Arizona youths used illegal drugs, especially marijuana, in the past month,
a rate that is one-third higher than the national average.

"We are not in any way supporting the use of drugs," program director Byron
Kennedy said. "But we realize that drugs are part of kids' lives. We are
dealing with their attitudes, things they deal with every day."

Officer Greg Carlin of Scottsdale's Drug Abuse Resistance Education program
said he uses several songs the station plays in talks to parents and
community groups about how music might be a negative influence.

Steve Roman, senior vice president of corporate relations for Bank One
Arizona, which advertises on the station, said the bank's ads were placed
from the national Hispanic Marketing Group, which has an eye on stations'
demographics.

"The buy is done by people who don't know the content," he said. "If the
content is way out of the mainstream, we would have to look at it."

Waters said no matter what parents do, advertisers want his audience --
"tomorrow's consumer."

He said the drug references are part of the station's attempt to have "a
distinct difference in presentation" from its competitors. He also
acknowledged that he gets at least two calls a day from concerned or angry
parents.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson