KMBC and KTKA are off the hook

Turns out Kansas City's and Topeka's ABC affiliates won't have to fork over that stupid penalty for airing a bare bottom during "NYPD Blue" — and if you're like me you're asking, "WHICH bare bottom on 'NYPD Blue'?" But let's leave that bit of insanity, uh, behind for now because we have a wrinkle in the case.

In a story ironically headlined FCC Says NYPD Blue Fines Will Stick, Kevin Martin, the FCC chairman whose every utterance is an argument for the agency's abolition, dropped the fines for seven stations, including KTKA and KMBC. As KMBC general manager C. Wayne Godsey pointed out — what was it, three years ago? — the complaint against his station was filed by some goody-two-shoes on the East Coast. Nobody in Kansas City complained, and thus KMBC was not subject to prosecution. Two stations, including KTKA, were exempted after the commission realized it had renewed their station licenses between the airing of the "NYPD Blue" episode and the time it issued the fine. In FCC-land, the postcard renewal is the statute of limitations. Oops!