Consumer complaints to the Federal Communications Commission about broadcaster indecency or obscenity dropped substantially in the third quarter of 2007, the agency reported yesterday. They declined from 4,368 in the second quarter to a mere 368 in July through September of last year. That's a dive of exactly 4,000 registered grumblings. There were just 100 in July, 119 in August, and 149 in September.

But the drop probably means nothing, because FCC indecency complaints are famously volatile. They sometimes accelerate from a handful of gripes to almost half a million outraged filings in a single month, and they've maintained this unpredictable, roller coaster pattern ever since the agency started posting its numbers.

I've kept track of FCC indecency/obscenity/profanity complaint rates since 2002, which was the first year that the Commission began publishing its quarterly stats on how many consumers contacted the agency to report the broadcast of what they perceived as indecent words or images. Back then, the Commission reported comparatively few protests. The most the FCC received in 2002 came in March, where 161 complaints were logged.

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