Accidentally tuning in WEBN on the radio is like stumbling into the sloppy bedroom of one of those teen-Goth, hate-the-world, Columbine killers.

And the so-called music is the least of it.

"Warped enough that my mother wondered why I'm still alive," said one of the fan e-mails in a stuffed file of public comments at the Cincinnati station, 102.7 on the FM dial.

"I'll do anything for Metallica tickets," a teenybopper wrote.

"I have been listening to WEBN for four years," boasted Kyle - age 14. (Someone should report his parents for child neglect.)

If the stuff that's on WEBN were in a comedy club, they would check IDs at the door. If WEBN disc jockeys told the same jokes to kids on a playground, they'd be busted for contributing to the delinquency of minors - for starters.

But for years, they have been twisting the radio dial downward, sticking a grimy thumb in the public's eye. They could give Hustler a bad name if they weren't so busy promoting it by asking porn stars to describe their "work" on the air.

Nearly everyone has raised an eyebrow at WEBN billboards, such as "-CK You," or "Rock Hard in the Morning."

But that's Disney compared to the "Dawn Patrol" broadcasts. I can't repeat the X-rated stuff that has been recorded by Citizens for Community Values. But it would make Howard Stern blush - if he could.

Chris Kerber of West Chester, a CCV volunteer, has been listening and recording Dawn Patrol shows for a half-hour a week since last fall. "It was a shock," she said. "I knew it was not the kind of music I enjoyed, but I didn't expect the never-ending barrage of innuendoes and blatant representation of sex acts.

"I can be tolerant of a lot of different behaviors," said Kerber, 57. "But this crosses the line."

She often thinks of quitting, "But someone needs to do this."

Her letter is in the files at WEBN, too. "The treatment of women is continuously degrading," she said. "They are treated as something to be used." And she wonders what that teaches the 10- to 14-year-old boys who listen.

Fan mail far outnumbers complaints. So for years, protests were brushed off. But when FCC Chairman Michael Powell was disgusted like nearly everyone else by the Super Bowl halftime show, the FCC woke up.

A Clear Channel station in Florida paid a $755,000 fine for an indecent show by "Bubba The Love Sponge." Clear Channel president John Hogan said he was "ashamed" by it, and the company issued a "zero tolerance" policy: Anyone fined by the FCC will be fired.

Complaints are suddenly heart-attack serious at WEBN, owned by Clear Channel.

Kerber and three other volunteers have found WEBN has cleaned up a bit. Fans noticed, too. "- the FCC," said one e-mail. "This new family friendly crap sucks."

But CCV Vice President David Miller says, "As soon as everyone goes back to sleep, they will gravitate back, unless they see someone suddenly fired." He has cited 20 examples of WEBN indecency in a complaint asking the FCC to reject WEBN's license renewal this year, or at least fine someone.

If someone gets fired, "That's an unfortunate lesson they would have to learn," Kerber said.

Even a Def Leppard would get the message: Clean it up.

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E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.