The one killherts tone is universally understood to be covering up inappropriate words on radio and t v. The approach to censoring content on public air waves is constantly evolving. Right now, the bleap is often used to censor bad words, especially on t v. But there are other options like silence, just making seem like the swear never happened.
There's a particular one-kilohertz tone that is universally understood to be covering up inappropriate words on radio and TV. But there are other options, too, like silence -- so why did this particular *bleep* sound become ubiquitous?
Bleep!