Chicks Win! Will Clear Channel Play?

[Sumrzz]

Hey Bill & Friends, I hope you don't mind but I chuckled a bit
when the Dixie Chicks win 5 Grammys.
Does that mean CC will start playing them now?

Just having a little fun.
Hope all is well.

Summers

 

[GaryTheThompson]

You can put an evening gown on an obnoxious loudmouth and a trophy in her hand.

But at the end of the day...she's still irritating.

Who knows if CC will start playing them?

I doubt Grammys are the litmus test for adds, though.

 

[u-j]

Don't want to confuse you with the facts, but CC never banned the Dixie Chicks. The group you're thinking of is Cumulus.

 

[romer979fm]

u-j...

you're the first in a long time to have it correct: the "CC bans Chicks" rumor has its
roots in 9/11...when CC programmers put together a list of tunes that listeners might find
upsetting after the attack. Just a FYI list that got turned into "San Antonio's banning songs".

adding the DC to the rumor was just a natural (wrong) progression

 

[dave73]

I thought I heard somewhere that CC followed Cumulus at banning Dixie Chicks. But if that decision wasn't made at the corporate level, then it might have been made at the local level of CC. But in the Chicago market, not counting the suburban stations that serve the Chicago suburbs, CC doesn't own a Country stations. CBS Radio has held that format since the late 1970's. But I don't know if they banned Dixie Chicks though. But we do know Cumulus did it at the corporate level, and continue to do so today. I last heard they also refused to take advertising for their concerts as well. Many other country stations did the same owned by companies , other than Cumulus, as well as continue banning their music.

 

[KOHS]

The Chicks don't even consider themselves a country group anymore. Unless their songs have crossover appeal, I doubt any country station will play them.

 

[yoyo205]

A lot of country stations are indeed spinning the chicks. Mostly their older 'Golds'. Nothing off the new album. All the country stations in Seattle are spinning a couple of the chicks 'golds', but extremely light.

 

[KevinFodor]

I would predict any broadcast company who finds thru their music testing that Dixie Chicks songs test
well...will play them. If it's a country station, so be it. If it's an A/C, no problem. And, that's the way
it should be.

Unfortunately for some of you on these boards, that's the way it's been since Natalie made her comments.
Chicks songs were removed because their "like" scores plummeted, not so much after the Bush comments, but especially after the Chicks "dissed" country music and its' fans.

I won't speak for every broadcast company (I don't work for them all...I only work for one). But, business,
not a political agenda...drove the removal of their songs from the air. Too bad so many people want to make it political, including Natalie.

Remember...the latest CD, so far has sold 1.9 million copies...a far cry from the 7 to 10 million their older
CD's sold. I still contend the majority of people buying that CD are not country music fans, but A/C fans, of whom there are still many counted within the Chicks fan base.

 

[smashedcd]

lets ask jethro tull if their new album was played in 89 ;D

 

[radiofriend1]

besides

the whole original dixie chix *backlash* did not begin with country radio listeners-it was started by conservative political operatives who saw a golden opportunity to quell anything negative about the war, so they quickly organized around the country and flooded country radio posing as *regular listeners*. once country programmers fell for it, the snowball effect took place. that sort of *we're at war-don't criticize or disagree with the president* censorship continues (or at least attempts at it) continue to this day on a broader scale

i don't believe as groups cbs, cox or cc ever banned them (tho cox and cumulus have been accused of doing so)

 

[Johnny Morgan]

Boy, that sure is putting alot of faith in the programming skills of the stations' program directors. That they would pull records based on what callers say.

How many of them worked for your stations?

By the way: I though programmers ignored callers, since they represent only 2% of the audience?

No, gang, this is really just a tired, worn out political post that deserves to be Off-the-Air, not on this board.

 

[radiofriend1]

we all know the % of listeners who ever call

but in the heat of war.........with a seeming avalanche of *protest* calls? can't tell me it's not possible

besides.........if u have been in radio for long U definitely know how many songs over the years got added by record companies buying product in the market, flooding the request lines with calls--all to attempt creating *demand*

 

[Johnny Morgan]

Yes, attempt. The smart programmers ignored it for the most part and saw it for what it was.

As I've seen elsewhere on this board, programmers have been citing their research: before Natalie's tizzy, the Chicks' were in the top tier of tests; after the tizzy, their entire catalog was in the bottom 50-100.

You can explain any political theory you have about their decline, but the FACT remains that the audience wasn't interested in hearing them.

And, as we have often heard, a programmer who bases his station on what he thinks the audience wants to hear and not on what the audience says they want to hear will soon be out of a job after his station fails.

Set aside your politics, RF. You're letting that guide your programming laurels, all because you hate right wingers. That's a bad place to be.

 

[KevinFodor]

In the market I was in when the controversy first broke, the Program Director took (I believe) a fairly
courageous position to continue to play the Chicks music, defending their right to freedom of speech. I say that because that station was getting pressured by local veterans groups and right-leaned listeners to get the station to drop the group.

However, as the months went by and research information began to come in based on auditorium music test results (get 100 people in a room, play the song hooks and let the audience "score" the songs), it became apparent that the the Chicks test scores were uniformly dropping. That being the case, the station felt forced to remove the music from airplay, because the test scores were dropping too far.

As I mentioned in my previous post, though I do not suggest this is a complete "fact" nationwide (clearly, there are markets where the stations are seeing test results that are allowing them to play some of the songs), in the markets in which I have seen scores, there has been little, if any change. That's at least 3 years of test results. Not the same 100 people in the sample. Now, it's hundreds of listeners who have participated in these tests.

And, again..I don't believe her comments against President Bush is what broke the camel's back, so to speak.
The real shoe dropped when the group went after fellow country artists and the fans.

Grammy's notwithstanding, the current CD has sold just shy of 2 million copies...far lower sales than they used to sell. My personal opinion is this shows that the group lost some fans. Why? Because there was
so much hype, and so much publicity about this CD when it was released. You couldn't turn on a news show, or an internet site and not know The Dixie Chicks had a new release coming out. The media was practically hyperventilating about it. Yet, sales have been less than hoped for.

Honestly, I wish this whole issue would come to a conclusion. I'm tired of it. Being a musician, as well as a radio person, I respect the Chicks music. My simple opinion is: success kind got to their heads...and they
felt they could ram their opinions (whether it be about the President, country music, Reba, Toby or whatever)
over the heads of their fans. Their music was crossing over. They were no longer "cunntry" singers, they
were "rock stars", now subject to glitterati and paparazi. They didn't need those country fans, anymore.

OK, fine. They made their beds. They have no one to blame but themselves.

 

[radiofriend1]

Yes, attempt. The smart programmers ignored it for the most part and saw it for what it was.

"most........saw it for what it was?"

then how do U explain nearly all country stations in the u.s.a. dropping their music?

 

[SirRoxalot]

Chicks Cross the Road

"most........saw it for what it was?"

then how do U explain nearly all country stations in the u.s.a. dropping their music?

For the same reason that country music doesn't do well in NYC or LA. The Chicks dissed country music fans and country artists. They became a cause celebre for the "liberal media elite", but a lot of fans who supported them decided that they weren't interested in listening to their newer music or supporting their politics.

I'm not a country fan, but as I understand it, Dixie Chicks music from earlier albums is still getting airplay in "gold" rotation slots. The Chicks have said themselves that they "don't want to be restricted" to a country audience, and their music has changed both in sound and message.

It's not just radio airplay that's been affected. Check their concert tour numbers. The Dixie Chicks have downsized to smaller venues, and revamped their tour schedule because of poor ticket sales in this country.

It was no coincidence that Joan Baez introduced the Chicks at the Grammies. They now share the same idea of inserting politics into their music, which may make your famous, but doesn't sell records. Check Joan Baez record sales, and you'll find that she doesn't have a single hit that has politics as the subject. Her most successful sales come from songs that talk about broader issues of the human condition, like love, loss, and redemption.

Art and politics are a volatile mix. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I'm entitled to not want to listen to you preaching at me about politics, religion, or any other subjects that we may disagree on. Radio programmers are entitled to avoid playing music that will alienate a significant portion - if not the majority - of their audience.

Remember the old programmer's adage - "The song you don't play won't hurt you as much as the song that you do play."

 

[Johnny Morgan]

"most........saw it for what it was?"

then how do U explain nearly all country stations in the u.s.a. dropping their music?

As I said before: music tests.

You're the one who has this fanciful idea that it was solely and universally attributable to right wingers en masse rising up and demanding that PDs take their music off the air.

The smart PDs ignored those calls and continued to test their music. And the music tests said the audience didn't want the Dixie Chicks.

You're really letting your agreement with their politocal stance (which is wholly unrelated to the music) guide your opinion about why their music wasn't played. It's making you sound a bit foolish, like folks who aren't in the business making statements "why". You're better than that.

Don't let your politics guide you. Business is business; politics are politics.

 

[radiofriend1]

"most........saw it for what it was?"

then how do U explain nearly all country stations in the u.s.a. dropping their music?

As I said before: music tests.

You're the one who has this fanciful idea that it was solely and universally attributable to right wingers en masse rising up and demanding that PDs take their music off the air.

The smart PDs ignored those calls and continued to test their music. And the music tests said the audience didn't want the Dixie Chicks.

no, i said the campaign STARTED the whole thing. and at that point, most country programmers were more afraid of the potential backlash playing their music than they were missing a dozen or so titles from their library.

i know a pretty decent number of large & major market pds who, at that point, just quit putting dixie chix tunes in their research. and to this day, i've heard a number say something like "i don't care if they tested through the roof---i wouldn't take the chance on playing their music" (and in some cases a few added inflammatory insults toward them). they saw more hay to be made from a promotional aspect by being big & bold in their announcing that "we've banned the dixie chicks" and then their whole flag wavin' thing.

go in mediabase and check it out-----dixie chicks music, by and large, was dumped by most country stations at that point and music research had very little to do with it.

 

[davideduardo]

go in mediabase and check it out-----dixie chicks music, by and large, was dumped by most country stations at that point and music research had very little to do with it.

Stations that were in a callout cycle when the original incident occured saw an immediate response and pulled the songs; others that did not research that often simly got the listener backlash and reacted accordingly.

On music tests, when a song fails to test several tests in a row, you quit trying.

 

[Johnny Morgan]

OK, so if these PDs did drop their music, isn't the outrage directed at them for not having the guts to stand up to groups you believe have no business making their griefs known?

Or do you just have a problem with boycotts that express a political opinion you disagree with?