Dixie Chicks back in rotation Post Obama election?

[RFLA]

Tuning around on the radio dial, I heard a few stations that hadn't rolled Dixie Chick material, or had kept it to almost nil; rolling Dixie Chick material today. One day after the Dems get back in office.

Is it me, or are PD/MDs taking a chance that people's attitudes toward the Chicks (due to a more liberal election and hate toward President Bush) have changed to reclaim them back into the playlists on many stations?

 

[TheBigA]

Is it me

It's you. Several Chicks songs have been in light recurrent in some markets for a long time. No one cares any more.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I've still not heard the Chicks on radio except when I played them myself since their little dust-up in Britain. And having played them, I think people do care

 

[TheBigA]

I did a Mediabase artist analysis, and the Dixie Chicks get moderate airplay on a number of corporate owned country FMs. The #1 station for them is Clear Channel's KEEY in Minneapolis. Quite a few Clear Channel, Entercom, and CBS stations still play them. Their #1 most played song is Wide Open Spaces.

 

[caveman-97]

There is such a thing as evaluating music as music. By all standards, the Chicks have turned out some excellent music. Six of their songs made it to number 1. They don't seem to be turning out anything new but their oldies are worth playing. Didn't one of the members say that she dislikes country music? A comment like that could be more destructive than any political statement.

 

[dave73]

There is such a thing as evaluating music as music. By all standards, the Chicks have turned out some excellent music. Six of their songs made it to number 1. They don't seem to be turning out anything new but their oldies are worth playing. Didn't one of the members say that she dislikes country music? A comment like that could be more destructive than any political statement.

It was Natalie North's comment about George W. Bush that caused a number of country stations (Cumulus being the big one) to boycott their music. While I don't followup on country music, I do remember hearing on Sirius radio that when their last album got released; Many country stations not only refused to play any of the then new material, but also refused to take advertising for upcoming concerts. The stations that are intentionally refusing to play the Dixie Chicks are doing everything in their power to destroy their careers. I don't believe they'll do that much damage, as the Dixie Chicks are crossing over into pop & AC slowly.

 

[TheBigA]

The stations that are intentionally refusing to play the Dixie Chicks are doing everything in their power to destroy their careers. I don't believe they'll do that much damage, as the Dixie Chicks are crossing over into pop & AC slowly.[/color]

When they released the album "Home" in 2002, they held a press conference where they basically came out against country radio. They told those who were there that they didn't make this album for country radio, and they were basically challenging country radio to play it. This was immediately after their lawsuit with Sony. The promotion of their music switched from Sony Nashville to Sony New York. Even though the album was far less commercial than their previous albums, produced by Natalie's father rather than Blake Chancey and Paul Worley, they still managed to have three hit songs on country radio. Their song "Traveling Soldier" was #1 the week that Natalie made her Bush comment. I believe it was the combination of a number of things, starting with the Sony lawsuit, that led to the bad relations with country radio. But the band and their management fired the first shot.

When the last album came out two years ago, enough country radio stations played "Not Ready To Make Nice" that it made the country Top 40. Even though the song was a direct attack on country radio.

 

[sdh483]

Sometimes I wished Rascal Flats made a comment about George W, so we wouldn't have to hear their crap on the radio for the past 8 years.

 

[RFLA]

I should have given a little background.... I'm in the south basically from the same area (Louisiana) that led the burning of the Dixie Chick Cds after their comment in 2003. Except for a few Mom and Pop stations in my area, Dixie Chicks have made basically no impact on the country scene in my area. They actually cancelled a few shows in the south due to low attendance.(The areas where they cancelled pretty much supported Mccain and Bush in the presidential elections)

I heard a few Dixie Chick songs on stations that hadn't played them in a few years here in the south the day after the election, however phones must have lit up as next day no chicks again on the radio.

I find areas that lean democrat are back to playing the chicks on country radio, however it's very hard to catch them playing in the south where they are from still and is a rarity even today with Bush's approval rating in the tank, people are still apparently flipped over on the flap.

 

[jfeld17]

Just heard Traveling Soldier on WSM Nashville -during lunchtime. Gave me goosebumps, for many reasons.

 

[john77]

Actually, this has a lot LESS to do with politics and much MORE to do with what Natalie said a few years back... in case you forgot, she told EVERY Country station she didn't want them playing the group's music. Remember the R&R article??? She even denounced KZLA (which was actually playing NRTMN in medium rotation)... they promptly pulled the song.

Thankfully, both of the Country stations I listen to no longer play their music. They got sooooooo many complaints everytime one of their songs was played that they finally pulled them about the same time early this year...

Also check out this little survey from 2007:

http://www.edisonresearch.com/CRS_38_Edison_Media_Research_Presentation.pdf

Pay particular attention to pages 62 and beyond... the fact of the matter is, Country listeners STILL don't want to hear them.

 

[musicsweep]

Country radio is one of the last formats where listener response still has some impact on the programming of the station (at least in Texas, where we have a million country stations to compete with).

That being said, Natalie Maines is a [expletive deleted here]. Anyone who has ever had to deal with her knows it. In fact, her attitude was the subject of several feature stories in Country music magazines back around the turn of the century. The gossip back then was how she believed she propelled the Dixie Chicks to success and was leaving the group to start a solo career.

While "Wide Open Spaces" was on the charts, the Chicks opened for Clay Walker in the town where I was working. Walker was the headliner. Our staff was allowed to interview Clay Walker, but the Chicks refuses to talk to us.

Despite the disdain for the Chicks (and Maines in particular) the Chicks got airplay due to high listener demand. The Bush bashing dampened that, and Country radio was more than happy to drop their stuff.

 

[KFodor]

Until the day comes that the the Chicks songs stop testing in the bottom 100 of a country station's music test, you're not going to hear them.

This never...never had anything to do with Bush, politics, Barack Obama, or even what Natalie said. The Chicks lost credibility with their country fans when they turned on them. ("We don't want our fans to have CD's of Reba McEntire and Toby Keith in their CD players...")

The first rule in country radio is: respect the music.

The second is: respect the fans.

The Dixie Chicks broke both of these rules. The sad thing is: they are very talented performers. You would think that one of their handlers at the record label would have clued them in about this...Or perhaps, by that time, they were too smitten by Hollywood to care.

 

[musicsweep]

Good point, Jason.

 

[TheBigA]

You would think that one of their handlers at the record label would have clued them in about this.

The interesting story is they did. And the girls were under a leash until they sued Sony, and their label handlers all got fired. Then the girls were free to say what they wanted. That is the real story behind what happened in 2003.

 

[john77]

Until the day comes that the the Chicks songs stop testing in the bottom 100 of a country station's music test, you're not going to hear them.

This never...never had anything to do with Bush, politics, Barack Obama, or even what Natalie said. The Chicks lost credibility with their country fans when they turned on them. ("We don't want our fans to have CD's of Reba McEntire and Toby Keith in their CD players...")

The first rule in country radio is: respect the music.

The second is: respect the fans.

The Dixie Chicks broke both of these rules. The sad thing is: they are very talented performers. You would think that one of their handlers at the record label would have clued them in about this...Or perhaps, by that time, they were too smitten by Hollywood to care.

Precisely, though I must add that Natalie is the one who uttered that quote about Reba & Toby and the CD players... the other two "chicks" rarely get to say much.

 

[WPPCProductions]

I'm glad they are back on the air.I love the awesome version of Fleetwood Mac's Landslide.The comment Natalie Maines made about pres "W" was nothing what I've would of said about "W" If I was going to say on this board about "W" .The Mods here would take me to the "take it outside" section here.

 

[Remaster]

Only in country radio would such a thing happen. Seriously, in a year when radio champions Britney Spears...let the Dixie Chicks gold play already. They've been taught whatever moral lesson radio thought they needed to preach. That in itself is a sign of the "I am OZ" mentallity radio should have abandoned decades ago. It's little things like that which show our ignorance as a medium and will contribute to it's demise. It's very UAW.


I'm sure you could google Faith Hill's publically made comments on the same administration. They made the D.C. comments seem trivial. Ban her (but not her videos) if you're going to hold a 6 year grudge against them.

The comment about the reba CD's were hillariously true.

 

[Jay F]

Radio never cared one way or another. It was the listeners who were angry. Some country listeners still hate them, many others don't even think of them anymore. The important thing is their songs still test poor. Enough of the audience still holds a grudge where it just isn't worth playing them when there are so many other song and artists out there with no baggage.

Obama winning doesn't change a thing. If only country listeners voted McCain would be the next President.

 

[Marv-L.A.]

I know of at last three local radio stations (KKGO/LA & KBIG/LA, as well as nearby KFRG/Riverside) that play heir music these days. KEEY is easily the #1 major-market country station in America based on local ratings, although there are several stations in larger cities with higher cume figures, with KKBQ/Houston leading the way, and KKGO not too far behind.