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Major Country Star Removed From Radio Playlists

It's difficult to get into someone's head, and determine whether they are really a racist. David Allan Coe is a well known country singer-song writer who has used the N-word in more than one of his songs. He has strenuously argued he is not at all racist.

He's a good example. He is defiant, unrepentant, and he has his fans and supporters.
 
It's difficult to get into someone's head, and determine whether they are really a racist. David Allan Coe is a well known country singer-song writer who has used the N-word in more than one of his songs. He has strenuously argued he is not at all racist.
Coe is an example of a country artist who has been quite successful, without being concerned about radio airplay, and mainstream acceptance.
Quite a Character; David Allan Coe - Wikipedia
Randy Newman is another gifted songwriter. He wrote many songs in the third person. Many of the characters in his songs were losers and bigots. "Rednecks" and "Short People" are just two examples.

There is a difference between "Art" and drunkenly using the N word. Unfortunately, some Americans lack the education to discern the difference...
 
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According to AllAccess, Wallen's hometown station, WMYL (96.7 Merle) is letting listeners vote whether they should resume playing his music. So far the vote is around 90% "yes."
The article quotes the Knoxville TN station's owner: "We were disappointed by [Wallen's] behavior...[but] we were also uncomfortable sitting in judgement...While nobody liked the behavior, we are a radio station-not in the censorship business.
The article also points out it may be difficult to determine which votes are from the station's actual listeners.

From AllAccess: Morgan Wallen’s Hometown Station Lets Listeners Decide About Airplay
 
The article also points out it may be difficult to determine which votes are from the station's actual listeners.

That's the biggest problem with any poll like that. As I've said, this is not a good place for country radio. His fans excuse his behavior just as the ex-president's fans excuse his. We've had 4 years of that.

If this is turned into a popularity contest, a lot of people will vote for racism.
 
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The sad fact is there's a heck of a lot of people who don't consider themselves "racists" who also don't really care about racist language or behavior. Because it doesn't affect them.
 
Morgan Wallen has been swiftly removed from playlists of country stations all over the U.S. after a video emerged of him using a racial slur. I haven't heard any of his music played on WNSH today. Their website has a brief article about the incident.
Should such a ban be permanent?

One of Many Articles: Country Radio Quickly Removing Morgan Wallen From Playlists After Racial Slur
That didn't stop record sales from going down.....It went up the day after the song was pulled off the playlist.
 
Interesting article in Radio Ink following up. It states that a month into the radio ban on Morgan Wallen, his current album, "Remains on top of the charts for 6 consecutive weeks." It also states that Wallen is, "The best-selling artist of 2021, he has the most Spotify streams and biggest album sales."
The article raises the point this may be an indication of radio's waning influence on the popularity of new music. It also references a blog by music industry observer Bob Lefsetz that makes the case radio has made its point, and now it's time to resume playing Wallen's music, under certain conditions.

Is Country Radio simply alienating its Fans?: Morgan Wallen Tops The Chart - Without Radio! - Radio Ink
 
The article raises the point this may be an indication of radio's waning influence on the popularity of new music.

All of the work radio did to promote this album was done BEFORE the incident. So the fact that he's been off the radio for a total of three weeks doesn't negate five years of work introducing his music to radio audiences. Just because radio stops playing an artist doesn't mean fans will stop listening to it. But shouldn't someone stand up for a principle? Wouldn't Morgan stand up if he felt strongly about something? Wouldn't he want his fans to take a stand about something important?

I'm sure a time will come when he might be ready. He's obviously got a major addiction problem, and from what I've been told, it takes a while to get that under control. At least a few months. Then he has to face the other black artists in country music. What happens that first day when he is face to face with Darius Rucker? There's a lot of fence mending he has to do before he's ready to re-enter the world, and based on the video he tweeted a couple weeks ago, he understands that.

Radio isn't telling listeners what to do here. Nobody on the radio is telling listeners THEY can't listen to his music. The only thing radio has done is stopped playing his four hit singles. I can't see how not playing four songs is "alienating its fans." What he said should alienate fans. But that's another story.
 
The only thing radio has done is stopped playing his four hit singles.
He had 6 top 40 airplay songs.
4 #1s + a #30.
Current song was #15 heading into the top 10 when pulled.
So he had 5 or 6 hit singles depending whats called a hit....not 4.
 
So he had 5 or 6 hit singles depending whats called a hit....not 4.

The name of this thread is "Major country star removed...."

Having four or five hits doesn't make anyone a "major country star." Not playing him is not a big deal.

People are making a big deal that he has the #1 selling album. But we all know album sales are in the tank. So he has sold 74,000 actual albums, and that makes it #1. In actual numbers, 74,000 isn't that big.
 
The name of this thread is "Major country star removed...."

Having four or five hits doesn't make anyone a "major country star." Not playing him is not a big deal.

People are making a big deal that he has the #1 selling album. But we all know album sales are in the tank. So he has sold 74,000 actual albums, and that makes it #1. In actual numbers, 74,000 isn't that big.

2 of the songs were the #1 airplay song of the yr.
Chasin You was the #1 song of 2020.
Whiskey Glasses was the #1 song of 2019.
So not too shabby.
Also your post has nothing to do with my comment that he had 5/6 hits not 4 as you said.
 
Also your post has nothing to do with my comment that he had 5/6 hits not 4 as you said.

I counted the four #1s. That first single was not getting airplay before the incident, so it doesn't count. One of his four #1s is a duet with Florida Georgia Line. They are MUCH bigger stars than him. That song is as much their song as it is his. The point is he's not a major country star, and dropping his songs isn't a big deal.
 
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Morgan Wallen's current album scored #1 (for any genre) on Billboard's new 200 Albums ("year end charts").
He managed to achieve this with most radio stations not playing his music for a considerable portion of the year. Though radio airplay has resumed, it is still airing his music less than his popularity would warrant.
The next country act on this chart is Luke Combs, at #7. He was among the most played artists this year on country radio.
Another indication of the declining influence of radio, and increased reliance on other forms of music delivery?
Morgan Wallen's Success
Billboard's Top 200 Albums
#2 On Spotify
 
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Though radio airplay has resumed, it is still airing his music less than his popularity would warrant.

I'm not sure I agree with that. Keep in mind he's a relatively new artist. He has a total of four hits. One of them is the #1 most-played gold song on country radio according to Mediabase. The current single is approaching Top 10. So he's getting a lot of airplay even though he doesn't have a lot of hits.
 
There is a difference between "Art" and drunkenly using the N word. Unfortunately, some Americans lack the education to discern the difference...

There is still zero cause to use words that are virtually guaranteed to hurt another person's feelings.
 
There is still zero cause to use words that are virtually guaranteed to hurt another person's feelings.
Wallen is the one who should be held responsible for his deplorable conduct. That's unrelated to the use of "offensive" words in music or literature. Wallen has the right to be a bigot, but there may be consequences...
 
Morgan Wallen continues to amaze. According to Rolling Stone Country, his song Broadway Girls, written and recorded together with hip hop singer Lil Durk, reached #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart.
According to Billboard, this makes him one of only 4 artists to reach #1 on both that urban chart, and the Hot Country Songs chart.
BTW, does anyone know whether Broadway Girls has been airing on New York's hip hop stations?
From Rolling Stone Country
 
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