Was It Patriotism Or Censorship?

Texarkana’s Classic Hits General Manager Terry Thomas sure did get a lot of national media coverage Wednesday, when he announced, via Facebook, that his station would no longer be playing Madonna after comments she made during a women’s march last weekend. He said it was a matter of patriotism, not politics. He was hoping to get other stations to follow his lead. So Radio Ink contacted a few executives and programmers to get their opinion on the controversy, and to ask them if they would consider banning Madonna’s music. We can tell you this…a lot of parallels are being drawn to what happened to The Dixie Chicks during the Gulf War.

Brad Austin is the Corporate Director of Programming for Delmarva Broadcasting. “As you know, country ran into a similar event/situation a dozen or so years ago with the Dixie Chicks. I was programming at the time in York, PA. The short answer to your question is: yes. But it’s much more in-depth an answer than that.

“It’s very situational. It’s very listener driven. At least it was at that time. Of course it’s political; I disagree with the other programmer quoted that it’s not political at all. Yet, I agree with him in the sense that, like the Dixie Chicks, it was a fairly un-patriotic thing to say at the moment. Blow up the White House? That’s illegal to threaten regardless of your celebrity/social standing or political affiliation — just like threatening the life of a sitting president. But no doubt it was purely politically motivated. She never said that when President Obama occupied that building.

“All that said… was there outcry from his audience? Was a local force motivating that decision? Or is it an attention and headline grab? Country tends to be much more conservative politically than pop and rock, and thus the Dixie Chicks squabble fired more people up more quickly. It was directly in conflict with what a majority of our audience may have believed at that point, which made ANY media coverage or DJ conversations about it the equivalent of pouring gasoline onto a fire. That may not be the case in pop and rock music.”

JVC Broadcasting CEO John Caracciolo said he would definitely do this if he felt the host of the content was acting in a dangerous and irrational way, and citing illegal acts of violence. “Why would I want to promote a person like that? I would do the same thing if an advertisers message was promoting an act of violence. As broadcasters we have a responsibility, not of censorship or editing, but of responsibility to those we serve and I don’t think it is very responsible to promote a person who wants to blow up the White House. I don’t care who the occupants are.”

Big River Broadcasting’s Nick Martin said while he doesn’t agree with what Madonna said, he respects her right to free speech. “To me, this is very similar to the Dixie Chicks comments and conversation years ago. Oddly enough, I’ve seen both of these acts within the last several months in concert. The Dixie Chicks may have taken the time off, but it certainly didn’t hurt their popularity with sold-out shows and crowds ranging from 15-80 years old this past year. I think the same will be true with Madonna. Folks are going to disagree with her comments, but still like her music and respect her freedom of speech. I don’t see us banning her music.”

Galaxy Communications CEO Ed Levine told Radio Ink, “Whether it’s Madonna now..or the Dixie Chicks then…or back in college when we couldn’t play ‘Under My Thumb’ by the Stones because it was ‘demeaning’…. I’ve always tried to avoid the ‘political correctness police’ on one side and the ‘false outrage’ storm troopers on the other. Play the hits and shut up.”

Neuhoff President/CEO Beth Neuhoff said she would not consider banning Madonna’s music. “That said, I support HITS105 in their decision to do what they feel is best for their listeners. Not being in Texarkana, I can’t claim to know what that means to their audience. For Neuhoff, in the same way our stations air talk radio programming with which I often personally disagree, I feel it’s not for me to dictate the entertainment taste of our consumer. I believe in letting our audiences decide what they want to hear and giving it to them. Generally, I think our music listeners are far more concerned about being entertained and NOT inundated with politics when they tune in than our talk audiences. The only reason I see to deliberately remove an entertainer or artist’s work from our airwaves is if it rises to the level of crying ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.”

So, what would you do?