96.7 Merle (WMYL-FM), wants listeners to decide the fate of Morgan Wallen music on the station. The Knoxville station has placed a poll on its Facebook page to let the listeners decide if they want the music banned or return it to the station playlist.
“We were disappointed by the behavior in the video,” said Ron Meredith, station owner. “But we were also uncomfortable with sitting in judgment. If you’ve lived long enough, you probably have said at one point or another you were glad video and social media wasn’t everywhere when you were young and did stupid things. While nobody liked the behavior, we are a radio station – not in the censorship business. We changed the music on our station last year so it focuses now only on what East Tennessee country fans like. So, this situation is like being between a rock and a hard place. We felt uncomfortable with all the different institutions making decisions for country listeners. We didn’t want to do that at 96.7 Merle.”
The station in Wallens’ home market will announce the “verdict” at 5 PM February 16. Wallen has been the focus of national backlash over his remarks and behavior in a video aired by TMZ.
I’m betting this ain’t going the way they anticipated.