Baby It's Banned in Philly

[Radio Wreck]

Or is it?

At work yesterday they had B101 on all day and I heard most of the over-played Christmas songs multiple times, but I didn't hear Baby It's Cold Outside one time. Did I miss it? Has anyone else heard it on the radio here this year? Or is it quietly banned in Philly like it has been in other towns and no one has said a word about it?

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Click-bait.

Or maybe click jailbait.

Nothing more ; nothing less.

 

[RayDio]

If it is banned, it is a local decision. WCBS-FM in NY is playing it and like B101 and WOGL, they are an Entercom station.

 

[mjb1124]

I can't seem to access WBEB's playlist data anywhere. But if it's really been removed from their playlist, then doing it "quietly" really was the best bet, and I assume it would be based on music testing rather than any public complaints. Making a big deal out of it just provokes fake outrage on both sides.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I can't seem to access WBEB's playlist data anywhere. But if it's really been removed from their playlist, then doing it "quietly" really was the best bet, and I assume it would be based on music testing rather than any public complaints. Making a big deal out of it just provokes fake outrage on both sides.

One does not do a $40,000 music test just to find out about a song.

And as a general rule, stations do not test in the holiday period between Thanksgiving and about a week after New Year's day as normal moods and attention spans are altered by the holiday season.

That is not to say that they did not test the list of Christmas songs in its entirety at some point, finding that this particularly "winter" song was not really a Christmas song.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Or is it?

At work yesterday they had B101 on all day and I heard most of the over-played Christmas songs multiple times, but I didn't hear Baby It's Cold Outside one time. Did I miss it? Has anyone else heard it on the radio here this year? Or is it quietly banned in Philly like it has been in other towns and no one has said a word about it?

Of the 194 Christmas songs played in the last 7 days on WBEB, Baby It's Cold Outside was not one of them.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

The title of the thread is silly. "Banned?" Plenty of songs don't make the playlist. If they don't want to play it, yippee skippy for them. If they do, yippee skippy for them.

 

[eyeconic]

maybe I'm out of the loop, but why is it being banned, is it hurting a particular audience/group, seems nowadays with the world in shambles people spend useless hours complaining about meaningless things.

 

[DavidEduardo]

The title of the thread is silly. "Banned?" Plenty of songs don't make the playlist. If they don't want to play it, yippee skippy for them. If they do, yippee skippy for them.

"Banned" is just an over-reactive term for something that is not played because it might offend a portion of the audience. Stations really do not "ban" songs. They simply use their internal criteria for decision making on each tune.

 

[CTListener]

"Banned" is just an over-reactive term for something that is not played because it might offend a portion of the audience. Stations really do not "ban" songs. They simply use their internal criteria for decision making on each tune.

But is there genuine outrage over "Baby" or just more of the same manufactured outrage we've become used to in recent years?

 

[Radio Wreck]

Click-bait.

Or maybe click jailbait.

Nothing more ; nothing less.

That doesn’t make any sense. Others didn’t think it was click bait because as you can see the post received some legitimate response. Just because you don’t care for the topic doesn’t make it click bait. Click bait is generally used for advertising revenue. And believe me, I’m not making any money on this thread.

 

[Radio Wreck]

The title of the thread is silly. "Banned?" Plenty of songs don't make the playlist. If they don't want to play it, yippee skippy for them. If they do, yippee skippy for them.

If the title is silly then call Entertainment Weeky. They’re the ones who published an article entitled “Baby It’s Cold Outside Banned By Cleveland Radio Station.”

 

[DavidEduardo]

If the title is silly then call Entertainment Weeky. They’re the ones who published an article entitled “Baby It’s Cold Outside Banned By Cleveland Radio Station.”

And you think "Entertainment Weekly" is not generally given to Enquirer-type headlines?

That is the magazine that named Bart Simpson as "Entertainer of the Year" back when it started.

 

[Radio Wreck]

And you think "Entertainment Weekly" is not generally given to Enquirer-type headlines?

That is the magazine that named Bart Simpson as "Entertainer of the Year" back when it started.

Bart Simpson? You’re obviously much more versed on Entertainment Weekly’s content than I am. I don’t read Entertainment Weekly but I’m also not chastising anyone who does. I just happened to see the article while I was reading about the topic this afternoon. But a quick google search will show that there is no shortage of news outlets who used the word “ban” or “banned” regarding this topic. Some of these include CBS, The Chicago Tribune, The Independent, The Daily Mail, and even the lovely ladies of that inspiring program called The View.

Btw, thank you for taking a serious interest in my post and doing the research on 101’s playlist and confirming that they haven’t played it this week. From their standpoint, did they “ban” it? Or did they just decline to add it to their rotation?

The world may never know.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Bart Simpson? You’re obviously much more versed on Entertainment Weekly’s content than I am

I had to look up the magazine; it's content is not my world. I'd never paid any attention to the magazine, not even knowing its title. Among the things listed are the year-by-year "Entertainer" awards that they give.

And I lived, for nearly 25 years, in the TMZ.

 

[Gregg.]

I've heard Baby It's Cold Outside on WLTW NYC and on SiriusXM's Christmas music channels. I don't think "ban" is an incorrect word because "Baby" had been among the most played Christmas songs, with numerous versions airing, Dean Martin & Martina McBride, Michael Buble & Idina Menzel, Vanessa Williams & Bobby Caldwell and Lady Antebellum all in rotation on most stations until last year.

Some people think stations did the "ban" to get publicity. Or maybe the concern about the coercive lyrics is genuine. It occurred to me that the guy is trying to use every excuse he can think of to get the woman to stay. But she's sort of in on the dispute, saying, "Well maybe just a half a drink more." or "Well maybe just a cigarette more." I think most artists got rid of the cigarette line and just used the half a drink line since smoking now has such a bad connotation.

But he is maybe going too far by today's standards. "How can you do this thing to me?" and "Think of my life-long sorrow" are fairly extreme.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

XM's Holly has also played a gender-flipped version. Kind of interesting to hear.

I have an acquaintance who is the victim of a date assault. The song disturbs her greatly--it is by no means "fake outrage." So to dismiss all those who have a problem with the lyrics is simply wrong.

 

[Radio Wreck]

XM's Holly has also played a gender-flipped version. Kind of interesting to hear.

I have an acquaintance who is the victim of a date assault. The song disturbs her greatly--it is by no means "fake outrage." So to dismiss all those who have a problem with the lyrics is simply wrong.

I’m not dismissing anyone and I’m sorry about your friend. But I’ll bet the song never even entered her mind until all of the hype surrounding it. Maybe I’m wrong.

But what I find the most disturbing is that you originally dismissed this thread by saying yippee skippee if radio stations play it and yippee skippee if they don’t. And now that you’ve seen some evidence that stations actually are banning the song, suddenly you have a compelling and heart wrenching story about why people find the song so outrageous.

Are you contrary by nature?

 

[mjb1124]

I guess then the question is whether the song was absent from the beginning of their flip to Christmas music, or if this was a more recent development. Could it be that the song was simply weeded out by research in some markets, and the entertainment news media decided to make a big deal out of it being "banned" after figuring that out?

 

[CTListener]

XM's Holly has also played a gender-flipped version. Kind of interesting to hear.

I have an acquaintance who is the victim of a date assault. The song disturbs her greatly--it is by no means "fake outrage." So to dismiss all those who have a problem with the lyrics is simply wrong.

I was in a serious auto accident in the '80s. I didn't demand that "Last Kiss" or "Dead Man's Curve" be banned from oldies stations.

Everything ever sung about in a song is bound to bring up painful memories for someone. Heartbreak, cheating, physical violence, etc., are mentioned in countless songs. Maybe Thomas Edison should never have recorded "Mary Had a Little Lamb" because some girl somewhere was scarred for life when a wolf ate her little lamb right in front of her eyes and we wouldn't have recorded music to be arguing over today!