Name: KTTY
Age: 4
Occupation: classic hits radio staiton
Last Seen: Texarkana, TX
Bee-otched For: dethroning her Madge-esty
Age: 4
Occupation: classic hits radio staiton
Last Seen: Texarkana, TX
Bee-otched For: dethroning her Madge-esty
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It seems that if you're a liberal and take a stand against authority, prepare to have your tunes taken from the radio.
Texarkana, TX radio station KTTY/Hits 105 announced earlier this week that they were dropping all of Madonna's songs because of comments she made at the Women's Rights march in Washington, DC. One of the comments she made was that she wanted to "blow up the White House". Station general manager Terry Thomas claims that it's unpatriotic to play an artist who makes anti-American statements and hopes that other stations will follow.
On their Facebook page, the locally-owned 60s/70s/80s classic hits station received some flak from their listeners. Meanwhile, Madonna herself has released a statement: "I am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it’s important people hear and understand my speech in its entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context … the only way to change things for the better is to do it with love."
Of course, Madge is not the only artist to get banned from a radio station because of controversial remarks. In 2003, many country stations banned the Dixie Chicks after lead singer Natalie Maines told a crowd in England that they were ashamed that George W. Bush was from their home state of Texas. Of course, there have been individual songs that have been banned or heavily censored from stations as well because of content ("I Want Your Sex" by George Michael, "Me So Horny" by 2 Live Crew, "I Kissed a Girl" by Jill Sobule and "Timothy" by The Buoys all come to mind).
But what might be the true tragedy in all this is the fact that when my alarm clock went off at 4:30 am this morning, guess what 97.9 WGRD here in Grand Rapids was playing? "Torn" by Creed. Of course, lead singer Scott Stapp made headlines a few years ago when he allegedly told his family that he was out to kill President Obama. Yet, not one station has publicly yanked his music off their playlists. Same goes with Ted Nugent, who told the media "I'll either be dead or in jail by next year" in response to the 44th President. Once again, at this moment, there's a classic rock station somewhere in America spinning "Fred Bear" or "Cat Scratch Fever".
Folks, this is why radio is dying. Good people get banned for being too much on the average Joe's side, but assholes get mass amounts of airplay. Hell, I was listening to northern Michigan's Rock 105 online a few weeks ago and they were playing "Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja" by Lostprophets. One reason why most stations have removed them from their playlist is because lead singer Ian Watkins is serving 29 years in prison for 13 charges of sexual assault. One of those charges being that of a one-year-old girl. I'll betcha some stations are still playing Gary Glitter's "Rock 'n Roll Part 2" and he's serving a 16-year sentence for various sexual charges, including sex with a girl under 13 years old.
The point is, banning Madonna and not other artists proves how fucking stupid radio is. I say let the listener decide. If the ratings suck, you shouldn't have advertisers. No advertisers = no ad revenue and you have no choice but to flip format. Hell, I read that KTTY was silent for a period a few years ago.
Maybe it'll happen again.
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