'Baby It's Cold Outside' banned by Cleveland radio station

[formergothardite]

1 hour ago, SilverBeach said:

Censorship can be problematic even if seemingly based on majority rule.

How is one station saying that they aren't going to play a particular song during the Christmas season, a song that isn't even about Christmas, because it has some problematic themes an actual problem? 

If a station doesn't want to play Christmas Shoes(because it has a really not so great message) or Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time(because it is annoying as hell) or Hallelujah(because it isn't actually about Christmas) would that really be problematic? What exactly is the great issue here? If someone truly wants to hear those songs they can find them many places. What dangers of society would happen if any of these songs, including Baby, It's Cold Outside, weren't played by some stations?

[tabitha2]

Because once you start banning seemingly insignificant things like Christmas songs or songs that people find objectionable  it will slowly but surely get easier and more ok to ban more and more things. Remember that tale of frog who didn’t even know he was in a boiling pot till he was cooked

[formergothardite]

18 minutes ago, tabitha2 said:

Because once you start banning seemingly insignificant things like Christmas songs or songs that people find objectionable  

It isn't banned, though. It can be heard tons of places. Artist can make more versions of it. One station decided they didn't want to play it and that apparently is a massive problem?

What about blurred lines? Is it a problem if a radio station doesn't want to play that?  Would you say it is bad that a radio station decided to stop playing that song? 

I remember when Christmas Shoes was played on the radio almost non-stop. It has fallen out of favor around here and I haven't heard it at all this year and I'm not sure I heard it at all last year. I don't know if they officially stopped playing it or just rarely play it, but a formerly loved song is not being played because people decided they didn't want to hear it and the station listened. 

I don't hear Pumped up Kicks anymore either. People had an issue with a song that could be taken to glamorize school shootings. I don't find it weird that if  a song fall out of favor because society doesn't like the message radio stations tend to not play it and I don't think that is a sign of terrible things to come. It is a sign that times change, people view things in a different light, behavior that was once acceptable and treated as something light and fun is no longer viewed that way. 

[tabitha2]

Honestly the vast majority of Songs don’t need to even get taken off.  They just fade away out of popularity because of the constant flow of new music . Unless it’s like some Beatles or Queen or Frank Sinatra songs that will be remembered in 30 , 40 years and their are precious few like that relatively speaking  I can pretty well guarantee no grandpa is going to be humming Blurred Lines or Chritmas Shoes in 40 years. They are just not that special. And again people can turn the station if they have a particular song that they hate but if people actually like Blurred Lines and wanna sing it along with radio on the way to work that’s they should have that option as well.

[SilverBeach]

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

How is one station saying that they aren't going to play a particular song during the Christmas season, a song that isn't even about Christmas, because it has some problematic themes an actual problem?  

Maybe I wasn't clear. My comment wasn't addressing just that particular song, and Christmas is irrelevant (don't know why that dumb song is only played during holiday time).  Who decides what problematic themes are? Who is "society" when it comes to art? I'm not talking about a song or book losing popularity over time just because, but removing art in response to campaigns to do so. The loudest voices may not always be the majority. I just think it is an area to tread lightly in, that's all. I expanded my thoughts beyond the one radio station and the one song.

Look, I'm black and thank goodness that certain entertainment practices such as blackface and Stepin Fetchit are in the dustbin of history (Megyn Kelly notwithstanding). Thankfully, culture does change to eliminate or at least disapprove of things that are grossly offensive to large groups of people. However,  I don't want someone else deciding for me what offends me when talking about something ambiguous and not as definitively troublesome as blackface. I do think the lyrics to the stalker anthem are much worse than Baby It's Cold Outside and society, especially women, would be better off without a song glorifying stalking being played at all.  But should I compel that to happen? What I'm saying is that one can always exercise their personal freedom not to listen to, read, or watch anything that bothers them personally.

I don't know the song blurred lines or pumped up kicks, sorry.

[Mama Mia]

I think what bothers me about Baby It’s Cold Outside being removed from the radio station is that they seem to have purposefully turned the removal into a culture war for ratings. I guess, good on them for marketing, but it seems kind of squicky to me. 

It’s an old song, there’s no reason why it should remain popular - but the idea that anything and everything that makes anyone uncomfortable should be hidden away ( as in having to search for it ) is disturbing to me.  This one is supposed to be light and flirty - but a good portion of music ( including both Sting songs mentioned ) aren’t SUPPOSED to be portraying positive events.  It isn’t the intent, should we screen out everything that any one can take as a way to live, instead of a cautionary/ angry / sad / fantasy story? People have to be capable of free thought and discernment.

 

[Spanger]

I’ve never much cared for Baby it’s Cold Outside, but I cant say it ever seriously bothered me either.  I don’t think I ever paid much attention to the lyrics until I was working retail and had to hear it 8 times a day on the in-store radio.  I remember making fun of it with other teenage co-workers, like “wtf, this is creepy.”  Which we also said the same about “every breath you take” and another random song with the lyrics “abra, abra-ca-dabrah, I wanna reach out and grab ya!”

I tend to agree with not banning things outright, like I’d never want those songs to be against the law, but if this or that radio station doesn’t chose to play them, I think that’s up to the radio station.  All radio stations cultivate their playlists pretty meticulously though, trying to capture certain audiences.  I’m sure there are hundreds and thousands of songs that the Cleveland Christmas station doesn’t play- (probably no rap, no sting, no awful “if you like pina coladas” song that’s stuck in my head).  They don’t make a big deal out of any of those songs though, because everyone would think, “Duh, of course they aren’t playing that creepy Sting song, it’s a Christmas station!”  So I think publicly slamming “baby it’s cold outside” is really just meant to create controversy and get people talking about the station, sharing on social media, etc.

Now if we could just ban all the Christmas songs I personally don’t enjoy, my short list is “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time” (wtf, Paul McCartney?)  Also, the Taylor Swift version of “Last Christmas I gave you My Heart” because it makes think of heart peices, and that girlfriend needs to move on (I’m oddly ok with the wham version, tho.)  Brittney Spears “All I want for Christmas is You” used to drive me batshit, up-a-wall crazy when I worked retail, but now that I only hear it two or three times a year, it makes me slightly nostalgic for old school Brittney.

Also- if a major retailer ever chooses to advertise “no Holiday music in our stores, just the same shopping experience you enjoy year-round” I will 100% give them as much business as I possibly can to avoid Christmas music, lol.

[tabitha2]

I am so sick of hearing White Christmas and I’ll be Home for Christmas  and have a Holly  Jolly Christmas every 20 minutes. That’s all I hear on the radio this time of year it seems.

[Maggie Mae]

25 minutes ago, Spanger said:

Now if we could just ban all the Christmas songs I personally don’t enjoy, my short list is “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time” (wtf, Paul McCartney?)  Also, the Taylor Swift version of “Last Christmas I gave you My Heart” because it makes think of heart peices, and that girlfriend needs to move on (I’m oddly ok with the wham version, tho.)

I will add Holly Jolly Christmas and Rockin Around the Christmas Tree.

25 minutes ago, Spanger said:

Brittney Spears “All I want for Christmas is You” 

Did Brittney do this song too? I only know the Mariah Carey one.  Had the VHS, the cassette tape,  and the CD. #old

[Spanger]

Oh, no, you’re right, I was thinking of this song:

 

Mariah Carey’s All I want for Christmas is also pretty tiresome tho.

And, now that I’ve been digging for treasures on YouTube, here is the new version of Cold Outside that was played on my local station last year... lol.  

 

[Katzchen24]

For a completely different reason to not play a song....... My favourite band had a song of theirs 'discouraged' from being played many years ago. Split Enz released this song in 1982 around the time of the Falklands War. I guess a song called "Six Months in Leaky Boat" isn't really desirable during a naval war, even though it patently had nothing at all to do with the war.

[ViolaSebastian]

Terrible non-Christmas songs: Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night” (“don’t say a word, my virgin child” and “spread your wings and let me come inside”) and Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight.” Nobody wants to help your drunk ass to bed, Eric. 

I’m fine with all genres of music, but damn I hate those two songs. 

[Audrey2]

I first remember hearing Baby It's Cold Outside when I was in college and bought a cassette for my car with it on. It makes me think of a very good friend of mine from college, who would like to hang out together in the evenings, but when I needed to leave because of early classes or student teaching he would start another topic of conversation and I rarely left before about 30 more minutes was over. I have a very close friend like that now who, when I say I need to leave, we start talking about something else and that becomes, "Oh crap I really need to leave now!" Neither my college friend nor my current friend have ever behaved in a creepy or inappropriate way. While reading or listening to the lyrics, I can see that connotation, it also makes me think of my friends.

I have three songs on my do not play list at Christmas, to the point that I will change the radio station until I think they're over.

1. The Whiny Asshole song, AKA Thankfully, he's my ex, AKA Last Christmas, I Gave You My Heart.

2. The Materialistic Gold Digger Song, AKA Santa Baby

3. The Ain't Cheating Grand song, AKA I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (I know that it is really daddy dressed up in a Santa suit, but the song has annoyed me from the first time I heard it. It doesn't help that it was on the cassette my sister got when each of us got her first cassette radios, and she liked the song. Fidelity is really important to me, and I don't even like a song that teases at cheating even if it's not.)

[Terrie]

My problem with the "all or nothing" mentality here, where a song with outdated lyrics that didn't age well has been recast as a "rape anthem," (yes, I once saw someone call it that) is that it erases the vast middle ground and erases the existence of unhealthy behavior that is not abuse. The crusader mentilty makes it harder to address certain behavior, not easier. If gives truely abusive people a sheild to hide behind. "Oh, you call everything abuse." And it makes some people more relucant to speak up about behavior that's "merely" disresectful. 

[formergothardite]

10 hours ago, tabitha2 said:

like Blurred Lines and wanna sing it along with radio on the way to work that’s they should have that option as well.

And stations should have the option of saying we don't want to play songs that send that sort of a message. Or we don't want to play songs most of our listeners don't want to hear.  

There are a lot of things that I remember finding charming and harmless when I was young that now no one would even think of putting on a station. Just because I want to hear it doesn't mean stations are obligated to play something that most other listeners don't want to hear. If I really wanted to listen to these things I could find them and do so. 

10 hours ago, SilverBeach said:

Who decides what problematic themes are?

In this case the people who own the radio stations and the people who live in that area and listen to the station. If a station doesn't want to play a song  about a kid shooting up other children while saying those kids better run faster than his gun, then they shouldn't be required to do so even if some people want to hear the song because it has a catchy tune.  If they don't want to play a song about "blurred lines" where a woman really means yes when she says no, they also shouldn't have to. If they don't want to play a song from a different era that can be taken as a woman saying she wants to leave and a man saying, no stay, they shouldn't be required to do so. 

10 hours ago, SilverBeach said:

but removing art in response to campaigns to do so.

So for example pumped up kicks which is sung from the point  of view of someone gunning down his classmates and saying they better run faster than his gun, you believe that is wrong stations won't play it in response to people complaining? Should stations be required to play everything or can they choose to not play something? Isn't saying radio stations don't have the right to choose what they play and don't play in response to listeners also a slippery slope?

10 hours ago, SilverBeach said:

What I'm saying is that one can always exercise their personal freedom not to listen to, read, or watch anything that bothers them personally.

Station owners don't have the freedom to decide what they play? And if people said, "I'm going to change the channel if that song comes on and listen to another station that plays songs I don't find offensive",  then stations will stop playing the song. How is that any different than them deciding to remove a song because people said they didn't want to hear it? Stations play what people want to hear and if they learn that people don't want to hear certain songs they will take them out of the play rotation. 

The radio station had received complaints, they put up a poll asking what listeners wanted. And it also explains why it was announced that they were removing it because they announced the results of the poll. If the poll said to keep it they would have announced that.

[tabitha2]

Turn the song off or down if you don’t like it. Easy Peazy. In two minutes there will be another one on   

 

 

 

[formergothardite]

1 hour ago, tabitha2 said:

Turn the song off or down if you don’t like it. Easy Peazy. In two minutes there will be another one on   

 

 

 

Go find it somewhere else if you really want to hear the song! Easy Peazy! Download it and listen to it non-stop if you want to! A radio station had a poll and did what the listeners wanted. It is hardly the first time this happened and won't be the last. 

10 hours ago, Mama Mia said:

I think what bothers me about Baby It’s Cold Outside being removed from the radio station is that they seem to have purposefully turned the removal into a culture war for ratings. I guess, good on them for marketing, but it seems kind of squicky to me. 

I think it is more news reports turned it into that. The station had  complaints, they held a poll to see what the listeners wanted and then announced the results. Instead of presenting it as that, news stations went "OMG!!!!!! SONG BANNED!!!! PEOPLE TOO SENSITIVE!!!!". Back before I even got married the radio station I listened to every day on the way to work had a poll if they should keep playing Christmas songs in the regular rotation during December. I called and said no, so did most people so they dropped the Christmas songs. It did not make the news. It was not a big deal. Now days this would be reported as radio station bans Christmas songs and it would get turned into a war on Christmas. 

Yes, I could have changed the channel while a Christmas song played and so could have the other listeners, but most people didn't want to hear Christmas songs so the station complied. The exact same thing happened here. They had complaints, they took a poll and did what listeners wanted. That is all that happened. This really isn't the huge deal it got turned into. 

[tabitha2]

Being dead serious here-Do you think every time some people call in fussing about a certain song they should do a poll about it and possibly ban it? Because Every single song has certain people who don’t like it for any number of reasons .  You can’t please everyone. 

[ViolaSebastian]

Here's a really excellent viral Tumblr post that explains the historical context and the jokes in Baby Its Cold Outside. Friend shared this and it made me think of this discussion.

https://www.fempositive.com/this-woman-explains-the-lyrics-of-baby-its-cold-outside-and-its-not-what-you-think/

[formergothardite]

6 minutes ago, tabitha2 said:

You can’t please everyone. 

No you can't which is why they decided to please most people by holding a poll and seeing what most listeners wanted. Radio stations do that.

I can see why the song bothers people. It doesn't bother me, and I'll listen to it, but I think the idea that it is awful a radio station held a poll and did what most listeners wanted is sort of silly and it really shouldn't have even made the news. 

[Alisamer]

23 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

I can see why the song bothers people. It doesn't bother me, and I'll listen to it, but I think the idea that it is awful a radio station held a poll and did what most listeners wanted is sort of silly and it really shouldn't have even made the news. 

I agree. 

I wish the local station would do a poll on that godawful Paul McCartney song. I've never heard anyone say they like it.

Their listeners said they don't want to hear Baby It's Cold Outside. The radio station doesn't want people to turn to another station, so they decided not to play it. Though the original complaints were about the content of the song, the decision is based on money. Broadcast radio has tons of competition now, so they have to try to keep the listeners they have.

Hardly any stations exist that play music I actively LIKE anymore, locally. I also can find NO MUSIC playing on any stations on the way to work, just people talking. They're not "banning" genres I like, they're just not popular so they don't play what their listeners don't want to hear.

I still don't like Baby it's cold outside. 

[ViolaSebastian]

I mean, theoretically, isn't this how the market works? If people hate something (Ahem, "Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time"), then why should a radio station play something that's going to make people hit the "scan" button?

I find it ironic, though, that the "free market" people are the ones turning this into a "thought police/P.C. brigade/those darn lib-ruhls" situation. 

[formergothardite]

5 minutes ago, ViolaSebastian said:

I mean, theoretically, isn't this how the market works? If people hate something (Ahem, "Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time"), then why should a radio station play something that's going to make people hit the "scan" button?

Yes it is. I really just don't see why this got turned into such a big deal. 

[ViolaSebastian]

3 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

Yes it is. I really just don't see why this got turned into such a big deal. 

I feel like this situation has a "War on Christmas" ring to it, in a way. I heard one of our more famous, but also extremely elderly, DJs on a local station discussing this "ban" and his opinions on it had a "why is "p.c. culture" taking away our hallowed Christmas traditions" tone to it. 

 

[libgirl2]

2 hours ago, formergothardite said:

 

So for example pumped up kicks which is sung from the point  of view of someone gunning down his classmates and saying they better run faster than his gun, you believe that is wrong stations won't play it in response to people complaining? Should stations be required to play everything or can they choose to not play something? Isn't saying radio stations don't have the right to choose what they play and don't play in response to listeners also a slippery slope?

 

I used to listen to that song all the time, really liking it.... It didn't occur to me what it really was about until someone pointed it out. I guess I'm kind of dense. lol! 

My favorite Christmas songs are Band Aid "Do They know its Christmas" original please, and Happy Christmas (War is Over) by John Lennon.