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Thursday, September 20, 2001
Radio finds some songs too close for comfort
'What a Wonderful World,' 'America' on list of 150 songs Clear Channel suggests shouldn't be played
By Mark Brown
Scripps Howard News Service

File Photo

'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds' by the Beatles is one of the songs on a list of 150 that Clear Channel Communications has suggested that its stations and others don't play.

   Dozens of songs, from the Beatles and Frank Sinatra to Rage Against the Machine, have been pulled off some radio stations because of perceived connections to the attacks on the East Coast.
   While it's not an outright ban, Clear Channel Communications has come up with a list of 150 songs and suggested that its stations and others don't play them.
   "It's up to the discretion of the individual programmer to use his or her best judgment," said Mike O'Connor, Clear Channel's director of FM programming for Colorado. "We're just doing what everybody's doing; we're reflecting the mood everyone's in right now."
   (Among its roster of radio stations in Corpus Christi, Clear Channel owns KNCN-FM/101.3 (C-101), KMXR-FM/93.9 and KRYS-FM/99.1)
   Even O'Connor admits that some songs are a stretch, but said the company is erring on the side of sensitivity. "But to keep these songs off the radio forever would mean victory for the terrorists," he said. "So they'll trickle back as part of our return to normal."
   Some songs seem obvious in their references: The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," Peter Paul & Mary's "Leavin' on a Jet Plane," Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner," Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction," R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)."
   Others seem to be curious inclusions: James Taylor's "Fire and Rain," Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife," Neil Diamond's "America," and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."
   While yanking this many songs is unprecedented, programmers routinely review playlists after any event, be it the Challenger explosion or the Gulf War.
   "You have to reflect the mood of your community and the country, or else you're out of step," said Jeff Pollock, chairman of Pollock Media Group, a Southern California radio-consulting firm.

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