Classic hits station WAKY-FM will be playing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” on a continuous repeating loop beginning Sunday morning, said Chris Randolph, one of the station’s disc jockeys. Meanwhile, WAKY, on 103.5 and 100.1 FM, will also be playing different versions of the song over and over for several hours on Sunday.
Randolph put out this statement:
“Everyone just seems so sensitive to the lyrics of the song, and we just thought everybody should calm down,” Randolph said. “These stations pulling the song, it’s absolutely ludicrous.“Controversy arose around the Christmas tune, written by Frank Loesser in 1944, when it started getting banned by radio stations around the country after its lyrics were attacked for promoting date rape and were deemed inappropriate with the #MeToo movement happening. “Even if the intentions aren’t sinister, it’s simply exhausting to be a woman in that situation,” USA TODAY’s Mary Nahorniak wrote last year. “Many women know what it’s like to feel trapped by a man, whether emotionally or physically. In those situations, it doesn’t matter how it began or why she wants to leave, it only matters that she wants to go, now.” However, if the song’s detractors were trying to silence and shun it off the airwaves, the exact opposite reaction has happened, with the tune making a comeback in several markets after listeners voted to keep the song on the airwaves. The song is now at close to 11 million views on YouTube.
Lee Cagle, operations manager of SummitMedia says he’s “not had one single complaint about the song,” adding “I personally think people are looking for things to be offended by.” Cagle pointed to complaints that another classic Christmas tune and film, “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer,” features bullying and sexism. “I’m waiting to see which other song people start complaining about,” he added.
“We don’t take life too seriously, and we attract that type of listener,” Randolph said. “It’s all just out of fun.”
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