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January 8, 2020 10:05 am  #1


Australian radio stations ban songs containing 'fire' & 'burning'

Australia's two biggest stations are involved, and they're just trying to be sensitive considering what's going on Down Under, but - as social media users will do - many are condemning the idea as just plain stupid. From the linked article:

"...this country has gone soft. Once upon a time Aussies were the toughest and most resilient people on the planet now we are a laughing stock,' one Facebook user wrote.

'Stupidity. A totally pointless gesture so that they look like they have meaning and credibility. Wankers,' another said."
 

I suppose oldies stations could also be affected if they decided to do the same thing. Songs like "Fire" by Arthur Brown or "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" by the Platters would be out. So would "The Air That I Breathe" by the Hollies.  

I recall CHUM becoming something of a worldwide embarrassment after they admitted banning songs mentioning war and conflict at the start of the U.S. war in Iraq. 

Australia's biggest radio stations banned songs containing 'fire' and 'burning'

 

January 8, 2020 2:09 pm  #2


Re: Australian radio stations ban songs containing 'fire' & 'burning'

But Arthur Brown!

 

January 8, 2020 3:39 pm  #3


Re: Australian radio stations ban songs containing 'fire' & 'burning'

A worldwide embarrassment?  I guess if some comments on Tribe Magazine's website represents the world.
 

 

January 8, 2020 4:03 pm  #4


Re: Australian radio stations ban songs containing 'fire' & 'burning'

paterson1 wrote:

A worldwide embarrassment?  I guess if some comments on Tribe Magazine's website represents the world. 

Actually I told that story on a previous incarnation of SOWNY. It was sent to me with permission to reprint it by a friend who worked for CHUM-owned City TV at the time.
 
And it’s worth repeating here as best as I can recall it.
 
He was one of the producers of the CityPulse website and had certain holes to fill every day, with just a small staff. He was looking for a local entertainment story and couldn’t find anything that quite fit. So, completely on a lark, he asked one of his writers to call some Toronto radio stations and see if they’d banned any songs thanks to the newly broken out U.S.-Iraq war, the one against Saddam Hussein.
 
CHFI laughed it off and said, of course not. Then she phoned CHUM-AM and talked to their P.D. at the time. He admitted that, yes, there were songs that the station had taken out of its oldies rotation, including “War” by Edwin Starr and anything that may have seemed a reference to fighting or conflict.
 
It sat on the station's webpage for several hours with no real reaction. And then someone linked to it on SOWNY. The Toronto Sun took notice, thought it was absurd and phoned CHUM to ask if it were true. They denied it up and down, knowing how embarrassing it was.
 
But it was now out there in a big way. Soon, other wire services picked it up and it wound up on British sites and a few in Australia. By this time, CHUM had become a bit of a laughing stock because it took the step to ban songs about war during a real war.
 
The next thing my friend knew, he was being called into the news director’s office, getting a grilling. “Why did you do this story? Where did you get the list of songs you published? Who did you speak to at 1331 Yonge St?” etc. etc. Everyone involved thoroughly denied the existence of any banned song list.
 
The ND was getting heat from above and was livid.
 
Clearly this was a huge embarrassment and the top brass was pissed. And that’s when this poor producer, who was just looking for filler, saved his bacon with a realization that changed everything. The woman writer had gotten the entire conversation on cassette and she still had it. As she listened back to it, she could clearly hear the PD ask a colleague, “have you got a list of the banned songs?” They’d also sent a fax of those tunes to the station, although it had been thrown out by then.
 
When the news director found out about the existence of the tape and realized the PD had been outright lying, a huge smile came over his face. He took it into his office, listened to it several times, and then dialed the digits to the higher-ups at CHUM.
 
And just like that, the story and the complaint disappeared, along with the tape, never to be heard from again. And the long suffering producer, who at one point was wondering if he’d just killed his career over a stupid story that didn’t matter, breathed a huge sigh of relief. He never heard about the incident again.
 
Short story long, that’s what I meant by a worldwide embarrassment. It actually happened once before, right here in Toronto.

     Thread Starter
 

January 8, 2020 5:15 pm  #5


Re: Australian radio stations ban songs containing 'fire' & 'burning'

That's a pretty good story. Glad the producer at CityPulse didn't get into trouble, but makes me wonder what happened to the PD at CHUM?  He probably wished they had stuck with all sports and The Team 1050 and not gone back to oldies!

 

January 8, 2020 5:47 pm  #6


Re: Australian radio stations ban songs containing 'fire' & 'burning'

Not sure, but I think everyone kept their job. The story was pulled from the site and was never mentioned again. But the guy at the centre of it never forgot what happened over a crazy 48 hours.

     Thread Starter
 

January 8, 2020 6:22 pm  #7


Re: Australian radio stations ban songs containing 'fire' & 'burning'

The CHUM PD definitely did ... he stayed there until 2009, and even assisted with the transition when they became CP24 Radio 1050. I corresponded with him a few times (about oldies, but not regarding this issue) and he was always very good about responding to me. 

 

January 8, 2020 10:54 pm  #8


Re: Australian radio stations ban songs containing 'fire' & 'burning'

I guess I am the God of Hell Fire by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown is out too I suppose...







 

Last edited by Muffaraw Joe (January 8, 2020 10:54 pm)


The world would be so good if it weren't for some people...
 

January 9, 2020 2:49 am  #9


Re: Australian radio stations ban songs containing 'fire' & 'burning'

I remember years ago at CP we had a headline service that went only to airports. One day there was a major air crash and that story made its way to the airport service. Well, CP management got wind of that and the story was taken off so, I'm guessing, ticketed passengers looking at it in the airport would not unduly be afraid of flying that day. It seemed kind of silly as that news would likely not stop them from flying and even if it did, so what? I was told years ago CP had a railroad news service but you couldn't mention train crashes. Same reasoning I guess, but how silly.


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

January 9, 2020 3:57 am  #10


Re: Australian radio stations ban songs containing 'fire' & 'burning'

Australia's own Hunters & Collectors - "Everthing's On Fire."



 

Last edited by verger (January 9, 2020 3:58 am)

 

January 9, 2020 1:02 pm  #11


Re: Australian radio stations ban songs containing 'fire' & 'burning'

I heard 2UUS (WSFM) in Sydney play "The Heat Is On" by Glenn Frey a couple nights ago my time (PM drive the next day there).  "The pressure's high just to stay alive cos the heat is on, burning, burning burning ... " The lyrics don't mention fire, so I guess that and other heat songs are okay, although the record heat in AU has been a contributor to the fire situation.