Wallen has been blacklisted for more than six weeks

At least two Cumulus Media radio stations have begun reinstating Morgan Wallen’s music to their playlists, six weeks after being blacklisted by the industry after video surfaced of him using a racial slur. Cumulus was the first radio group to pull his music from its 400 station cluster in early February with others, such as iHeartMedia, Bonneville and SiriusXM, quickly following suit.

On February 2nd, EVP of programming Brian Philips and head of programming operations John Dimick sent a memo to Cumulus Media stations, saying, “Effective immediately we request that all of Morgan Wallen’s music be removed from our playlists without exception. More to follow.” The company never commented publicly on the matter.

We have confirmed that 92.3 KRST in Albuquerque, NM and 105.5 WYTM in Fayetteville, TN are in fact playing his music again. We spoke with WYTM DJ Tracie, who can be heard weekdays from 9 am-3pm, who verifies the news.

“So many people are requesting his music, it’s hard not to play him. One man dresses like him. We get calls of people crying, thanking us for playing him. My goal is to make listeners happy, and if that’s what they want to hear then I will. We all make stupid mistakes. First of all, he was at his own property. Do I think it was wrong? Absolutely. But I remember being young and stupid. I really don’t think he meant harm. If I thought that he did, I wouldn’t play him,” Tracie shares with us exclusively.

Digital Music News (DMN) reports that additional stations within the Cumulus Media brand are expected to begin reinstating his music soon, although no other stations could be identified as of press time. DMN also says more than two dozen country radio stations have been tracked playing Wallen’s music in recent days with more conglomerate owned stations expected to follow.

It’s unclear if the reinstatement is a decision at the local or corporate level. In the days following the incident, many station programmers told us that they did not have a timeline on restoring his music to its playlists.

Since the ban, many fans have been arguing with radio programmers and DJs over the boycott. Wallen’s hometown station, WMYL 96.7 Merle in Knoxville, was the first to reinstate his music after polling its listeners. More than 10k votes, or 92%, disagreed with the ban.

Many stations had reported that diehard Wallen fans were boycotting stations over the ban, something one programmer didn’t understand one week later.

“People can say a lot of things that aren’t true,” they claim under the condition of anonymity. “I’ve talked with a lot of loyal fans of Morgan. Not a single one of them have said they won’t listen to a station because they aren’t playing [his songs]. They will go find his music and listen to it at another place, but they aren’t leaving country radio because of it.”

In the days following the incident, Wallen’s label, Big Loud Records, in partnership with Republic Records, suspended his contract and removed his likeness from their websites. His booking agent also dropped him, and the Academy of Country Music disqualified him from being nominated for any awards during next month’s 56th Annual ACM Awards. He was also removed from CMT’s and the Country Music Association’s digital platforms, while his songs were extracted from popular online playlists, but never removed form their platforms. Spotify has since started to reintegrate his music into some of its prominent country playlists, except for its high-profile Hot Country playlist.

Despite the ban, Wallen’s music surged by more than 300% as his diehard fans clap back at cancel culture. Many have flocked to iTunes and other streaming outlets to backlash the industry’s stance. Wallen continues to reign as the best selling artist of 2021 as Dangerous: The Double Album spent its ninth consecutive week last week atop the Billboard Top 200 chart. He joins the likes of Garth Brooks, Billy Ray Cyrus and Taylor Swift for having a single album spend at least nine weeks at No. 1. Six of the chart-topping weeks have been without the help any promotion.

The album debuted atop the Billboard list eight weeks ago and set the bar for country records by shattering first-week streams and on-demand Alexa requests. Upon its release, Wallen demolished first day streaming records, becoming Spotify’s biggest all-time first day stream record for a country album and setting the record for the biggest first day and biggest first week for a country album of all-time at Apple Music in just two days.

A week after the incident, Wallen issued a five minute video apology, asking fans not to defend his ignorance. “I appreciate those who still see something in me and have defended me, but for today, please don’t. I was wrong. It’s on me to take ownership of this and I fully accept any penalties I’m facing,” he says.

Matt Bailey contributed to this report