Morgan Wallen Returns To Radio After Racial Slur Incident

Morgan Wallen was banned from the airwaves this winter by major radio chains after a video of him using the N-word went viral. Recently, the country singer has made a return in most of the country’s stations.

Wallen’s songs have made a comeback on major stations owned by iHeartMedia, Cumulus Media, Cox Media, Townsquare Media and other large chains. The reasoning is that top executives are allowing stations to decide whether it’s appropriate to put the country singer back on air.

Few stations are commenting on the artist’s reintroduction to the airwaves, even though Wallen’s controversy and status remains a highly discussed topic in country music.

Though Wallen’s reintroduction to radio stations has been subtle, Country Insider reported on Thursday that in the last week, 121 of Mediabase’s 160 reporting country stations played a Wallen song at least once. Wallen is the 41st most most-played artist for June 2-8 for country music. Before the slur incident, his singles used to be top 10.

Though many stations have decided to include Wallen’s music in their playlists others, including stations owned by Audacy – formerly known as Entercom – have decided that it is not yet appropriate. There are also some iHeartRadio and Cumulus outlets that, to date, have not yet played his music.