WDOK (Star 102) Cleveland Pulls ''Baby It's Cold Outside''

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, December 3, 2018

Glenn Anderson

WDOK-FM (Star 102) Cleveland has removed a popular Christmas tune from its holiday playlist that was written in 1944, reports WOIO-TV. "Star 102" listeners raised concerns about the lyrics of "Baby It's Cold Outside," with some saying the lyrics send the wrong message in the #MeToo era. Afternoon host Glenn Anderson (pictured) wrote in a blog post, "We used to play the song 'Baby It's Cold Outside,' but you're the Christmas Executive Officer at Star 102 and you told us it's no longer appropriate... I gotta be honest, I didn't understand why the lyrics were so bad... Until I read them."

Written in 1944, the song rose to popularity in the 1949 film "Neptune's Daughter," when it was sung between Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban's characters, and then by Betty Garrett and Red Skelton, who reversed the roles. The woman says she's worried about being with the man late into the night, while he adamantly tells her to stay with him because, "Baby, it's cold outside." In 2014, Idina Menzel and Michael Buble released the song and changed a few lyrics to lines like, "Maybe just a soda-pop more. Put some records on while I pour." Broadway composer Frank Loesser originally performed it as a humorous number with his wife.

In his blog post, Anderson said the song has no place on today's radio, but also asked listeners what they think and included an online poll question about it. "Now, I do realize that when the song was written in 1944, it was a different time, but now while reading it, it seems very manipulative and wrong," Anderson wrote. "The world we live in is extra sensitive now, and people get easily offended, but in a world where #MeToo has finally given women the voice they deserve, the song has no place. What do you think?"