During the time immediately after the attacks, many television and radio stations altered normal programming in response to the events, and the rumor spread that Clear Channel and its subsidiaries had established a list of songs with lyrics Clear Channel deemed "questionable."[3] The list was not an explicit demand not to play the songs listed, but rather a suggestion that they "might not want to play these songs." The list was made public by the independent radio industry newsletter Hits Daily Double, which was not affiliated with iHeartMedia.[4]Snopes.com did research on the subject and concluded that the list did exist as a suggestion for radio stations but noted that it was not an outright ban on the songs in question.[5] The compiled list was the subject of media attention around the time of its release.[5]
The Clear Channel memorandum contains songs that, in their titles or lyrics, vaguely refer to open subjects intertwined with the September 11 attacks, such as airplanes, collisions, death, conflict, violence, explosions, the month of
September, and
New York City, as well as general concepts that could be connected to aspects of the attacks, such as the sky falling, and weapons. Also included under the ban were several happy and celebratory songs (famously including
Louis Armstrong's "
What a Wonderful World"), as Clear Channel believed playing joyful music in the aftermath of the attacks was inappropriate.
WASH, a Clear Channel-owned station in
Washington, D.C., reportedly played
Kool & the Gang's "
Celebration" while the memorandum was being circulated, "which brought a polite if reproachful call from one listener, who was assured by the station the song's broadcast was a mistake."[5]