Alternative Radio Mutes Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams, currently mired in sexual harassment charges raised by a story in the New York Times last week, is being abandoned in droves at Adult Album Alternative radio stations around the country.

The singer/songwriter had been a stalwart of Triple A since scoring No. 1 singles with “New York, New York” in December 2001 and “Lucky Now” 10 years later in December 2011; in all, he’d had 17 charting singles at the format.

Variety reports Adams’ newest single, “F— the Rain,” had reached No. 20 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative chart, as of the Feb. 16 issue. It was on the rise even though execs at his distributing label, Blue Note, were miffed to get a song with that problematic a title as a first single, according to sources. It dropped from 54 daily spins at the chart’s 42 reporting stations the day the story broke to a mere seven plays at those stations five days later, mostly in the overnight hours.

“We were playing it, but no more,” says Jeff Penfield, assistant program director and director of digital integration at the Sky Daniels-led KCSN, a highly influential Triple A station for the Los Angeles area. He has also pulled Adams’ entire back catalog, despite the artist having played a benefit for the station in December 2014. Adams did the show when one of his current accusers, Phoebe Bridgers, was part of his band.

Before the New York Times story hit, Penfield says, KCSN had Adams’ “F— the Rain” in power rotation, playing it up to 20 times a week.

Some of the more disturbing charges in the Times’ story include sexually explicit texting with an underage girl. (Adams has denied knowingly corresponding with any minors.) But what prompted KCSN’s actions, according to Penfield, is the emotional damage he is alleged to have done to a number of his female peers, including Bridgers and ex-wife Mandy Moore, by creating havoc with their musical creativity and ambitions.