Radio station brings back ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ due to listener demand

SALT LAKE CITY — Thousands of California radio listeners are saying “no, no, no, sir” to banning “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”

What’s going on: San Francisco radio station KOIT announced it will end its ban on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” after thousands of listeners approved the song through a poll, CBS San Francisco reports.

Flashback: Last week, several radio stations opted to ban the song due to a national outcry over the song’s lyrics, which critics say don’t work in the era of #MeToo. Those stations included KOIT in San Francisco, KOSI in Colorado and CBC Radio in Toronto, according to my report.

But KOIT’s program director Brian Figula said he would put the ban on hold while he sought feedback from listeners, according to CBS News.

“After hearing from thousands of Bay Area listeners via polling, phone calls, emails and social media, KOIT has concluded that the vast majority consider the song to be a valuable part of their holiday tradition, and they still want to hear it on the radio,” Figula said in a statement Monday.

Vote: The vote wasn’t close as 77 percent of listeners opposed banning the holiday classic.

“KOIT’s listeners have spoken, and the overwhelming message is they do want to hear ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ on our station, as they have throughout the years,” he said. “More than 7 out of every 10 listeners who responded said although some lyrics of the song may reflect a different era and a different sensibility than today, still they love the tradition and history of the song, and want to hear it as part of their holiday season.”

Origins: “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” was penned by Frank Loesser in 1944, but many consider it to be controversial during the #MeToo movement.

“The song’s lyrics describe a woman trying extricate herself from a date and saying ‘no, no, no,’ while a man insists that she stays as he moves in closer, pours her more alcohol, and warns about the weather outside. Critics of the song say the lyrics promote date rape,” according to CBS News.

National voices: Several national voices have spoken in favor of the song despite the controversy.

I wrote about how Deana Martin called the backlash “insane” in an interview on Fox News. She said she’d continue to sing the song, which her father, Dean Martin, covered in the past.

Susan Loesser, the daughter of Frank Loesser, told NBC News her father would be “furious” over the controversy.

“I think it would be good if people looked at the song in the context of the time,” she said, according to my report. “It was written in 1944.”

“People used to say ‘what’s in this drink’ as a joke. You know, ‘this drink is going straight to my head so what’s in this drink?’ Back then it didn’t mean ‘you drugged me.'”