The longtime relationship between Monday Night Football and Hank Williams Jr. is now officially over, with both sides claiming to have dumped the other, and the only winner here may be country morning radio shows, which have been making hay over the politically charged controversy ever since it erupted on Monday.

Stark Country checked in with 10 morning air personalities from around the country to see how they handled the story on the air, and discovered it was a juicy topic at many stations, especially after the Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines wandered into the fray.

This morning, ESPN issued a statement saying, “We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams, Jr. We appreciate his contributions over the past years. The success of Monday Night Football has always been about the games and that will continue.”

Meanwhile, Williams posted a conflicting statement on his Web site reading, “After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, you (ESPN) stepped on the toes of the First Amendment freedom of speech, so therefore me, my song, and all my rowdy friends are OUT OF HERE. It’s been a great run.”

The trouble started after Williams called President Obama and Vice President Biden “the enemy” and compared them to “The Three Stooges” on “Fox & Friends” Monday. You can read the back story here.

Prior to today’s official split, Williams had made several tepid attempts to clarify his TV comments, including issuing statements that said, in part, “I have always respected the office of the President,” and “I am very sorry if it offended anyone.”

While ESPN’s move drew immediate parallels to what happened to the Dixie Chicks when they criticized then President George W. Bush in 2003, there is one key difference. In response to the reaction from their listeners, many country radio stations pulled the Chicks from their playlists while that band was at the peak of its hit making years. Williams, on the other hand, hasn’t had a charted single in four years, and hasn’t had a hit since 1990, although he notched 10 No. 1s prior to that.

But Maines, who can’t seem to stay out of her own way, made herself a lightning rod again when she took to Twitter to comment several times on the Williams controversy. She tweeted such comments as “We’ll never know if country radio would have banned Hank Williams Jr. for badmouthing the President, because they already don’t play him,” and “Finished my NFL theme song! It’s called ‘Now We’re Ready For Some Football.’ It’s a subtle but effective change. My melody is way better too.”

She later clarified her first statement about Williams, saying, “I absolutely think he can speak his mind. My jab was directed at country radio, not HWJ,” and “I have no opinion about him either way.”

Needless to say, her comments riled up some radio broadcasters all over again. Here’s how the story was handled at 10 stations, and what their listeners had to say.

• Karen Dalessandro, mornings, WMIL (FM 106.1) Milwaukee: “We talked about it in our ‘Nashville News’ report and posted a poll question on Facebook, which received a mixed reaction. Politics is such a no-win situation, no matter what you say, somebody will disagree, so we didn’t take calls on it. It was reminiscent of the Chicks incident, but they had huge careers at the time and Hank Jr. doesn’t have nearly as much to lose.”

• Jeff Elliott, mornings, WIRK West Palm Beach, Fla.: “We didn’t spend any time on the Hank Jr. comment. We were more interested in Natalie Maines comments… Thanks for the cheap shot at radio Natalie! [But] almost every call we took supported the Chicks. Our P1s would buy tickets to their show, and if they find a hit anytime soon, we’d play it.”

• Laurie DeYoung, mornings, WPOC Baltimore: “I included the story in our Nashville news segment (the original incident and the apology) and it also got a couple of mentions in our regular newscasts. We did nothing outside of that in my show simply because no one is really talking about Hank Williams Jr. these days. Lots of younger country music fans don’t even know who he is outside of the Monday Night Football theme song.”

• Ramblin’ Ray Stevens, mornings, WUSN (US 99.5) Chicago: “We just ran the audio, and let listeners call in. It’s funny how people ‘hear’ things. After we ran the audio, it was funny [to note] that Hank didn’t call Obama ‘Hitler,’ he used it as a hard and stupid comparison as to how nuts it would be for the two to be golfing.
  
  “Our listeners had a harder time with Hank calling a sitting president the ‘enemy,’ pretty much a 50/50 split for or against Hank. A lot of callers cried foul on his ‘right to free speech,’ to which I respond, ‘I have a right to free speech as well, just not on this CBS station.’
  
  “There were some comparisons to the Dixie Chicks, but we all know that you can’t burn a Hank Jr. CD, ’cause even Hank’s CDs could kick your ass.
  
  “It was pretty low key overall, but stupid comments are part of the Chicago landscape so this city is immune to it.”
  

Stevens also blogged about the controversy, writing, “Here's the real dealeo. Hank looked stupid making these comments. He’s not relevant in Nashville anymore, and he just seemed out of touch. The real idiot is the producer of the ‘Fox & Friends’ morning show for having him on the show.”

• Kris Rochester of the syndicated Tony & Kris morning show: “We briefly mentioned it, played the audio, [and] pointed out the difference over Natalie was that Hank immediately said he was sorry he disrespected the office of the President, even though he does not see eye to eye [with him]. Nobody seemed to care what he said. Are Hank’s political views that important to anybody? He’s a country boy, he’ll survive… RIM SHOT.”

• Jeff Roper, mornings, WTQR Greensboro/Winston-Salem, N.C.: “After setting up the story and playing the audio from Fox NewsChannel back on the air, our listeners understood Hank’s analogy was extreme and off the cuff. You could hear him stumble after he said it, leading us to think he has realized what he just said and how it might have come across.
  
  “Hank’s rebellious attitude and spirit are the reason country fans love him and his music, but some thought his comments were out of line. Others said it was a horrible choice of words, understanding his attempt to polarize Obama and Boehner.
  
  “I asked the question on the air, ‘Should ESPN have pulled Hank from MNF?’ Phones lit immediately and you can see more feedback on our Facebook page. Callers were very passionate about how they felt the network was punishing him for having an opinion, and how important the First Amendment is to them.
  
  “The Dixie Chicks came into the conversation as well, when callers scolded artists like the Chicks and Hank for using their platform to ‘bash the president.’ Some listeners were quick to point out that Hank was openly participating in a political discussion and he knew he was on national TV, whereas the Dixie Chicks comments were made on stage in another country.
  
  “One caller concluded that the best solution for the situation is to elect Charlie Daniels president, Bocephus vice president, and Ted Nugent, secretary of defense.
  
  “We aired as many opinions as possible from all angles, and it was very emotional, engaging radio.”

• Chris Carr, mornings, WUBE Cincinnati: “We put Hank’s audio on the air and let the audience go at it (if they wanted to) on our Open Mic segment during the show. That’s the beauty of that segment, it’s topical. We threw it out there and welcomed everyone’s opinion, but let them hash it out with each other. The bit fuels itself.
  
  “We heard everything. Some people thought the [Hitler] comparison was far too strong and totally unnecessary, while others didn’t like ESPN pulling his intro from MNF because they felt he was just speaking his mind. Many listeners didn’t think it was very productive of him to come up with an analogy by using one of the most despised figures in all of history in the same breath as our President.”

And Carr says some listeners drew the dotted line to the Dixie Chicks incident as well. “Some didn’t understand the difference while others called in to offer their explanation on what they felt was different about it. We heard people question Hank’s relevance, and others vent that the Chicks were taken down while at the top of their game.”

• Scott Gaines, morning host, Dial Global’s “Country Today” format (which is heard on 93 stations across the country): “Listeners were very split right down the middle, [with some saying] he should be allowed to have his opinion via the First Amendment, and the other side that said ban his music and fire him.
  
  “He hasn’t had a hit in 20 plus years, but he has a gold library that plays on most classic country stations. Do you pull that music and ‘Dixie Chick’ him?… What will radio programmers do? Some will pull his music. [As a programmer I] would take polls on my Web sites and social media and let my listeners choose.
  
  “Hank is very opinionated and boisterous and that’s no secret. Is he sorry for what he said? He did put out a retraction stating what he meant to say, but I believe he knew what he was saying and realized he stepped on a political landmine. You can’t make accusations like that without it coming back to bite you. Regardless [of] where you fall in the political spectrum, it just wasn’t good judgment to say that.
  
  “Hank is a rebel and a Monday Night fixture and will be missed, but some people don’t find his outlandish thoughts to be endearing. I love the theme to MNF and ‘Born to Boogie.’ I will miss him.”

• Ann Phibian, mornings, WFGE (Froggy 101) State College, Pa.: “We chatted about Hank twice [yesterday] AM. One caller said he thought Hank had the right to say whatever he wanted. I mentioned the Dixie Chicks and he basically agreed that they could say whatever they wanted, too… The question is [also] posted on the Froggy 101 Facebook wall. Our listeners seem to be taking the free speech side.”

• Kelly Nash, mornings, WCOS Columbia, S.C.: “We talked about it, and posted a poll on our blog. We seemed to have the same opinion as most of our listeners: who cares? Hank is a goofball who said something stupid. Later that day he apologized.
  
  “The huge difference between this and the Dixie Chicks is Natalie didn’t let her emotions get the best of her and say something stupid. She thought about it, said it in concert, and kept clarifying it for three or four days. Finally, she ‘apologized’ for being disrespectful to the President, but the apology never said she was wrong for going to another country and telling them that ‘We’re on the good side with y’all.’ That’s more than disrespectful to all Americans who, by that statement, are on the ‘bad side.’
  
  “Also, Hank didn’t call Obama ‘Hitler.’ He compared Obama and Boehner golfing together [to] Hitler and Netanyahu. It a stupid analogy because neither was even alive when the other was. But Boehner could have been the Hitler in this lame analogy… Of course, when the guy on Fox said he had no idea what Hank was talking about, Hank went on to make his next analogy that Obama and Boehner are the Three Stooges. So some could stretch this and say that he called our President Larry, or Moe, or Curly. We’ll never be sure which Stooge was left out.
  
  “Hank needs to leave the analogies, and possibly some prescriptions, at home.”