I'm not a country fan but I have read more than one comment from them slamming country singers, and it's actually embarassing. These three seem to see themselves as the new celebrated lefty icons of the moment--lefties love it when those perceived as conservative turn--and you can almost imagine them thinking about the applause and laughs they'll get at some Hollywood party for this.
But they come off as rich B's who piss on the people they USED to hang with. It's childish and as I said, embarassing. I don't know their backgrounds but they come off like spoiled rich girls.
I'm not sure I agree that the Dixie Chicks don't need Country radio. That is where they earned their biggest following and no one outside of country really knew much about them (despite their playing the Grammy's, etc.) prior to their anti-Bush rant. They somewhat-rock style played well on a few songs, but their first two albums were mostly hard-core country, which is what they stated they were all about back then. Once they insulted Bush, their bread-and-butter fan base (country) abandoned them en masse and the MSM picked them up. Since then, they have been nothing but arrogant in their assessment of the whole mess and have continued to diss country music icons and belittle country music fans. Their album sales reflect this. For the most part, rock circles have not given them much airplay and no other genre really fits with their style.
As for playing on Adult Contemporary, I used to DJ at an Adult Contemporary station and I can tell you that MAYBE 1/2 of what they put out would be suitable for that format. From what I have heard, most of their current album is heavy on classic country riffs, with some rock mixed in. That doesn't play all that well on AC stations.
They country part of it also doesn't mix well with rock stations and hip-hop is completely out of their style. I just don't see them getting nearly as much air play as they once did precisely because they alienated their country fanbase. Coming out and slamming Reba was the icing on the cake. Prior to the release of the current album, there was talk in country circles of letting the past go and giving them airplay. THEY screwed that up by their comments just before the release and then slamming Reba and other country acts on top of it. I submit that is also one of the biggest reasons they pushed their release date back, because they would have to go up against albums from much bigger country stars. 515,000 in opening week sales isn't much to sneeze at. I suspect they could get that much in sales just on the "controversy" and from their willing accomplices in the MSM and lib circles. Let's see how much they sell in the next several weeks.
They were dissing other music stars even before the "incident." This thing always stuck in my mind. I was watching an interview and they were talking about how they play team bingo or poker or some card game and they have to have unusual names, like the OVER THE LINE GAMES, if you know what I'm talking about. OK, so their name was "KENNY CHESNEY STUFFS CHEESE IN HIS PANTS." Now, if that's some kind of inside joke between them, KEEP IT TO YOURSELVES. Even then, I realized they had no class.