On Monday, Country Insider reported that no Mediabase-monitored country stations had played the AI-generated act’s chart-topping “Walk My Walk.” As of Tuesday afternoon, that was still the case.

When Country Insider asked programmers last week about Breaking Rust, the AI-generated act that hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart with “Walk My Walk,” what they said they heard wasn’t promising.

“Maybe because I know they’re AI, they sound manufactured,” said Mike Moore, PD for Cumulus Media “New Country 101-Five” WKHX Atlanta. “The lack of real instruments bothers me, which is also an opinion I have about some of the songs by real artists. I could do without another snap track forever. Bottom line for me is that they don’t really stand out.”

Travis Moon, Director of Operations for Radio One Houston and PD of “93Q” KKBQ, identified a more fundamental problem. “They lack character and therefore, real connection to the lyrics due to the straight up perfect way they are constructed,” he said. “There is zero room for the little nuances that make a song actually special beyond just living on the novelty of being viral.”

Scott Lindy, founder of Lindy Media AI Consulting and a former major-market PD, heard something else: echoes. “It sounds, to me, like manufactured soul,” said Lindy, who listened specifically to identify vocal influences. “I couldn’t help but start listening for tells of the artists the voice may have been trained on. I heard echoes of Chris Stapleton, Jamey Johnson, Eric Church, Jason Isbell, but also got a vibe of Ray Charles, Solomon Burke and Bill Withers.”

Lindy noted that all Breaking Rust tracks follow a similar production template. “All of their music is primed for mash-up heaven,” he said. “Bass drum, beat, hand clap, beat, repeat. And the lyrics have the sheen of real-world pain, but the emotional depth just doesn’t show up. Ultimately, their predictability and the absence of any heart-punching lyrics I have never heard in my life yet completely understand made the novelty wear off quickly.”

For Dave Parker, PD for Sinclair Communications “FM106.1” WUSH Norfolk, VA, the issue extends beyond technical execution. “Maybe my judgment is clouded in knowing how the Breaking Rust songs were created, but there’s an indefinable connection between an artist and a listener when that art was sung and strummed by a sentient being relaying emotion, memories and hopes,” he said.

Parker acknowledged that computer technology plays a significant role in modern recording but drew a distinction. “When one considers the shared human appreciation of an individual creating something with their own physical talents, something most of us envy, country radio should hold firm to established values,” he said.

At least one programmer suggested a potential solution to allow programmers to make more informed decisions. Brent Michaels, PD for Buck Owens Broadcasting KUZZ Bakersfield, CA (550 AM/107.9 FM), proposed that AI-generated music carry a label similar to the explicit content warning on streaming services.

“I would be in favor of some type of regulation that would mark any piece of music completely constructed by artificial means to be marked as such,” Michaels said. “Think about the little E that goes next to an explicit song on any music service, something of that nature.”

Michaels emphasized that consumers should be free to listen to whatever they want, but transparency matters. “I can certainly understand the uproar of the songwriting community that what they do, and what this is, are being passed off as the same thing,” he said. “They’re not.”