Michael Jackson songs are starting to seep back on to New Zealand airwaves, after some stations made the call to drop them earlier this year.

In March, the singer's music was scrapped from New Zealand radio stations after Leaving Neverland, an explosive documentary by filmmaker Dan Reed, focusing on claims by two men who were close to Jackson as children and claim the singer molested them for years.

At the time, MediaWorks Group Content Director Leon Wratt said the decision to not play Jackson's music primarily affected The Breeze and More FM, but also extended to the network's wider brands.

SUZANNE PLUNKETT Michael Jackson songs are starting to make the playlists of some New Zealand radio stations after being dropped earlier this year.

"We [MediaWorks] aren't deciding whether Michael Jackson is guilty of paedophilia, we're just making sure our radio stations are going to play the music people want to hear," he said.

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He added: "The audience has always been pretty split over Michael [Jackson]," before stressing that audience trends guided the stations' playlists.

A representative for NZME echoed Wratt's statement in March, saying "NZME station playlists change from week to week, and right now Michael Jackson does not feature on them".

​NZME brands include ZM, The Hits, Flava, Coast, and Newstalk ZB, among others.

﻿However, in recent months, MediaWorks' The Breeze and NZME's Coast radio stations were playing some of Jackson's music again.

A MediaWorks spokesperson said station playlists were the results of regular listener testing.

"The songs that feature on air are a reflection of audience response," she said.

"In the last couple of months, The Breeze has seen positive listener survey results for some of his songs and, as a result, those songs have been added to the playlist on low rotation."

NZME entertainment group director Dean Buchanan said songs by Michael Jackson had always been included in the bank of songs available to programmers on some NZME radio stations.

"Currently we have a small selection of Michael Jackson songs playing on Coast," he said.

"Our audiences are constantly front of mind when we decide what makes the airwaves, regardless of if it's a song, commercial or an interview. Because of this, NZME radio network's playlists evolve from week to week based on popularity, relevance and to ensure variety for our listeners."