PROVIDENCE — Shades of Bill Clinton, Tiger Woods, Elliot Spitzer and Mark Sanford: What might be called an affair affair has arisen in Rhode Island radio-land.

WHJY has dropped commercials from a Web site known as AshleyMadison.com, which bills itself as a provider of a service that would never have been public while Queen Victoria was on the throne. Described on its Web site as “the world’s most discreet dating service,” it helps the unhappily married find a fling on the side.

The Web site claims to have nearly five million members and to have six million visits a month. Its commercials employ steamy lyrics and dreamy music, and define infidelity as “exciting.” One asks, “Trapped in a sexless marriage, or just want to mix up your play list? Join AshleyMadison.com. It’s way better than an intern.”

That may have been a bit too much for WHJY. No one in authority at the station has returned calls from The Journal, but a publicist for AshleyMadison forwarded an e-mail she reported was sent to the site’s management by station employee Rick Andrade.

“Sorry,” the e-mail says, “but the station has gotten a ton of calls from people upset with us advertising the site. My GM [general manager] made the decision to pull the ads off. RI is the most Catholic state in the country, I thought we might get some calls but I figured it would take some time. You’re [sic] ads certainly got the word out!

“I apologize.”

“We were shocked,” was the response Thursday from Noel Biderman, founder and president of AshleyMadison, referring to the cancelation. Biderman called the radio station’s decision “un-American” and “problematic.”

When reached at WHJY Monday and read the e-mail that Biderman says Andrade sent to AshleyMadison, Andrade said he could not comment on the matter. He said he wasn’t sure anyone at the station would comment.

At the national level, an assistant to the chief communications officer for Clear Channel Communications, which is based in Texas, said the company is not commenting. Stacie Iverson did not respond to any questions from The Journal about when the commercials aired on WHJY or how a decision would be made to pull such an ad.

Biderman, who says that infidelity “is part of the landscape, part of the human condition,” said his company had planned to invest a half-million dollars in Rhode Island radio and television advertising.

“Providence is a conservative and religious community for the most part,” he said. But, he said, referring to the ban of the commercials on the ground of content, “I’m surprised that this is still going on.”

He said he runs a legal business.

“We have a right to exist,” he said. “There’s lots of ads out there for alcoholic beverages that will cause disease and addiction for tens of thousands this year — ads on every sporting event. Then there’s an erectile dysfunction ad I see every night on TV.

“I believe if you are a legal business, you should have the right to run your campaigns.”

Biderman also said the commercials, in their brief run with WHJY, had brought a strong response from Little Rhody.

“Our marketing department told me we had thousands of members from Rhode Island, not an unusual response,” he said.

“Most people have come to realize that an office romance is really a slippery slope. Someone is going to lose their job. Going to a singles bar is going to end badly as well. AshleyMadison is a great alternative for those people who have made that decision to stray.”

Biderman said his company’s research indicates that folks from the rest of Rhode Island, more than just Providence, feel the itch and are interested in making surreptitious dalliances. He said Rhode Islanders can look forward in 2010 to finding AshleyMadison promoted on other radio stations, and on late-night television and in newspapers, too.

With reports from

Kate Bramson

tmorgan@projo.com