Radio Station Plays Beyoncé’s Country Song After Discrimination Allegations: NPR

Beyoncé and Jay-Z are seen in the audience during the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 4, 2024 in Los Angeles.

Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

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Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Beyoncé and Jay-Z are seen in the audience during the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 4, 2024 in Los Angeles.

Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

An Oklahoma-based radio station said it is now playing Beyoncé’s new country single, “Texas Hold ‘Em,” after its initial decision not to play the song drew swift criticism from fans for what it perceives as narrowness. of views.

One fan said he emailed KYKC requesting the song and received the following response: “Hi, we don’t play Beyoncé on KYKC because we’re a country music station.”

He posted a screenshot of the response on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday morning. The post went viral, and the “Beyhive,” the term used to describe Beyoncé fans, flocked to make additional requests for “Texas Hold ‘Em,” one of two country songs Beyoncé released on Super Bowl Sunday.

A few hours later, KYKC posted an image of their show schedule, showing the song at the 2:28 p.m. time slot.

“We got a lot of calls for Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ‘Em,” the caption read. “It’s coming in minutes.”

KYKC responded to several comments under the post saying that they issued their initial response because they did not yet have access to the song. He also said that local listeners “didn’t really want us to play it.”

“I’ve heard R&B stations play Adele, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake with no problems and I didn’t tell them ‘Oh we won’t play your music because XYZ,'” one user said. “The same grace should be given when black musicians decide to pursue another genre of music (i.e.) country.”

“I totally agree…we love Beyoncé…we didn’t even have the song,” the station responded.

KYKC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a longer statement to The TennesseeRoger Harris, CEO of Southern Central Oklahoma Radio Enterprises (SCORE), said, “We’re a small-market station. We’re not in a position to break an artist or help him that much, so he has to fill the charts a little bit.” “It’s a little louder for us to add. But we love Beyoncé here. We play her on our (other top 40 and adult hits stations), but we’re not going to put her on our country station yet because it just came out.” “.

A similar backlash occurred in 2019 when artist Lil Nas X released “Old Town Road,” which combined elements of rap and country. Initially, the song charted on Billboard’s Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. But the publication later removed the song from the country list, claiming that it did not have enough country music elements. The decision was criticized by country mainstay Billy Ray Cyrus, who later appeared on the remix.

At 7:19 p.m. Tuesday, the station commented on Facebook that it had already played “Texas Hold ‘Em” twice.