A country music radio station in Oklahoma has been criticized after it refused to play a Beyoncé song, and they have since responded.
Despite Beyoncé delving into the country genre with her latest releases, 100.1 KYKC, a radio station in Oklahoma known for its country music playlists, decided not to play the music.
The backlash ensued when fans of Beyoncé, also known as the BeyHive, took to social media to express their disappointment and call out the station for its decision.
One listener shared their frustration on X, revealing an email response from the station, stating: "We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station."
The criticism intensified as more fans joined the online conversation, with some questioning whether the station's reluctance to play Beyoncé's music was rooted in racial bias within the country music industry. Despite the station's eventual inclusion of Beyoncé's songs in its playlist, concerns about racial discrimination lingered among some fans.
"Why did it take backlash for a country radio station to play a new country song that is climbing the charts? Will Lana Del Ray have the same obstacle? Hmm. Get it together KYKC. We aren’t here for any anti black racism in COUNTRY music which derived from Black musicians," one fan said.
Speaking to Today.com, Score Broadcasting's general manager Roger Harris said: "We initially refused to play it in the same manner if someone requested us to play the Rolling Stones on our country station.
"[The] fact is we play Beyonce’ on TWO of our other stations and love her... she is an icon. We just didn’t know about the song... then when we found out about it, we tried to get the song.... which we did and we have already played it 3 times on YKC, our country station. We also play her on 105.5, KXFC-FM and KADA-FM on 99.3."
Harris continued: "We are not a 'big boy' station and getting record companies to service us is tough. But... finally we got our hands on it, and based on the fan support, we decided to air it... truthfully, normally we would (usually) wait a while to see how the song performs on the charts and on bigger country stations than ours, as we are just the little guys."
The announcement of Beyoncé's new country music venture came during the Super Bowl, with two tracks - Texas Hold 'Em and 16 Carriages - immediately available to stream.
The new album will be released on March 29.
