Country music radio station under fire for refusing to play Beyonce song

An Oklahoma radio station has responded after facing backlash for not playing Beyoncé.

Beyoncé may be more widely known for her R&B, hip-hop and pop tunes, but she's recently released two country songs ahead of her latest album release in March.

Alas, despite the new tunes being classified as part of the country genre, 100.1 KYKC radio station in Oklahoma - known for its country playlists - initially said it wouldn't be playing music by the artist.

100.1 KYKC came under fire from Queen Bey fans after it denied their requests to play her music.

One listener shared a post to X with a screenshot of an email they sent to the station. The user wrote: "I requested Texas Hold ‘Em at my local country radio station (KYKC) and after requesting, i received an email from the radio station stating “We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station. @BeyLegion."

And it didn't take long for the BeyHive to swarm to X to call out the station, Beyoncé Legion stating: "#BeyHive! Let's kindly educate Oklahoma country radio station 1001 KYKC that Beyoncé's upcoming project and already released singles are indeed country music! Remember to be kind and diplomatic."

Getty Images/ James Devaney/ GC Images

Others decided to ring up the station, with one X user claiming that when they called the station, they were told Beyoncé's song 'isn't high enough on the charts for them to play'.

Another post in the thread saw Score Broadcasting - KYKC's copyright holder - respond to another person's email, writing: "We certainly will when it gets higher."

And it would seem the radio station has backtracked, taking to its X account to share its playlist for 13 February 13; who should be on the list for 2:28pm? Queen Bey.

The caption reads: "Lots of call coming in for Beyoncé’s 'Texas Hold ‘Em'. It’s coming up in minutes."

However, fans still aren't completely happy, with some claiming the station's decision to not include Beyoncé's music is an example of 'black racism in country music'.

X/ @100.1KYKC

One user said: "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."

"This station needs to be held accountable for their blatant racism and discrimination against Beyoncé," another user added.

Score Broadcasting's general manager Roger Harris told Today.com in a statement: "We initially refused to play it in the same manner if someone requested us to play the Rolling Stones on our country station. 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.

"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."

A spokesperson for Score Broadcasting told UNILAD: "First of all, we are a minority owned station group and abhor anything related to racism and not treating people equalliy.

"We did not know that Beyonce' (who we play on two other stations...a LOT) was putting out a new country song....secondly...we didn't have it...

"So...as soon as we learned about the song...and as soon as people started calling about it...we spent a few hours getting the song and then adding it to the playlist now on THREE stations.

We love Beyonce' and have supported her career from the begining."