An Oklahoma country radio station that came under fire earlier this week for not playing Beyoncé’s new song. “Texas Holdem” now plays the melody.
KYKC-FM added the song to its country playlist, Roger Harris, general manager of South Central Oklahoma Radio Enterprises, which oversees KYKC, told CBS News in an email Wednesday. Harris said she was also featured in the playlists of two other stations she oversees, KCFC-FM and KADA-FM.
The move comes after a a fan asked for “Texas Hold ‘Em” – a country song about Beyoncé’s home state of Texas – only to have the request shut down by the station.
The fan posted SCORE’s response on social media, which read: “We don’t play Beyoncé on KYKC because we are a country music station.”
The response sparked an outcry and accusations of racism online from Beyhive – Beyoncé’s fervent fan base.
Harris told CBS News that the station was not initially aware that Beyoncé had released two country music songs – “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” – after Super Bowl LVIII, and explained that the response to the fan was a “standard response” since KYKC doesn’t play his music – but does on two of his others. Additionally, Harris said KYKC “didn’t even have the song.”
“Because we are a small station, we are not served by the major labels like the major stations do,” he added.
After emails, calls and other requests flooded the station about the song, Harris said they made an effort to track it down, listened to it and agreed that it sounded “country”. The train station I even wrote an article about it on social networks.
“We have nothing against Beyoncé…and we wish her the best in her foray into country music,” Harris told CBS News, adding that she was an “icon.”
“We actually want artists to NOT be boxed into certain genres or formats,” Harris said. “If it’s good music, it’s good music.”
The KYKC incident echoed a similar sentiment about whether race was a factor in determining genres when Lil Nas X’s song “Old Town Road” was removed. on the Billboard Hot Country Chart in early 2019. Billboard then justified its decision by saying that the song “does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music”.
However, it later returned to the charts after Lil Nas for a remix of “Old Town Road”.
This isn’t the first time Beyoncé has been embroiled in country music-related controversy. At the 50th anniversary of the Country Music Awards in 2016, she performed her song “Daddy’s Lessons” with The Chicks, which was not well received by some country music fans.