Oklahoma country radio station relents and plays new Beyoncé song after fan backlash

Like Thanos, Beyoncé is inevitable. It's best not to resist.

KYKC 100.1 FM announced it will play Beyoncé's new country single, “Texas Hold 'Em,” after it initially shut down a request from a fan and faced widespread criticism from Beyoncé's BeyHive.

A fan said he emailed the Oklahoma-based radio station asking that the song — one of two country songs Beyoncé released on Super Bowl Sunday — be added to its lineup. KYKC rejected the request, responding, “Hi — we do not play Beyonce on KYKC as we are a country music station.”

A screenshot of the fan’s email and KYKC’s response quickly went viral on social media Tuesday morning as Beyoncé's ardent fan base made similar requests online. “Lots of calls coming in for Beyoncé's 'Texas Hold 'Em.' It's coming up in minutes,” KYKC wrote in a post made just a few hours later. The station also shared an image of its show schedule, which showed the song in a 2:28 p.m. time slot.

In a formal statement sent to The Tennessean, Roger Harris, the general manager of South Central Oklahoma Radio Enterprises (SCORE), said: “We are a small market station. We're not in a position to break an artist or help it that much, so it has to chart a little bit higher for us to add it. But we love Beyoncé here. We play her on our [other top 40 and adult hits stations] but we're not playing her on our country station yet because it just came out.”

KYKC commented on Facebook that it had already played “Texas Hold 'Em” twice as of 7:19 p.m. Tuesday, NPR reported.