US radio station exclusively playing Beyonce

Houston radio station News92 FM, which for the past three years broadcasted as a 24-hour news channel, announced it is playing only Beyonce songs, commercial free.

The stunt – which sees the station rebrand as B92FM with no announcer manning the desk – is directly linked to poor radio ratings and a mass staff layoff. News92 FM’s parent company Radio One let go all 47 employees from the station, announcing the news on its website on Monday.

“We’d like to thank the News92 staff for their outstanding service, our advertisers and each of you our listeners and web visitors for your support,” its statement read. “This difficult decision is a result of sustained poor ratings performance and significant financial losses over the past three years despite the substantial financial and human resources we invested.

“Unfortunately, the market hasn’t shown a sustainable appetite for news radio, but each of you motivated us daily to produce a high-quality news program. Together, we made history.”

According to The Houston Chronicle, News92 FM was ranked 26th in its market, capturing just 0.9% of the audience.

The 24-hour Beyonce format sees Radio One take on the practice of ‘stunting’, a frequently-used exercise among radio stations which are transitioning between formats or promoting itself.