Radio station lays off 47 staff, plays only Beyonce tunes

Beyonce. Photo/AP

It seems some people really are Crazy in Love with Beyoncé after a Houston radio station abandoned its news service to play her songs non-stop.

News92 FM officially closed down on Tuesday, letting 47 staff members go after a long financial struggle, only to come back to life with around-the-clock, ad-free dedication to the pop star.

Listeners will no longer hear news reports, traffic updates and weather forecasts, because who needs those when you have Beyoncé's music to get you through the day?

She was born and raised in the Texas city, after all.

But while this might seem light-hearted, the surprising change of format was confirmed by the station and described as a "difficult decision", taken because of "sustained poor ratings performance and significant financial losses over the past three years".

"Unfortunately, the market hasn't shown a sustainable appetite for news radio," a statement read.

Beyoncé's most devoted fans, known as the BeyHive on Twitter, are going wild over this news.

Omg Beyoncé has her own radio station in Houston! It only plays her music! 😭😭 it's Bey 92.1. There is a heaven on earth. 👑🐝

— Janaye Penn (@PrettyMissJay) October 9, 2014

It remains to be seen whether the new Beyoncé station will be a permanent move, but spokesperson Yashima Azilove has told fans to "stay tuned".

"She's Queen Bee. In looking to make a transition, we go back to what we know," she said. "We know urban radio. We're in Houston, the combination seemed like a winning one."

News92 FM is not the only station to have pulled such a stunt, however.

Nelly's Hot In Herre began playing relentlessly on a San Francisco radio station earlier this year, according to Slate, while a Milwaukee station played "songs about cheating inspired by Tiger Woods" for a whole day in 2010 and temporarily rebranded itself as Tiger 106.9.

- Independent