Hit song ‘Royals’ dropped, added to radio station lineups
Kansas City Royals hall of famer George Brett throws out the ceremonial first pitch beforeof Game 3 of the American League baseball championship series Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum )
It’s a “Royal” rumble.
Two San Francisco radio stations have banned Lorde’s monster hit, “Royals,” during the World Series.
Stations 104.5 KFOG and 96.5 KOIT have pulled “Royals” from their lineups until after the series between the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals. The first game is Tuesday night in Kansas City.
In response, 99.7 The Point in Kansas City announced that it will play the song “on the hour, every hour, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.”
The station’s cheeky message: “We don’t play.”
Giants fans requested the ban in their city.
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“We’ve had several emails and social media comments stating that we should remove ‘Royals’ by Lorde until the San Francisco Giants win the World Series,” said a statement on the KOIT website.
As everyone in Kansas City, and apparently San Francisco, knows, Lorde was inspired to write the song after seeing a photo of George Brett in the July 1976 issue of National Geographic.
In March, the New Zealand teen’s mother, Sonja Yelich, told The Kansas City Star that her daughter used to collect vintage National Geographics.
Brett sent the singer an autographed No. 5 jersey when she was here in March. Along with his signature he wrote: “Lorde, you are Royal to me.” She called it one of the coolest things she owns.
Then in April the two finally got to meet face-to-face in Las Vegas.
So yeah, you can kind of see why Giants fans don’t want that song rattling around in their heads.
KOIT program director Brian Figula instituted the ban on his station on Friday, announcing: “Our listeners told us to do it, so we did it! As of 4 p.m. today we’ve removed Lorde-Royals from … our playlist until the end of the World Series. Go Giants, beat the Royals!”
In an announcement on its Facebook page, KFOG followed suit: “No offense, Lorde, but for the duration of the World Series, KFOG Radio will be a ‘Royals’-free zone. We’re sure you understand.”
Stargazing likes that 99.7 program director Tony Lorino is not “taking this lying down.”
Because no matter how hard they try, San Francisco fans will never be royals.
