The 1966 Radio Ban of The Beatles
Who Banned the Greatest Band in Popular Music History?
The Backstory
In 1966, The Beatles' John Lennon said the following in an interview: "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that, I'm right and I'll be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity." After these comments were published in a U.S. teen magazine, some radio stations across America banned The Beatles from their airwaves.
This website explores the scope of these Beatles radio bans, and an attempt to see how these radio stations feel today about having banned one of the most important and influential popular music groups in history.
The Hall of Shame
Based on historical research, there were more than 120 U.S. radio stations that announced a ban on Beatles music in August 1966. Here is the list of known radio stations (alphabetical by location). To find more about each station and their Beatles ban, click on station call letters or use the navigation bar (at left on desktop and using the ☰ menu on mobile; that list is alphabetical by station call letters).
Alabama
WRAB (Arab, AL)
WKAC (Athens, AL)
WAQY (Birmingham, AL)
WAGC (Centre, AL)
WBIB (Centreville, AL)
WHOS (Decatur, AL)
WMSL (Decatur, AL)
WLAY (Florence/Muscle Shoals, AL)
WARF (Jasper, AL)
WTUF (Mobile, AL)
WCRL (Oneonta, AL)
WEZQ (Winfield, AL)
WETU (Wetumpka, AL)
Arizona
KFIF (Tucson, AZ)
Florida
WDCF (Dade City, FL)
WDSP (DeFuniak Springs, FL)
WONN (Lakeland, FL)
WLOF (Orlando, FL)
WJOE (Port St. Joe, FL)
WPXE (Starke, FL)
WAUC (Wauchula, FL)
Georgia
WXLI (Dublin, GA)
WLCB (Moulton, GA)
WMTM (Moultrie, GA)
WOGA (Sylvester, GA)
WTIF (Tifton, GA)
WAYX (Waycross, GA)
Idaho
KTEE (Idaho Falls, ID)
Kentucky
Louisiana
KALB (Alexandria, LA)
KDBS (Alexandria, LA)
KFNV (Ferriday, LA)
KNOE (Monroe, LA)
KUZN (West Monroe, LA)
Maryland
WCUM (Cumberland, MD)
Massachusetts
WEIM (Fitchburg, MA)
WGAW (Gardner, MA)
WREB (Holyoke, MA)
WMNB (North Adams, MA)
WMNB-FM (North Adams, MA)
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
WKCU (Corinth, MS)
WABG (Greenwood, MS)
WLEF (Greenwood, MS)
WRBC (Jackson, MS)
WWUN (Jackson, MS)
WDAL (Meridian, MS)
North Carolina
WBAG (Burlington, NC)
WBBB (Burlington, NC)
WFLB (Fayetteville, NC)
WPET (Greensboro, NC)
WMFR (High Point, NC)
WRKB (Kannapolis, NC)
WRNB (New Bern, NC)
WYNA (Raleigh, NC)
WVCB (Shallotte, NC)
WTYN (Tryon, NC)
New Jersey
WLVP-FM (Franklin, NJ)
New Mexico
New York
Ohio
WAKR (Akron, OH)
WBNO (Bryan, OH)
WCOL (Columbus, OH)
WONE (Dayton, OH)
WHOT (Youngstown, OH) correspondence added
WHIZ (Zanesville, OH)
Oklahoma
KAKC (Tulsa, OK)
South Carolina
WCRE (Cheraw, SC)
WGSW (Greenwood, SC)
WHKP (Hendersonville, SC)
WLSC (Loris, SC) correspondence added
WKDK (Newberry, SC)
WORG (Orangeburg, SC)
WTYC (Rock Hill, SC)
WHCQ (Spartanburg, SC)
WBCU (Union, SC)
WCYL (York, SC)
South Dakota
KOBH (Hot Springs, SD)
Tennessee
Texas
KBBB (Borger, TX)
KEAN (Brownwood, TX)
KMIL (Cameron, TX)
KDET (Center, TX)
KVLB (Cleveland, TX)
KNRO-FM (Conroe, TX)
KGVL (Greenville, TX)
KETX (Livingston, TX)
KLUE (Longview, TX)
KMHT (Marshall, TX)
KBUS (Mexia, TX)
KEEE (Nacogdoches, TX)
KGNB (New Braunfels, TX)
KTEO (San Angelo, TX)
KWFR (San Angelo, TX)
KNAL (Victoria, TX)
KZEE (Weatherford, TX)
KANI (Wharton, TX)
Utah
KSVC (Richfield, UT)
Virginia
WBBI (Abingdon, VA)
WDVA (Danville, VA)
WFLS (Fredericksburg, VA)
WGAT (Gate City, VA)
WMEV (Marion, VA)
Vermont
Washington
These stations outside the U.S. also announced bans on The Beatles:
CHOV (Pembroke, Ontario, Canada)
SABC (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Radio Requete (Pamplona, Spain)
NCRV (The Netherlands)
More stations will be added to the above list as research uncovers additional evidence of bans.
Radio stations that still exist will be contacted to find out what they have to say today about banning The Beatles from their airwaves in 1966. Responses will be recorded on the station page on this site.
For an in-depth overview of the controversy which led to these bans, see Wikipedia.
Image of Beatles fans thanks to "Noord-Hollands Archief / Fotoburo de Boer"