KEAN
Station Information
Call Letters: KEAN (now KXYL)
Frequency: 1240 AM
Location: Brownwood, TX
KEAN banned The Beatles!
Evidence of the Ban:
According to the Associated Press (as printed by the Abilene Reporter-News on August 4, 1966), "Radio station KEAN of Brownwood has banned Beatle records." The AP later provided an update (as printed in The Victoria Advocate on August 16, 1966) stating, "'We have been amazed at the reaction of teen-agers in favor of our action," said Pat Davidson, president of radio station KEAN in Brownwood. He said KEAN disc jockey Riney Jordan had disbanded a 1,500-member Beatle Booster Fan Club he organized in 1963 and members have been mailing in their cards."
The Religion News Service reported (as printed in The Abilene Reporter-News on August 17, 1966), "Radio station KEAN here is among several state stations continuing the ban on Beatle music resulting from statements by John Lennon that the group is more popular than Jesus Christ. Mrs. Pat Davidson, station president, said she was surprised at the notice given the action since the organization had engaged in no theatrics in banning the music. 'We simply made an editorial statement during one newscast explaining why no more Beatle records would be played on our programs,' she said. Mrs. Davidson indicated response to the act was overwhelmingly favorable with teenagers from throughout the listening area calling to express their agreement with the action. The eighth grade class of Bangs Junior High called in a body in addition to groups from points as far away as San Saba, she explained. She said that outside of one prankster, no youngster had asked to hear a Beatle record during any of the station's nightly request shows."
Notes:
KEAN was a 1000-watt station which had nightly request music shows on its 1966 programming schedule, as well as at least one Spanish-language show. In May 1966, it gave five hours of programming to live speeches by temperance activists and evangelists in opposition to a proposition on liquor sales prior to the voting. That same month, the station mounted an advocacy campaign on the air and in the community for the removal of the Brownwood city manager due to his "attitude and continued disregard of manners."
On September 3, 1966, Billboard magazine had a brief article reporting, "The wave of stations switching to modern country music formats continues to sweep the nation. Latest stations to change include 1,000-watter KOGT in Orange, Tex., which beams around the clock; KALB in Alexandia, La., is programming six and a half hours hours daily; KEAN in Brownwood, Tex., is going 12 hours a day with country music; KVLB in Cleveland, Tex., is mixing country music with Hot 100 records according to new program director Jeff McClain." It's worth noting that three out of the four stations cited had banned The Beatles, so there's a possibility that the controversy pushed some stations away from pop music into country.
Current Info:
phone: (325) 646-3535
General Manager email: rextackett@wendlee.com
News Director/KXYL Morning Show Host email: celinda.hawkins@wendlee.com
Correspondence:
The station was contacted to see if they want to apologize to The Beatles, but they did not respond.