On August 13, Billboard magazine reported, "New York's WABC has reportedly put Beatles' records on the verboten list, but, at presstime, the switchboard operator at the station said that not one of the station's staff members could be reached."

As of August 17, according to the Associated Press, "WABC, New York City, said they had lifted the ban in view of Lennon's apology for his remark that the Beatles were 'more popular that Jesus.' "

It's a bit shocking that this station that supported The Beatles so much—one that even had jingles recorded in 1964 calling themselves "WA-Beatle-C"—would ban them.  "Paperback Writer" was #16 on WABC's weekly music survey on August 2, 1966, and then all songs by The Beatles were subsequently eliminated from the station for a short while. The following week, "Yesterday" and "Michelle" began returning to WABC's airwaves, and then "Yellow Submarine" was #13 on their weekly survey on August 16th.

Phone: (212) 613-3800

Address: WABC, P.O. Box 1777, New York, NY 10163