The Rutland Daily Herald on August 5, 1966, reported, "Rutland's two local radio stations announced Thursday that it's going to be a hard day's night for the Beatles over Rutland's airwaves. Both stations WHWB and station WSYB said the long-haired rock 'n' roll quartet's recordings will be banned from the turntables for at least the immediate future.... The anti-Beatle ban spread to Rutland when WHWB manager Frank E. McCormack announced Thursday morning that the Beatles would beat no more over WHWB until Lennon made a public retraction of his statement. McCormack said he invoked the ban because of popular feeling against Lennon's statement in Rutland, and because most Beatles fans are impressionable youths. "They can't go around making irresponsible statements like that and get away with it," McCormack said. "Thousands of people died for the Christian religion and a bunch of fellows with long hair shouldn't be allowed to mock it."... McCormack commented earlier in the day: "The Beatles are going downhill, anyway. They're not anywhere near as popular as they were at first."

On August 8, 1966, the Daily Herald updated the story. "WSYB, one of the two local stations which said Thursday that Beatles music would not be played, reinstated the long-haired rock 'n' roll quartet.... However, WHWB, the station which initiated the ban in the Rutland area, still was not playing Beatles music Sunday night.... The eventual beneficiaries of the ban may be the Beatles, since at least one city record shop reported an upswing in Beatles record sales in the wake of the ban."

Another report by the Daily Herald came on August 13, "Rutland's Beatle ban was lifted completely Friday, one week after two local radio stations said they were declaring the long-haired British rock 'n' roll group's music off limits. Frank McCormack, general manager of radio station WHWB, said in a prepared statement: 'After listening to John Lennon's public apology concerning his remarks on Christianity, we have lifted our ban on music by the Beatles.'... One disc jockey commented during an announcement that WHWB had lifted its ban: 'The Yellow Submarine sails again.'"

On July 27—mere days before the first Beatles ban began at Alabama station WAQY in response to Lennon's "bigger than Jesus" quote—the Rutland Daily Herald coincidentally ran a story about offense taken by some listeners regarding pop music lyrics.

"Local radio stations have not been caught up by the recent nationwide music censorship controversy," wrote reporter Jim Icken. "Local stations have not censored some of the recordings knocked down in the national scramble. The present record censorship problem came to light with the song 'Rainy - Day Woman Nos. 12 and 35' by Bob Dylan. A story in the July 1 issue of Time stated that many stations across the United States had banned this record because its allegedly double-edged lyrics dealt with marijuana. The report said that in teen terms, 'to get stoned today does not mean to get drunk, but to get high on drugs.' According to the story, 'rainy-day woman' is a narcotics addict's term for a marijuana cigarette." Icken then brought The Beatles into the conversation, writing, "Even the Beatles have resorted to suggestive phrases in two recent songs, 'Norwegian Wood' and 'Day Tripper,' critics say."

The article cited Ed Lloyd, program director for WHWB, as saying, "Every record is an individual question mark." Lloyd explained that the station tries to keep a balance among rock 'n' roll, country music, folk music and standards. He also felt, according to the article, "that music is generally swinging back to a better type," pointing to current music out by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin.

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