Brownwood "Feels Like Home" ?

Brownwood radio host’s epithet draws complaints Host apologizes after some listeners, advertisers object to
use of anti-gay term; City Councilman also criticized for joking response to incident

By Gary Barlow
Staff Reporter - Dallas Voice
A Brownwood radio talk show host’s use of the word “fag” last week drew a rebuke from the station’s owner
and an apology from the host after some listeners and advertisers complained.
Talk show host Mikey Wayne of KXYL-FM, during a discussion about the Boy Scouts during his morning show
on June 6, reportedly said, “Why don’t they just have a fag scouts group,” according to several listeners who
objected to the comment.
A number of listeners were further angered when Brownwood City Councilman Ed McMillian called in to the
show the next day to say that he had won a six-pack on a bet that Brownwood restaurant owner Steve Harris
would call the station to complain about the “fag” remark. McMillian called after he heard Harris call in, then
called and also asked the talk show host to use the word again so he could win another bet.
“This is not going to be tolerated,” Harris said on Tuesday. “You don’t have to be gay to be offended by this.
They would never use the N-word to refer to blacks. They wouldn’t refer to Asians as ‘gooks.’”
The station is owned by Watts Communications, which also operates three other radio stations in the area.
Company owner Phil Watts said that he chided Wayne after the incident.
“He made a mistake and said he was sorry,” Watts said. “We told him, ‘We’re not asking you to compromise
your beliefs. We’re just asking you not to use that terminology anymore,’ and he agreed.”
Watts added that Wayne has since apologized on the air for using the anti-gay epithet.
But Councilman McMillian was unrepentant about his role, which he claimed was misinterpreted.
“I made a bet, but it wasn’t against them, the homosexuals,” McMillian said. “This whole little incident got blown
out of proportion. I’m a plumber, and how many jokes and ads do you see about the ‘plumbers’ crack?’ I don’t
get bent out of shape about that.”
But Harris and Jason Snediger, a Dallas resident with ties in Brownwood, said that the incident is symptomatic
of the depth of the homophobia still prevalent in many places in Texas.
The central Texas town is no stranger to controversy over gays, having hosted Anita Bryant during her crusade
against gay rights 24 years ago. Brownwood was also the setting for a still-unsolved 1996 murder that activists
strongly believe was an anti-gay hate crime.
“It’s been an ongoing deal there as far as racial stuff and homophobia,” Snediger said.
In 1977, Bryant, who turned her objections over an equal rights ordinance in Dade County, Fla., into a national
crusade, was brought to Brownwood for what was billed as Freedom Night ’77. Brownwood officials
summoned all the law enforcement officers and volunteers they could round up to meet possible gay
demonstrators from Dallas and elsewhere.
Prior to her appearance, one member of the law enforcement contingent at the Bryant event told the
now-defunct Dallas Times-Herald that if any gays came to the event, “Ever’ one of them would go back with a
dent in his head.”
Harris said that Brownwood has changed since those days, but not enough to suit him and many other
residents.
“This city’s trying to rebuild itself, and this is not going to attract outsiders,” Harris said.
“I’m trying to promote a community that’s accepting of all people. I don’t want the rest of Texas to hear that
kind of thing and think that all Brownwoodians are like that.”
Harris and Snediger weren’t the only people in Brownwood offended by the remark. Watts acknowledged that
at least three advertisers canceled advertising on KXYL following last week’s events.
“I made them take all our commercials off that station,” said Charlotte Parrack, manager of the Heartland Mall in
Brownwood. “I plan to keep all our ads off there as long as I’m alive and breathing. I don’t want to be associated
with a radio station that takes political stands like that.”
Parrack said that she’s sure Wayne regrets the incident, but said she wants the station’s owner to realize how
seriously she and others in the community feel about the issue.
“I’m satisfied that the DJ made an off-the-cuff remark that wasn’t appropriate,” Parrack said. “I think he
realized that he shouldn’t have. I think he regrets it.”
Nevertheless, she said, “Our ads will never run on that station.”
Watts said that as owner of the station, he told Wayne that while he’s free to express his opinion on the talk
show, he can do it without insulting people.
“I had a serious talk with him about it,” Watts said. “I very much regret him doing it. We don’t want to hurt
anyone.”