There was a lot of response to last week’s column on the Farren Twins, a local group of musicians that had such an impact on Brownwood. Much of my mail regarding this topic mentioned the radio station, KEAN AM, with many requests to follow up with the story in that direction. Nostalgia for the meaningfulness of this local radio venture, plus reminisces on Eddye and the wonderful shows he hosted poured into my inbox. This radio station was something special.

The radio was the first medium to truly connect small towns with the wider world. It brought the sounds of life from across the world to even the most remote places. Before this, Brownwood was transitioning from a frontier town to a thriving business community helped along by the installation of the military training base at Camp Bowie.

Eddye Farren and family owned and operated the KEAN AM in the 1950s and 60s. The station was located down off the Brady highway beside Greenleaf Cemetery. According to Nice and Nasty in Brown County, by Ruth Spence, the KEAN AM radio station was purchased in February 1956 by the Farren Twins, Eddye and Jimmy and J.H. Childs. “The plant was in a tiny, run down building and had only 100 watts of power. Using Eddye’s knowledge of electronics and his good business judgment, the brothers slowly remodeled the station.” The twins, along with sister Pat Davidson and other family members produced content for various spots featuring local talent. “Cecil Holman had a rhythm and blues program on KEAN. Riney Jordan was hired to host a request show every night and became an instant success with the town’s teenagers.” “Those of us who were teenagers back then tuned in every night to hear Riney Jordan play the latest rock and pop music,” reader James Davis told me.

My friend Dr. Newbury chimed in with some stories about the Farrens and KEAN, wonderfully written as always! “They owned and operated Radio Station KEAN for several years, and generally speaking, sister Bonnie was the brains of the outfit. The twins’ brains were scattered! Jimmy and Eddye murdered the queen’s English (or king’s?), REGULARLY,” he recalled. “Their mother, Mary, had a program called, “The Trading Post of the Air.” She read free ads about people buying and selling goats, fresh eggs for sale, old car for trade, used lumber, etc. She’d read any postcard sent in. As a prank, the twins once sent a post card reading, ‘We buy stolen hubcaps–call 325-666-6666.’ I don’t remember the number, of course, but it was whatever number was assigned to the Radio Station. She read the card proudly: ‘We buy stolen hubcaps.’ Then, she gave the phone number, and repeated the message, adding, ‘Wait a minute. That’s our phone number, and we don’t buy stolen hubcaps!’”

Talented researcher Brian Jordan stepped in to add some comments he obtained from contacting Riney Jordan, who shared with him some of his recollections about his special relationship with Eddye. Riiney Jordan wrote. “I worked at KEAN as a DJ from 1960 to 66. Jimmie had already passed away, but I worked with Eddie and Pat, their sister. Eddie was one of the nicest men I’ve ever known. He literally became like a father figure to me, and was always so good to me. He was a constant smoker, and that contributed to his early death in the 70s. He had a wonderful sense of humor, too. I remember he said that “smoking kept him thin and that when he died, he would probably weigh 99 pounds … casket and all. Sadly, that was pretty accurate. I went to see him right before he died. My wife and I had moved to Grapevine where I began teaching school. I drove back to Brownwood to the hospital to see him. It was so shocking. Sometime around the mid 60s, he was elected to the City Council in Brownwood. He really loved that. He was one of a kind, and I am thankful that our paths crossed and that I got to know him.”

“I remember the Saturday nights at the old Coggin Chapel building on the campus of what a few years earlier had been a corner post of the old Daniel Baker College. They called it the ‘Hillbilly Jamboree’, starring The Farren Twins! Given little advance publicity was a teenager (me) who ran the concession stand (sharing profits with the Farrens) and also ATTEMPTED to pantomime a new number each week, and pretty horribly, I might add, sometimes not even remembering the lyrics. Still, I pantomimed, sometimes accompanying them on a few road gigs,” Dr. Newbury recalled.

Thanks to contributing reader Jim Osborn, I was able to locate the old KEAN building, down near the railroad tracks close to Greenleaf Cemetery. I went out there to have a look, and to think about why KEAN meant so much to so many. Radio brought the world together into a more united way of understanding. While there have been many different radio stations in Brownwood, this one stands out from the rest. Maybe that is because not only did the town of Brownwood tap into the world outside through radio, but through this particular station, KEAN, Brownwood was able to add of its own making to the growing stream of information and entertainment that radio created. Through the Farren family Brownwood connected to the larger world and the larger world could connect to Brownwood.

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Diane Adams is a local journalist whose columns appear Thursdays on BrownwoodNews.com. Comments regarding her columns can be emailed to [email protected].