Jacksonville secured a major scoop when it signed up The Beatles. Miami and Tampa had also expressed an interest in hosting the group, galvanized by fan pressure and the interests of local radio. Tampa's spark was a letter from 11 year old Debra [Debbie] Stilley, described by Patrick Kelly in the Tampa Tribune of 12.7.64, p.19-A:
It is notable that Tampa's elite was taking The Beatles seriously as a cultural force, even though Florida's newspapers still assumed their mature readers did not rate The Beatles as songwriters or musicians. The same article goes on to describe the Tribune's first correspondence with The Beatles' US representatives in New York:
The other "Southern city" was Kansas City, discussed here and here, whose promoter Charles O. Finley eventually got the group for $150,000 but made a loss.
By July 22, the mayor, Nick Nuccio, had written directly to Brian Epstein, as reported again by Kelly (Tampa Tribune, p.2-B).
Nuccio's plea had an amusing fate. At the Jacksonville press conference on September 11, Derek Taylor handed Paul McCartney the keys to the city on Nuccio's behalf but mispronounced Nuccio's name twice (see Carol Stubbe's report here). At the same press conference, available on Youtube, Jean Morris asks John Lennon about coming to Tampa (from: 1:06).
Three fans who believed that Nuccio had gained them access to the press conference were turned away disappointed (Tampa Times, 14.9.64, p.5-D)
Snobbery was still expressed in many quarters. Many newspapers refused to review the book edition of "A Hard Day's Night", or "Love Letters To the Beatles", published mid-July 1964, edited by Bill Adler, including the Miami Herald on August 30th, which made a point of snubbing both.
Radio stations played a far more supportive role but were also competitive. Sponsor WAPE in Jacksonville discouraged Tampa from trying to host a Beatles concert, and showed its proprietorial rights by having its logo on the tickets. However, radio stations in Tampa and Miami, such as WALT and WFUN, among others, supplied trains and planes to the concert. My thanks to Courtney O'Connell for supplying these:
Larry Kane's station WFUN gave away 100 tickets for Florida Tours super constellation flight to the concert (Miami News, 19.9.64, p.8-B). Rival station WQAM reportedly gave away 123 tickets (Miami News, 12.9.64, p.3-A).
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