KBON Mamou
For radio folks in Louisiana, the prevailing wisdom had long been that Louisiana music was best left to early mornings, weekends, or specialty programs. KBON did not completely escape that pattern, but it broke it more successfully than anyone else. On its air, a traditional Cajun song with accordion and French lyrics might sit between country and classic rock, as if that were the most natural thing in the world.
The station went on the air from Eunice in 1997, founded by Paul Marx, a Crowley native raised in a French-speaking household. Marx had served in the Navy in Vietnam, recorded several 45s as a singer, and spent years playing Louisiana music on KSIG and KJEF before starting his own station. He joked that other stations treated people like “part-time or weekend Cajuns.” KBON would be different. Its call letters played on the French phrase c’est bon, and its motto, “Louisiana Proud,” matched a daily slogan of cultural preservation: “Let us, before we die, gather up our heritage and offer it to our children.”
Technically licensed to Mamou, KBON’s studio sits in downtown Eunice, near the Liberty Theater. The space itself sounds like the format: antique radios, festival posters, a vintage KSIG microphone, old liquor bottles, musician signatures, local clippings, and Louisiana memorabilia pressed into one room.
This video from Summer 2025 – It’s a great song by Travis Matte, plus a pretty funny fake commercial from Todd Ortego.
KBON’s strength is its mixed inheritance. Derek Landry and Sterling Burleigh Jr. keep French alive on weekend mornings. “Gumbo” Phil Daigle carries the broad Louisiana playlist into weekday afternoons. Todd Ortego brings Swamp ’n’ Roll and a deep record-store instinct. The station took criticism for playing zydeco, but Marx held to the larger idea: this was not one narrow museum of tradition, but a station for Louisiana music, all of it, still arguing and still alive. Paul Marx passed away in 2019, but the station is going strong – and boasts a significant online following, as well as a loyal following in Acadiana.
This is a “static battle” video, a New Orleans station is battling with KBON. The more I drove north (leaving Houma), KBON came in stronger and stronger.
