Posts
Thursday, December 31, 2020
AFKN New Year 1970
Happy New Year 1946!
Happy 1946! In 1945 the network assembled the top bands in the country to celebrate the win:
New Year's Dancing Party. December 31, 1945. AFRS origination. Happy New Year's from bands around the country. An assembled program. Harry James and His Orchestra, Count Basie and His Orchestra, Freddy Martin and His Orchestra, Woody Herman and His Orchestra, Henry King and His Orchestra, Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra, Les Brown and His Orchestra, Artie Shaw and His Orchestra, Stan Kenton and His Orchestra, Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, Carmen Cavallaro and His Orchestra, Louis Prima and His Orchestra, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, Guy Lombardo and His Orchestra, Don Wilson
Monday, December 21, 2020
Wolfman Jack Christmas
Here's a 1975 visit with the Wolfman. It really is the most wonderful time of the year! Mark sent this in last year. Great stuff!
Roger Holste
Had this since 2010, the Korean Won dates from the mid 60s. He apparently did time at AFKN and AFVN. Anyone know Roger Holste?
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
SCN John Lennon tribute 1980
Okay it's a repeat, but 40 years ago we lost John Lennon. Here's how the next day sounded on the Southern Command Network in Panama.
Monday, November 9, 2020
Charlie Tuna 1982
Charlie Tuna
Charlie Tuna spent a quarter century entertaining the troops on AFRTS and showing us how it was done. Time for another visit. It's 1982 "Stay Tuna'd".Visit Charlie's website at charlietuna.com interesting stories, histories and your chance to get on the boards and say what the Charlie Tuna Show meant to you.
Jazzbo Collins 1967
Al "Jazzbo" Collins was quite a talent, broadcasting from the "purple grotto", inspired by horrible paint in the WNEW studios..
"I started my broadcast in Studio One which was painted all kinds of tints and shades of purple on huge polycylindricals which were vertically placed around the walls of the room to deflect the sound. It just happened to be that way. And with the turntables and desk and console and the lights turned down low, it had a very cavelike appearance to my imagination. So I got on the air, and the first thing I said was, "Hi, it's Jazzbo in the Purple Grotto." You never know where your thoughts are coming from, but the way it came out was that I was in a grotto, in this atmosphere with stalagtites and a lake and no telephones. I was using Nat Cole underneath me with "Easy Listening Blues" playing piano in the background."
There was a very jazzy imagery.
In 1967, Al "Jazzbo" Collins brought a retrained Purple Grotto to AFRTS.
Monday, October 12, 2020
AFVN Duke Miller 1968
Found this old photo and decided to share with the group. It's of me doing the afternoon show on AFVN-AM shortly after the onset of the Tet Offensive in 1968.
I was AFVN-FM's only announcer. We were live 6:30p.m.-Midnight each night and simulcast otherwise. But, after Tet, all staffers were 24 on, 24 off (in case half of us got wiped out). That's why I was doing the afternoon gig in the photo, subbing for Don Burns. Note the tape on the studio window to the left, put there to prevent shattering from ordnance percussions. Weeks later, after a nearby rocket attack, the window stayed in tact, but most of the ceiling tiles fell, spewing insulation throughout.
Like many, I endured the Army's penchant for snafu's. I enlisted for a broadcasting MOS; they spent six weeks teaching me to type in admin school at Ft. Dix (even though I already could type 65 words per minute); after a brief stint at an intelligence unit at Ft. Meade, MD, I was assigned to the personnel department at a military intelligence unit seven miles north of Saigon. After several months, I went into Saigon, auditioned, and was "hired" shortly thereafter. Strangely, my transfer happened the afternoon of the Tet Offensive. My former unit was blown away the next day. By the grace of God and some trusted informants, the unit was abandoned prior to the attack and all survived.
AFVN, Saigon, was actually about as good as it could get in 'Nam. We lived in a hotel, The Ky Son. Except for AFVN staffers, it's nine stories housed Aussies and New Zealanders, which made staying sober a real challenge! I complete my enlistment at Ft. Meade, MD, producing the U. S. Army Recruiting public service radio shows.
My broadcasting career was short-lived. It got me through high school, college, and the Army. I went on to a successful career in the advertising agency business and spend half my retirement in Florida and half in the mountains of western North Carolina.
Duke Miller
Saturday, August 29, 2020
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