AFKN Beginnings

FEN says as part of their history that they established stations in Korea after WWII. Here are the stations that we had right after the war. During this timeframe, we used American sounding call letters:

WVTQ - Osaka (Japan)
WTVA - Tokyo (Japan)
*WVTP - Keijo (Seoul Korea)
WVTO - Omura (Japan)
WVTH - Hachinohe (Japan)
WVTC - Nagoya (Japan)
*WLKJ - Gusan-dong (Korea)
WLKD - Sapporo (Japan)
*WLKC - Pusan (Korea)
WLKB - Niigata (Japan)
WLKE - Sendai (Japan)
WLKF - Kumamoto (Japan)
WLKI - Fukuoka (Japan)



Were they still there in 1950? I asked blogwatcher Palmer Payne:

I've been told that Armed Forces Radio Service had some sort of presence in Korea just after the end of WWII, when the XXIV Corps was in command of the troops but that it went out of existence when Korea Military Advisory Group (KMAG) took over sometime in the late 1940s. AFRS had no facilities in Korea when the 8214th rmy Unit was formed in Yokohama, Japan in late August or early September, 1950. In October, 1950 "Korea Armed Forces Radio Service" (a.k.a. Korea AFRS) began broadcasting from the American Embassy (Banto Hotel) in Seoul. After we bugged out in early January, 1951 we became Kilroy AFRS. Kilroy settled in Taegu. From that sprouted Vagabond which went to Seoul soon after the city was recaptured early in 1951, Homesteader to Pusan in the summer of '51and Gypsy, somewhere to the Northeast of Taegu also in the summer of '51. I rotated back stateside in Oct. '51 when all of the stations were still part of 8214th A.U.and still under the umbrella title of Korea Armed Forces Radio Service. Some time after that there was a change to Armed Forces Korea Network (AFKN), probably due to some newcomer influenced by the European operations of AFRS, known as American Forces Network (AFN). Incidentally, it was noted during the 50th anniversary of the Korean War, ten years ago, that the 8214th A.U. was the only unit still in Korea dating back to 1950. Always a pleasure to hear from you.

Palmer