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Live from Portland, OR it's the "Joe Show" on AFRTS. I'm grateful Joe shared these with us.
Sunday, May 31, 2026
John Doremus 1968
That voice, here's John Doremus with symphonic music and stories. It's always a treat.
AFKN Park Chung Hee Assasinated 1979
I started in Yongsan in the newsroom. If any story mentioned Korea, it had to be cleared by the 8th Army/UN Command PAO. Send the story over, wait a few weeks and maybe it can be read... or just don't run it in the first place. Compare that to this 1979 aircheck when President Park Chung Hee was assassinated.
Jim Ameche 1959
Jim Ameche - 1940
Jim Ameche had two shows, the Jim Ameche show and the Jim Ameche Pop Concert. Both of them featured the great orchestral music from around the world. This is part of one of the first Pop Concerts
Mary Helen Barro 1983
Summer in Minnesota. Tropical memories of Panama indeed. Let's have the music with Mary Helen Barro.
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".
Start your day with Charlie Tuna. 8AM Central www.mybestsounds.com
Monday, May 25, 2026
Lyndon Johnson - Memorial Day 1963
Vice president Lyndon Johnson on Memorial Day 1963 as broadcast by AFRTS
.
Memorial Day
In the late 1940s, the network produced a lot of "troop information" programs. For a variety of reasons it was a lot harder to produce things like Command Performance.
Sunday, May 24, 2026
Joe Allison 1963
Joe Allison with his gold record
for writing "He'll Have To Go"
Wolfman Jack 1981
When I came back from Korea I met Wolfman at LAX. The only time in my life I was totally blown away by meeting a celebrity. Only thing I remember was that he was nice with magic. I've been a fan ever since.
Wolfman Jack - 1981
Wolfman Jack - 1981
All That Jazz 1968
Sometimes there's a show with zero information. Jack Taylor was playing some smoky jazz in the 1960s
Roger Carroll 1981
Here's Roger's hit record, Going To Maui:
Mary Turner 1985
A solitary GI yearning for a female voice found solace in Mary Turner's broadcasts, as she carried on the legacy of GI Jill, Rebel Randall, and Chris Noel, speaking directly to the hearts of the troops.
Vance Graham 1974
Victor was Vance Graham. Vance had entered Los Angeles radio in the 1930s and found his greatest success as a spanish DJ. Bolero Time was heard on multiple stations and recorded for AFRTS well into the 1970s.
Herman Griffith 1967
Jim Pewter, Herman Griffith and Roger Carroll
Herman Griffith kicked up a storm, with KGFJ and with AFRTS. I wish I knew more of his story. Roland Bynum says that Herman helped him get his job with us.
Hear Herman every day at 3pm Central on mybestsounds.com
Saturday, May 16, 2026
Andy Mansfield 1964
Glenn Miller records "I Sustain the Wings"
Andy Mansfield continues his tribute to Glenn Miller, part five, it's America's Popular Music.
Tom Campbell 1971
AFRTS network programming was like driving a battleship, small changes when necessary. In 1971 they got serious about a more contemporary sound. In the first group were Tom Campbell and Wolfman Jack, with Charlie Tuna to follow shortly. Here's Tom's first show for AFRTS.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
My Best Sounds
Over the weekend was a major server crash on the live stream. We were up and running several hours later. I've been cleaning that up. Fingers crossed, we're back up and running.
Update: The new server and updated processing is working great. Let me know if you hear issues,
Roland Bynum 1981
Roland always got the party started. Let's take a listen.
Hear Roland every day at 9pm My Best Sounds
Sunday, May 10, 2026
Tom Campbell 1980
Tom was another guy who worked Minneapolis. He was Paul Bunyan at WDGY before getting to the coast and killin' it in San Francisco.
Great phone number...
Hear Tom 1pm (central() everyday mybestsounds.com
So, from Torrejon...
Rocketing Rhythms 1961
Here's something for the kids. KLACs Bill Stewart fills in for Jack Brown. Rocketing Rhythms was sort of a countdown show sometimes with guests.
Jim Pewter 1976
Jim was another giant, I wish I had more tape of the show. Jim was an AFKN vet, who went on to be a successful producer, songwriter and jock. Today we take another look at rocks beginnings. The top seven hits of 1964.
Straight ahead, don't bunch up...
Don Tracy 1995
The network kept rocking til the end. In 1995 the Network we all knew was changing but Don Tracy still had his chops...
Sunday, May 3, 2026
Chris Noel 1967
In 1967, the biggest show was "A Date With Chris". Chris Noel brought a helping of home every day. She still does way more than her share with her veterans shelter in Florida. Please do what you can to help. Click here.
Hear Chris every evening at 11pm Central on mybestsounds.com
Joe Ferguson 1983
It's a Wednesday in the summer of 1983 and blogfan Joe Ferguson has "The Joe Show". I ran these on SCN... Thanks again for sharing the memories Joe!
Hear Joe every day at 11 Central on mybestsounds.com
John Doremus 1967
Jose Fritz did a very nice writeup about the life of John Doremus.
Now some music for the dinner hour:
Myron J Bennett 1971
We had some odd filler programs. Myron J Bennett was a big deal in Des Moines radio for many years. Apparently "Talk Digest" went out on Mutual and AFRTS picked it up.
I'd always wondered what the deal was with these until I got out of the army and went to work at a very profitable daytimer (in 1984), near Christmas about 15 minutes of news and up to 27 of commercials. THAT'S what these were designed for. For us in the early 70s they were shipping shows with strange lengths. Charlie Tuna, John Doremus and Gary Owens were 45 minutes and it did need some fillers.
Paul Bottoms AFVN 1969
It's the summer of 1969 and Paul A. Bottoms is rocking Saigon on the Orient Express.
Former KSCS/Dallas and KWCY/Phoenix morning news anchor Paul Bottoms passed away March 7, 2019 at age 70. Bottoms was a member of The Dorsey Gang in Dallas from 1987 to 1996 before working with Tim & Willy in Phoenix from 1997-1998. Other stops include KONO/San Antonio, WJJD/Chicago, WCXR/Washington and WLVK/Charlotte. Bottoms retired in 2011 after a decade as News-Talk WRVA/Richmond Dir./News. He was a Vietnam veteran and did news for Pat Sajak on Armed Forces Radio
Air Rescue Vietnam 1968
I was going through crates of ETs looking for something else, and found this. Glad I did. Air Force SGT Herb Manchester did this from AFVN.
Sometimes AFRTS-LA would have contests. If something was really well done, it was distributed worldwide.
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