RIP Mark White

One of the great voices of radio history has been silenced. After spending a wonderful Christmas day with his family, Mark White went to bed and passed away in his sleep 12/29/2013. He would have been 89 on the 2nd of January. Mark was the manager of AFN Berlin from the 1950s until 1988. He left behind a great legacy and many friends. (David Glen Andersen facebook feed)

Mark White airchecks

News Censorship at AFVN during the Vietnam War

Melody Roundup 1944

Melody Roundup brought top Western talent.  This time with Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers.

 

Hard to tell what the source material was 78s, radio transcriptions, movie soundtracks. 

 

Melody Roundup - Sons of the Pioneers 1944

 

 

GI Jive - 1946

Martha Wilkinson was one of the first big stars of AFRS.  During WWII there was a show called "GI Jive", one of the DJ shows.  Pretty non-descript until Martha became GI Jill and the voice of home.

GI Jive 1946

Merry Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas and thank you for visiting.   It's been a nice year with family, my day job and people in general.  More and more people are stopping by every month so I guess it serves a purpose.

If you haven't checked in yet, you can email  afrts@live.com or facebook Thom Whetston or the afrtsarchive.blogspot.com page (click "Like" on that one).

Approximately every week I send out an email about what's new, sometimes asking questions, sometimes looking for people.  Just let me know if you'd like to be on the mailing list.

If you saved any recordings or memorabilia about the network, please let me know.  There are a lot of people that'd like to remember it.

AFRTS Christmas shows

Chris Noel

Music Censorship at AFVN and AFKN

Enchanted Keyboard - 1951

By the early 1950s radio had changed.  Prior to that the networks were doing great comedy, mystery variety shows and AFRTS could clip the commercials and send them out.  But now they were tasked with creating a lot of programs.  Many information and education programs were produced along with entertainment offerings.

"Enchanted Keyboard" was typical.  Classical piano with Don Thompson announcing.  Some wonderful talent was available to come in and play the piano.

On this broadcast, Edward Rebner

Enchanted Keyboard - 1951

Ronnie Landry - 1959

Ron Landry, later of Hudson and Landry was drafted into the Army in 1958.  By 1959 he was doing a show on the network from AFRTS New York.

Ronnie Landry - 1959

 

I was usually assigned with the infantry, this was a classic:

 

 

Jim Ameche - 1965

"The Most Beautiful Sounds Around" is a phrase that evokes the rarity of orchestral music today. Jim Ameche, a prominent figure during the golden age of radio, introduced it to AFRTS. He remained a successful DJ, sustaining his stardom beyond his radio days.

Jim Ameche - 1965

More Jim Ameche

AFN - Bob Debasia - 1984

Bob Debasia has your 1984 wakeup call

AFN - Bob Debasia 1984

Connectivity

We're back on the air.  About a week ago Comcast pushed out an update that killed my Motorola SGB6580.  I managed to get it back to defaults and running again.  I own my modem, rather than paying the 7 bucks every month.

Yesterday it was the same thing and I couldn't get it back online.

I spent four years working for Comcast, getting modems activated and online.  I do know this stuff.

Just wanted to let you know that Comcast and Motorola have a long history of not playing well on certain Motorola models.

At least I'm not alone...

On with the show...

Good Morning Vietnam - the real story

Paul Bottoms  let me know about this:

"Adrian Cronauer, Tony Booth who was at AFKN in Korea and I gave a presentation in February 2011 for two days at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond."

Here's the first part:

FEN - 1964 the start of the Vietnam War

Here's live coverage from FEN August 5th and 6th 1964 of the Gulf of Tonkin, pretty much the beginning of the Vietnam War.

 

 

FEN News on Tonkin 1964