Jim Ameche is back with music from the world's most beautiful orchestras.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
E. Power Biggs - 1957
Sunday mornings in the 1950s and 60s we had the music of E. Power Biggs on Sunday mornings.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Dick Sinclair - 1959
Dick Sinclair was in that first group of AFRS talent. After WWII he made a huge name playing polka music in syndication on radio and TV. The show went well into the 1960s
Saturday, March 21, 2015
At Ease - 1944
"At Ease, with the music you'll always remember" a program of symphonic music.
Meredith Wilson was a member of Sousa's band, went to the NY Philharmonic under Toscanini and then took Hollywood. He composed the score for the "Great Dictator" and arranged the music for "The Little Foxes". During WWII he volunteered for the army and led the AFRS Orchestra. After the war, more huge success, including writing the "Music Man"
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Country Crossroads - 1982
Chapel, Fort Clayton Panama
Country Crossroads was my favorite of the Sunday morning block. Good conversation and music.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Lend a hand...
If you've saved some of this material, there's a good chance you haven't listened to it in a long time. There are a lot of us who would like to hear it again. I can be contacted at afrts@live.com
And now, the National Anthem of our host country and then the United States of America...
Have a great day!
Jimmy Wakely - 1971
I think we can say cowboy music.. Jimmy, in WWII was one of the last cowboy crooners and was a success in recordings, movies, radio and television. We lost Jimmy to heart failure in 1982.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Remember - 1946
AFRS has always known the power of a memory. "Remember" was a WWII era show of the things the troops remembered back home. Robert Young hosted a lot of these between films. He was one of the busiest actors in Hollywood but he hit his stride in the 60s and 70s with television.
This is a 1946 broadcast, spotlighting the music of 1942
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Voyage of the Scarlet Queen - 1947
Voyage of the Scarlet Queen was a Mutual show, starring Eliott Lewis. The nautical setting was a great fit for AFRTS. It was reissued several times. This is from a 1961 reissue.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Iceland - 1992 "SnowSnakes"
Just saw the blog. Great collection of old memories.
Here's one for you:
A short PSA we did warning our viewers about black ice. The video was written/directed and edited by PH1 Frank Pratt. Starring myself (JO2 J. Patrick Smith) and JO2 Gerard Johnson. I'm the one seated at the beginning of the video.
The video was shot at the NBS Keflavik Det 8 quonset hut (actually two quonset huts that were linked together). The interior shots are in the supply office. Exterior shots show the front entry to the building.
The external shots were taken after a fresh snowfall so that when I would "slip" there was plenty of fresh snow to break my fall.
Monday, March 9, 2015
Korea, to the club...
From an estate sale, this is coming in. The network in Korea had it's own club.
The 501 was for the troops, this is getting surprising complicated. The Studio Lounge may have been an earlier name for the 501, may have been a break room near the studio. And there may have been a 502 club for the higher ranks...
The sign appears to date from the late 60s...
Laurie Allen and Jim Pewter - on tour
Memories from Laurie Allen:
The wonderful Jim Pewter and I had a whirlwind tour - to Germany, Italy, Crete, Portugal, then home. Our friend, Charlie Barker was our escort. It was such a pleasure to visit the radio stations and meet all the service members. I'd hosted the Classic Rock show for about 7 years at that time, but had never seen the operations overseas and it was great to see it happening. And Jim for a lot longer. AFRTS did/does an awesome job, no doubt about it.
The wonderful Jim Pewter and I had a whirlwind tour - to Germany, Italy, Crete, Portugal, then home. Our friend, Charlie Barker was our escort. It was such a pleasure to visit the radio stations and meet all the service members. I'd hosted the Classic Rock show for about 7 years at that time, but had never seen the operations overseas and it was great to see it happening. And Jim for a lot longer. AFRTS did/does an awesome job, no doubt about it.
I'm missing some of the names on the pics but hoping our friends will help us out. Wish I had more photos of the radio stations themselves but I was busy when we were there so I didn't have time to take pictures - got lots of the great scenery though - which I won't pack in this time!
If you have any questions or need more explanations, I'm happy to fill in the blanks as best I can remember. I hope my info so far is right.
On a personal note, it was fun seeing Scott again because we had dated for about 7 months before he left for Crete and were friends. Later on, he came back to LA, we reconnected and now we're celebrating 21 happily married years in March. :)
%2C%2BJuly%2B1992%2B.jpg)
Dinner at Col Fowler's house with his wife Ann
.jpg)
Laurie and Jim at AFN Frankfurt (I believe this is Mike in the Morning)
Jim and Laurie at Schweinfurt Army Base
Tanks for the Memories..
Laurie gets to Drive...
.jpg)
Laurie and Jim at AFN Vicenza (missing names) The BDU guy on the right sure looks like Ian Knight -tw
Laurie and Jim leaving Vicenza, Yacchio Maddox helpful escort.
Charlie Barker and Laurie - trainride.
Thank you Laurie for sharing these. More to come!
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Melody Roundup - Sons of the Pioneers
Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers did a bunch of shows for the troops on Melody Roundup.
AFN SHAPE - 1991
I couldn't figure out who's on this. The station sounds great. Belgium just sounded like wonderful duty. I was attempting to reenlist for it in 1983 but Fort Civilian called...
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Monday, March 2, 2015
Music for the Middle Mind - 1961
In the early 1960s no one was really sure what to do with FM. There were a variety of small stations in the Los Angeles market that supplied programming to AFRTS. "Music For The Middle Mind" appears to have been originated at WFOX. "Music for the Middle Mind" was a potpourri of classical, folk and whatever sounded interesting. The program ran in the first half of the 1960s.
A Hugh Douglas was also the announcer for Have Gun Will Travel. Same Guy?
Sunday, March 1, 2015
AFRS - Bob Wills
AFRS Sangley vet Jim Gough (Mr. Texas) has been doing the Bob Wills radio show for quite some time. Several AFRS Bob Wills broadcasts are available. Jim and Bob, you need to listen. This was on another page, that pointed to a dead link, works now.