Friday, July 31, 2015

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Intermezzo - 1942


There's always been symphonic favorites.  "Intermezzo" was the music, back announced.  A formula they were still using for "Just Music" in the 1960s.  Major Meredith Willson leads the AFRS Orchestra. 



Monday, July 27, 2015

World In Music - 1945


Education and music, with the rhythms of Latin America.  It's all part of the World In Music...



Roger Carroll - 1970

Roger Carroll and Glen Campbell

It's a Tuesday in 1970 and time for the Happy Hour.  Roger swings!



Saturday, July 25, 2015

Oscar Brand - 1961


In the late 50s there was a series of "Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads".  These were varying degrees of bawdy but recorded by Oscar Brand.  Oscar was one of the faces of folk music.  By the early 60s Oscar was recording shows for the government (Social Security Administration, HEW and probably others).  AFRTS ran these shows.  Here's a 1961 visit.


GI Jive - 1946


Jill was one of the first to bring America to the troops.  She had a long run and a LOT of the shows are available.  I'm happy to be able to say that.



Protestant Hour - 1971


The Chaplains Board had a dual mission.  To be true to their faith, yet inclusive to all.  AFRTS had several hours of their programming every Sunday morning.





Thursday, July 23, 2015

Bob Hope - 1945

Bob Hope kept doing shows for the troops.  In 1945 he brought his show to NAS Corpus Christie,


Boyd Bennett - My Boy Flattop 1955

This was always one of my favs. A squared away haircut cut is this kids best characteristic. Played this a lot in Panama and Korea. I picked up the 16" library disk of this a few years ago. Never thought I'd find it in a thousand years. Transfer is a little fast on this..

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Showtime - 1944


In 1944 AFRS brought the troops the best of Broadway with "Showtime".  Initially Dinah Shore was the hostess, but later there were others.  Today, Marilyn Maxwell..



Thursday, July 16, 2015

Roger Carroll - 1967


Roger Carroll with some swinging memories of 1967.  On with the Happy Hour!!



Wednesday, July 15, 2015

AFVN - Go Show - Tom Watson -1970




(Sebastian Cabot) "Ladies and gentlemen, the beat goes on."  From Hans Knot an upgraded memory of AFVN,

Tom Watson is a "Broadcaster".  I thinks that's something we all wanted to be.  He kept it up.  Here's what our friends at http://www.macoi.net had to say:

"Taking a break from commercial broadcasting via the Selective Service system, Tom entered the military, where he spent two years on active duty. Following his Army training, which included a broadcasting course at Fort Benjamin Harrison's DINFOS, Tom was assigned to AFVN in Saigon. During his tour in 1969-70, Tom hosted the "Go" show playing Top 40 hits from 6 to 9 each night, and he also covered the daily MACV news briefings at JUSPAO. Upon his return to the US, he was sent to Fort Ord as NCOIC of the radio/TV facility. Prior to his discharge in April 1970, Tom began a weekend job at KMBY in Monterey, California.
Tom's KMBY stint evolved into a full time air slot doing nights until KQEO, Albuquerque, hired him for the noon-to-3 airshift. He then moved on to KERN, Bakersfield, and tried his hand "up north" at CKGM in Montreal and CHUM in Toronto before WQXI in Atlanta brought him aboard in 1974."


Sunday, July 12, 2015

AFVN Scott Manning - 1968



Scott was from Milwaukee, his family later moved to Chicago. After high school he was briefly hired for a deejay position at Chicago's WCFL, but he soon left the station to join the Army where he was trained at DINFOS in 1966.  He was then assigned to Vietnam with duty at the 4th PSYOPS Group in Saigon, but his change of station request was granted and he began an on-air job at AFVN.  As a deejay, he hosted a daily show plus a Sunday evening show called "The Sergeant Pepper Hour."  After his promotion to SP5 and extending his tour Scott was appointed Program Director for the AFVN radio network.

Back in the USA, he worked as Operations Manager for KELP in El Paso before moving on to KAUM in Houston, WIFE Indianapolis, WKLH Milwaukee, KISW Seattle, KASS Casper, Wyoming, WAPE Jacksonville, and a drive-time show on WYBR in Rockford, Illinois.  Then in 1990, with 20 years of broadcast experience, Scott joined the ABC Radio Network in Dallas.  ABC operated a satellite radio service which provided programming in nine different genres to stations located in small and medium markets across the country.  Scott handled a daily "Classic Rock" program, as well as an "Oldies" show, interspersing musical selections with trivia and newsbits about featured artists.  ABC sold the system to Citadel Media in 2007.

Thanks to macoi.net for the information, Take a look...



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



Thursday, July 9, 2015

A Listener remembers - AFN 1970-73



Paul Zimmerman shared his memories

First, thanks for all of the work you put in creating and maintaining this site. I was stationed at Bitburg AB, Germany (36th Supply Squadron) from Feb 1970 - July 1973. AFN Europe was an important link to home for me, particularly the live baseball and football games. There were a lot of late Sunday nights spent by the radio. When I’m listening to an AFN Europe clip now and the announcer says “This is The American Forces Network, Europe” and they play the little Yankee Doodle jingle, it brings back a lot of great memories. 

We always had the radio on at work. My first year (1970), I think the AFN Frankfurt weekday lineup included Karl Haas, Ira Cook and Roger Carroll (what an interesting man) in the morning and then The Young Sound (one of my favorites), Herman Griffith and an hour of C and W in the afternoon. I also remember the Stateside Sound Survey in the evenings and of course, Weekend World. I arrived at Rhein-Main on Sunday afternoon, February 1, 1970 and am pretty sure that Weekend World was on when we arrived at our barracks for the night. Shows like Latino con Victor, Tom Campbell and the Wolfman came later. 

A year later, I went home to get married and brought my wife back with me to Bitburg. We lived on the economy and it was a great experience. You couldn’t make up some of the stuff that happened and we still laugh at our adventures. AFN Europe Television was on our apartment TV most evenings but we also remember watching the German stations that had most of the commercials at the beginning of the evening. It was also funny watching characters like Hoss Cartwright speaking German. Live sporting events like the Super Bowl and New Years Day Bowls were a treat.

I do have a question about an AFRTS-produced program. During my last year at Bitburg (June 1972 - July 1973), I worked the graveyard shift. Graveyard was great since I was pretty much my own boss and could bring my wife to the office for a few hours (and, I taught her part of my job). My question concerns an overnight show called “San Francisco Scene" that was usually on either at midnight or 1:00 AM on AFN Frankfurt. When I was TDY at Zaragoza, Spain in April/May 1973, I think this show was on from 11:00 PM - midnight. It was a rock show but what I remember was the closing music at the end of each show. That was one of the spookiest pieces of music i’ve ever heard and I’d appreciate knowing both the artist and title of that closing music if they are available.

Other than marrying my wife, enlisting in the Air Force was the smartest decision I’ve made. Had I waited another 9 months for the first Draft Lottery, my birthday (June 8) came up dead last (366). My mother and future wife would have been drafted before me, But, I (and my wife) would have missed out on so much. I was very lucky to be stationed in Germany and have the opportunities to travel, take college classes, save a few bucks and mature. AFN Europe and AFRTS were there for us and very much appreciated.  

Thanks again!


Sincerely,
Paul Zimmerman

Monday, July 6, 2015

Roger Carroll

Roger Carroll on a remote for WFMD

Roger Carroll is well known in the Los Angeles area as a radio personality

His older brother was an announcer at WCAO-Baltimore and at the CBS network in New York. Roger’s brother never returned from World War II, and Roger became the announcer in the family. 

His first radio job was WFMD Frederick, Maryland at the age of 15. In 1948 at 18 years old, he was the youngest staff announcer in the history of the ABC network.

Roger was a Korean War vet, working at AFRTS in Los Angeles, a relationship that continued for over three decades. 

In 1959 he left ABC to join number one-rated, Gene Autry-owned KMPC radio in Hollywood. His KMPC radio program lasted until 1979 and was one of the most popular radio shows in Southern California.

In 1979, Roger moved to evening talk, later becoming head of a new Golden West Syndication Features wing. In 1981, he resigned from Golden West and go into syndication and station ownership. To this day, Roger praised the management of KMPC for creating such a professional environment.

Roger was involved in several movie and television projects.

1965 A Swingin' Summer
Musical adviser and Radio announcer (uncredited)

1967 The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (TV Series)
Alternate Announcer

1968 Hunter (TV Series)
Played Quentin in "Crusader" episode

1969 What's It All About, World? (TV Series) - Episode 1 announcer

1969 The Leslie Uggams Show (TV Series)

1969-1972 The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (TV Series)

1973 The Bobby Darin Show (TV Series)

Bobby Darin in Concert (1973) ... Himself - Announcer

1976 Tony Orlando and Dawn (TV Series)
Himself - Announcer

1979 The Onion Field
Radio voice (uncredited)

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Chris Noel - 1968


The face of home to thousands of Vietnam era troops was Chris Noel.  She has spent the past several years running a homeless shelter for vets, in Florida "Ceasefire House" click here.  Our less fortunate brothers need your help.  Please consider helping.

A few years ago Chris sent her collection of shows to us so that we could hear them again.  Thanks Chris!!!

Here's a memory of 1968...