AFRTS - Iran

An AFRTS radio station, and later a television station, became operational in Tehran, Iran, in 1954. Its listeners, and later viewers were American military personnel stationed in Iran as part of ARMISH and MAAG programs, as well as non-military Iranians and foreigners living in Iran. The AFRTS ceased to operate on October 25, 1976, the day before Shah's 57th birthday. Radio 1555 closed with presenter Air Force Staff Sergeant Barry Cantor playing Roger Whittaker's "Durham Town (The Leaving)". This was followed by a closing announcement by Chief Master Sergeant and Station Manager Bob Woodruff ("After 22 years of audio broadcasting and 17 years of telecasting in Tehran, AFRTS Radio 1555 and TV Channel 7 cease all operations in this country at this time.

 

This is odd, a few clips from the last day of our station in Iran.  After the Iranian government took us off the air in 1976, the government put on an English language service, featuring Ted Anthony from KLAC and some mostly British talent AND Wolfman Jack, Charlie Tuna and the Golden Days of Radio?

 

 

Ali Parsa was a listener:
I listened to AFRTS in Tehran from 1967, when I was a high school student, to 1976, when I went to California to continue my university work. It help much to improve my English. I also enjoyed the music programs. I even briefly visited their office in Saltanat Abad once in 1970 or 71.

I remember very few Iranians of my age that listened to AFRTS. To me it meant much: it was good for my English, it kept me connected to the American culture, it provided news from a non-Iranian government source, and it aired the music that I liked. I also watched episodes of The Twilight Zone, Combat, Peter Gunn, and then later Laugh-In on their TV channel.

These days I am writing a page in my web site about my interest in jazz music and I am looking to find out the names of the jazz programs on AFRTS. The address is:

http://www.aliparsa.com/jazz/jazz.html