It's 1969 and Chris Noel made home much closer. Thank you for sharing these. Thanks for all you've done!
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Spectrum USA - Time Capsule 1975
By 1975 Spectrum USA got hipper. Dick Stark seems to be having a lot of fun with these in his 13th year of doing the show. 41 years in radio. The USMC Reserve needs you...
Labels:
1975,
Dick Stark,
Recruiting,
Spectrum USA,
USMC
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Early AFN Munich
Here are some memories of the early years of AFN in the 1950s. I wish I had more information but it's a fun listen. Starting with a 1954 visit with Larry Butcher.
Labels:
1954,
AFN,
AFN Munich
Saturday, August 27, 2016
GI Jive - 1945
In WWII GI Jill was big. The show started in San Francisco as "Hi Neighbor", a request show with news tidbits about back home with Martha Wilkerson and her husband, Robert Warner. After 56 shows Warner was out but GI Jill kept the show going well into the 1950s.
AFN 1989
Here's what's coming up on AFN! Thank you Bernd for sharing these. It took a long time to get them posted.
Gene Price - 1974
This is another program from a nice cache of transcriptions I picked up last month, Gene Price's Country World
Labels:
1974,
Gene Price
Friday, August 26, 2016
Ira Cook - 1965
Ira Cook with Elvis Presley
Ira Cook has memories of 1965. He was a long termer in Los Angeles. Harry Belefonte in the spotlight.
Mary Helen Barro - 1983
Mary Helen Barro, "la voz de su casa" She carried on on the Latino tradition of Chiquita, Victor, Hernan Escodon and others.
Labels:
1983,
Mary Helen Barro
Thursday, August 25, 2016
My Living Doll
"My Living Doll" is an American science fiction sitcom that aired for 26 episodes on CBS in 1964/65.
Just got off the phone with Peter Greenwood. Peter is a producer/archivist trying to get the TV series "My Living Doll" out on DVD, streaming maybe syndication. This would be a totally legitimate release. Julie Newmar is still around and she's really like to see these again.
The issue is that there were 26 shows. He's only located about a dozen. It was never in proper syndication. The only known syndication was on Teleprompter cable in NYC.
We get involved because AFN Berlin aired it in the late 70s. I'm sure I saw it on SCN in the early 80s. There were AFRTS prints. They were in libraries.
1. Would you have any of these, in any format.
2. Where did the film libraries go and when? I've always heard they were sent to AFRTS-LA and from there to the Library of Congress. Is that correct?
3. Do you know anyone who may be able to assist?
Please let me know. Click here to email Thom
3. Do you know anyone who may be able to assist?
Please let me know. Click here to email Thom
Charlie Tuna - 1974
Charlie was very much a friend of the blog. It really was an honor when he posted this:
Charlie Tuna Having done almost 6000 shows, I never thought about saving those AFRTS vinyl discs each week, but thanks to people like Thom Whetston, I can take a walk down memory lane with digital quality, and all those shows shrunk down to CD size for storage!
Labels:
1974,
Charlie Tuna
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Joe Allison - 1965
By 1965 Joe Allison had it down and brought the music worldwide. Let's start out with that good new singer from Nashville, David Houston.
Labels:
1965,
Country Corner,
Joe Allison
Monday, August 22, 2016
Wolfman Jack - 1976
Wolfman sure rocked it. Even Tony Orlando! Probably the most the best one to one communicator ever. Have you heard about opportunities in the Air Force?
Labels:
1976,
Recruiting,
USAF,
Wolfman Jack
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Andy Mansfield - 1965
We've always had oldies. In 1965 that would have been music from the 1930s and 40s. Andy Mansfield did a pair of oldies shows for AFRTS. First was one with his wife Virginia in the 50s "Turn Back The Clock". Later he did this one "America's Popular Music".
On this broadcast Andy plays requests for our shadow audience, Americans that live overseas, residents of other countries. We always knew they were there but they were rarely acknowledged on the network.
Labels:
1965,
America's Popular Music,
Andy Mansfield
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Bill Stewart - 1968
Great jock, swinging tunes. Bill was also a successful record producer that played a lot of his songs on the air. The conflict led to issues.
Labels:
1968,
Bill Stewart
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Chris Noel - 1969
One of my favorite movies, with Chris Noel
It's 1969. The Beatles have "Hey Jude" and Chris Noel brings home to you radio.
Labels:
1969,
Chris Noel,
Date With Chris
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Bob Kingsley - 1973
Bob with Johnny Cash
Bob Kingsley was an AFRTS. He bounced around as a jock but became the voice of country music when he took over American Country Countdown. Bob did a rock show for AFRTS. Take a listen..
Labels:
1973,
Bob Kingsley
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Jim Ameche - 1965
Jim Ameche was on "Jack Armstrong, the All American Boy" and later became one of the first to successfully syndicate a DJ show, the voice of the Longenes Symphonette. In the 1950s he became a part of AFRTS, playing "the most beautiful sounds around". The spotlight is on Hal Mooney...
We lost Jim in 1983.
Labels:
1965,
Jim Ameche
Monday, August 15, 2016
Jim Pewter - Civilians and AFN
Our friend Chris was growing up in Frankfurt in the 70s and taped a lot of AFN. No way to put a date with any certainty on this, but here's a bunch of Jim Pewter.
You might well choose to re-phrase slightly, emphasizing that I was a German kid, and that - as a lot of German kids then - listened to AFN as a daily routine, which helped in improving our English significantly (I have had with some of my teachers a running battle when using american slang, instead of proper (university-style) English as they had been taught); pretty sure US-service people were unaware of Germans being part of their general audience!
Quite a few forums exist in which Germans emphasize the significant contribution AFN had on them and their lives, it is mentioned there that per year about 100.000 letters were pouring in to AFN in Germany, of which the bigger part was probably AFN Frankfurt (the APO number was I believe APO 057), and I remember getting one of my postcards actually being put "on the air" (you got that clip on the DVD as well, when Jim Powers - the Bostonian - presents "Baby Child" by Robin Luke "going out to Christoph in Offenbach, who hit it right on the head when he said that the most important bridge is "The bridge over troubled water".
Another German ex-AFN-listener - and I believe he has got a definite point on that - actually attributes the German radio-system targeted at young people as it still is today to the very existence of AFN and Germans listening to it!
The German public radio stations ran along the lines of the federal states, and were very much targeted to the mature establishment with German Schlager and orchestras. As young Germans were listening to AFN (and BFBS) with their stylish, amusing way of presenting modern (i.e. non-German) music, those national chains had to develop similar offerings in order not to loose their grasp on future audience. These turned out to be the "third program series" such as HR3 in Frankfurt, WDR3 in Dusseldorf, SWR3 in Stuttgart, etc. that today are actually the lynch-pins of their programs!
I remember as of early 1970s, these made big inroads into the German listeners-base of AFN, with SWR3 being the first specifically youth-oriented radio coming "on the air" with music and presenting techniques very much reminiscent to "my" AFN.
Still, I remained faithful to AFN as You see from the tapes.
regards
Christoph
Labels:
1975,
Jim Pewter
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Mary Helen Barro - 1983
The Latina voice of home in the 70s, 80s and 90s was Mary Helen Barro.
Labels:
1983,
Mary Helen Barro
Chris Noel - 1968

Before Chris shared her disks with us it was a trick to get these shows.
Finally they've arrived, 5 disks from 1968-70, a little hacked up but I think we all are. The disks themselves were from AFVN but the specifics are gone "Grampa brought them back from Vietnam."
She needs our help for the vets shelter. Donate NOW. Thanks
Labels:
1968,
A Date With Chris,
Chris Noel
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Joe Ferguson - 1983
I ran these shows on SCN. The network had jocks all over the country record shows. It was the nicest surprise a few years ago when Joe found a box of them and asked if we would would like to hear them. That was an easy question. Thank you Joe!
Labels:
1983,
Joe Ferguson
Monday, August 8, 2016
Roger Carroll - 1974
Time for another visit with the Happy Hour! Roger Carroll for the USAF. Roger's getting the internet thing down. Roger was the booth announcer for the Smothers Brothers, Bobby Darren, Bing Crosby and other national things too numerous to mention. Thank you RC!
Labels:
1974,
Recruiting,
Roger Carroll,
USAF
Sunday, August 7, 2016
Charlie Tuna - 1995 - The last show
Charlie was with us for 25 years, thousands of shows. Thousands of us at the stations studying how to do that. In 1995 AFRTS let all of the network jocks go. The system changed. From October 1995, here's Charlie Tuna's last show to the world on AFRTS.
Labels:
1995,
Charlie Tuna
Gene Price - 1974
Gene Price always had a fun show, characters, comedy. Leonard Finsterwald says listen now!
Labels:
1974,
Gene Price
Ira Cook - 1965
About half of the network guys were vets. To me there always seemed to be a difference. Ira Cook was a WWII guy, who trained in medicine but the radio bug bit. He was another of the KMPC guys. Today Edmundo Rios is in the spotlight.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Major Glenn Miller 1944
If you ever come across these, they have nothing to do with AFN or AFRTS but are very interesting. The American Broadcasting Station in Europe (ABSIE) was a propaganda station we piped to the Nazis. Glenn Miller made several broadcasts at EMIs Abbey Road studios with Ilsa Weinberger with Glenn speaking in phonetic German. These particular broadcasts were recorded October 30th and November 6th, 1944 and aired November 8th and November 15th respectively.
Joseph Krug of the Colony Record Shop in NYC somehow acquired dubs of these and issued them as bootlegs circa 1951. These bootlegs actually had wide distribution at the time, being sold by major retail chains, to include Sam Goody. The Miller Estate started the lawsuits in 1951 and it took five years to resolve.
Decades later a more complete better sounding version was issued on RCA as "Glenn Miller - the Lost Recordings"
Labels:
1944,
A GI In Germany,
ABSIE,
Glenn Miller
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Navy Hour - 1950
The Navy Hour was very well done and usually pretty entertaining. The program ran on NBC for many years.
Joe Allison 1963
Joe Allison was a songwriter, performer, record company executive and a DJ. Joe came along around the time of "Modern Country" and was responsible for modernizing "Hillbilly" radio. It was great. I just remastered this, enjoy.
Labels:
1963,
Country Corner,
Joe Allison
Windows 10 update
Microsoft just put up a Windows 10 anniversary update. I don't recommend it. It made some big system changes here, which I'll battle for a couple of days and then probably roll back to something that works.
It killed Citrio, a Chrome clone browser that I have to use with some applications.
It's giving me issues with Edge, that's the new Microsoft Explorer for Windows 10.
The tech in me is trying to figure out exactly what they did, but you've been warned...
It killed Citrio, a Chrome clone browser that I have to use with some applications.
It's giving me issues with Edge, that's the new Microsoft Explorer for Windows 10.
The tech in me is trying to figure out exactly what they did, but you've been warned...
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