Posts
Wolfman SURVIVED. The 1950s, the English Invasion, Motown, AOR. He'd connect with his audience and make magic. He always sounded so comfortable.
Wolfman Jack - 1978
Monday, October 30, 2023
Wolfman Jack 1978
Wolfman SURVIVED. The 1950s, the English Invasion, Motown, AOR. He'd connect with his audience and make magic. He always sounded so comfortable.
Wolfman Jack - 1978
Roger Carroll 1969
Roger and Hank Aaron
The Happy Hour starts now. Roger Carroll brings another hour of great music together in this memory of 1969.
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Mary Turner 1986
Mary Turner brought the rock in the 1980s and 90s. She had the daily show and "Off The Record". The music was great and she really had a way with an interview. She always treasured her time as one of the AFRTS-LA talent.
Herman Griffith 1972
Herman Griffith with Jim Pewter and Roger Carroll
Hey, brave and the bold! He sure rocked. Here's more of the KGFJ vet. Herman's story is here.
Herman Griffith - 1972
Andy Mansfield 1964
Glenn Miller records "I Sustain the Wings"
Andy Mansfield continues his tribute to Glenn Miller, part five, it's America's Popular Music.
Friday, October 27, 2023
Jim Pewter 1980
Gene Price, Charlie Tuna and Jim
More memories with Jim. In 1980 I was at SCN in Panama and would hear the way that he'd craft a show. Always something that I hadn't heard before...that was good. Then it was off to the library. At SCN the 'old library' was typed onto large index cards, with a huge machine that had them sorted. Do you have a picture of it? Apparently in the mid 80s it finally gave up.
It's 1980, today Jim tells you "What was Beethoven's favorite fruit?"
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Don Tracy 1980
It's Don Tracy with another hour of favorites. I'm still in suspense. Don has some things coming up that could be good. But right now, Don Tracy!
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Chris Noel 1968
In 1968, the executive in charge of morale was Chris Noel. You have a Date With Chris. Click the "Chris Noel 1968" link. Memories.
Joe Ferguson 1983
Live from Portland, OR it's the "Joe Show" on AFRTS. I'm grateful Joe shared these with us.
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
John Doremus 1969
What could be more universal than travel? John Doremus has songs and stories about going places and seeing things.
Sunday, October 22, 2023
AFVN Manny Harper 1972
Manny was born 5 February 1931, and he joined the Army out of high school just in time for Korea. "I was one of the old timers," he said, "who served in Korea as a member of a special warfare team from 1950 to 1952. I was one of the airborne troopers who was wounded twice, but made it through it all and came out in one piece." Manny may have been technically correct, but it must have taken a major effort to ignore the steel plate he carried in his head for the rest of his life.
He went on to serve two tours in Vietnam. The first was with JUSPAO, as, he explained, "chief of an information liaison team, then headquartered in the American Embassy, Saigon. My team traveled throughout the country by air, land, river, and any other means available. There were many close calls."
His second tour in Vietnam was a bit quieter, but with a new set of responsibilities appropriate for a senior noncom. By this time the war was winding down and Manny was a Master Sergeant. He spent 1972-73 as News Director and NCOIC of AFVN. Because the American music scene had drastically changed over the last several years, one of his functions was to carefully monitor the playlist. Manny took this job seriously and worked to make sure AFVN's programming reflected American values. "When the music came in," said Manny, "we'd look at it, and if the message was 'war stinks,' well we already knew that. So we weren't going to play it on the radio. You had to keep it positive," he continued. "People were dying over there."
After Vietnam, and a promotion to the highest rank an NCO may achieve, Manny assumed the prestigious post of Sergeant Major of the Defense Information School, where he bore major responsibility for the training of public affairs officers and enlisted personnel of all branches of service.
The Sergeant Major retired to Indianapolis after 27 years of service in the U.S. Army. He died 16 May 2007 at the age of 76, survived by his wife of 50 years, Evelyn, 2 sons, four grandsons, a great-grandson, a brother and two sisters.
Gene Price 1975
From 1975 Gene Price has the reasons you should join todays Army! These were done for Roger Carroll's company and were a centerpiece of Sunday morning radio listening. Gene, Roland Bynum, Robert W. Morgan, Billy Pearl and Roger himself.
Friday, October 20, 2023
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Charlie Tuna 1977
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.
Wolfman Jack 1975
From 1975, Here comes the Wolfman, totally on his game. Quite a guy...
Wolfman Jack - 1975
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Roger Carroll 1969
Gary Owens, Dave Arbogast and RC
It's a Friday in 1969 and Roger Carroll brings the Happy Hour. Thanks for the memories RC!
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Mary Turner 1984
Received a nice note from Mary Turner:
"I often think about my 18 years at Fort McCadden with great fondness. Loved that Roach Coach-I remember always getting teased for actually paying for a bottle of water. I was ahead of my time!"
And she certainly was.
Vance Graham 1973
Vance Graham (Victor) had been doing shows for AFRTS since the 1950s. He was originally a Utah resident moving to California in the 1930s. He became a Latino community leader.
For much of the US, IT'S COLD OUT! Time for some music to warm up.
Herman Griffith 1967
Jim Pewter, Herman Griffith and Roger Carroll
Herman brought rock and soul to the troops. These are great!
Herman Griffith 1967
Monday, October 16, 2023
Roland Bynum 1982
Roland Bynum has the gift of music. It's 1982, half way through the week and Roland makes time fly by.
Saturday, October 14, 2023
AFN Roy Neal
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Bill Stewart 1969
Larry McClellan had a memory of Bill Stewart:
"I got nostalgic and decided to do a search for Bill Stewart and came upon your blogspot pages.
My ex-wife and I attended the concert at the Palladium in 1969 (thanks for pointing up the year -- I wasn't sure about it after these years.) The house was a little over 400 and we were among less than a dozen civilians in the audience; and we were there because a friend who was a DJ on KRHM was on the air at the time and comped us his tickets.
The story we heard was that Bill's wife had developed cancer and they had gone completely through all their savings trying (in vain) to find treatment. She passed and Bill was destitute -- emotionally and financially. Some performers who felt that he had been instrumental in establishing their careers staged a benefit concert for him. I don't know what the tickets cost -- as I said, ours were comped -- but my understanding at the time was that they were not cheap.
There were four acts: Henry Mancini, with a scratch orchestra (most of whom, I heard, were there pro bono); Johnny Mathis; Andy Williams, with the Osmond Brothers; Peggy Lee. Williams interrupted a rehearsal schedule to appear, and Miss Lee flew in a couple of hours before the show, performed, and flew out again immediately after, to meet appearance obligations somewhere else (Vegas, I think, but memory lapses after 55 years and I was only a spectator anyway.)
Mancini's opening line was "So this is where Lawrence Welk works. Doesn't record here." The acoustics were second-rate. It took Peggy Lee two numbers to get the sound system adjusted so she could hear herself perform.
Mathis performed straight up, just like it was a recording session. We later saw him at the Greek Theater and he was doing his "African Queen" routine for the West LA audience. Same singer, two different performers.
At the time, my ex and I were friends with Skip and Lynn Weshner. Skip had been with AFR in 1945-46 and worked the first show that used Ampex tape decks. A Bing Crosby show, if I remember the story correctly. Lynn had been a torch singer in front of, among others, Benny Goodman. She was also the chick singer of the Rooftop Singers when they cut their first version of "Walk Right In." The tickets were comped to us by Paul Rhone, a regular evening DJ at KRHM. I seldom listened to Bill Stewart's show because he was on at a time of day when I was not around radios. But I know that the DJs all respected and admired him and his work.
I want to recall that Bill's title on the air during the war and early postwar years was "The Master of C" or something similar. I talked with some WWII overseas vets who remembered him fondly.
I hope this is of some interest to you and that it might lead to some research that could round out his biography a bit."
Thank you Larry! From 1969 here's Bill with guest Mort Garson, the writer of "Our Day Will Come", Mort did neat things with the early synthisizers.
My ex-wife and I attended the concert at the Palladium in 1969 (thanks for pointing up the year -- I wasn't sure about it after these years.) The house was a little over 400 and we were among less than a dozen civilians in the audience; and we were there because a friend who was a DJ on KRHM was on the air at the time and comped us his tickets.
The story we heard was that Bill's wife had developed cancer and they had gone completely through all their savings trying (in vain) to find treatment. She passed and Bill was destitute -- emotionally and financially. Some performers who felt that he had been instrumental in establishing their careers staged a benefit concert for him. I don't know what the tickets cost -- as I said, ours were comped -- but my understanding at the time was that they were not cheap.
There were four acts: Henry Mancini, with a scratch orchestra (most of whom, I heard, were there pro bono); Johnny Mathis; Andy Williams, with the Osmond Brothers; Peggy Lee. Williams interrupted a rehearsal schedule to appear, and Miss Lee flew in a couple of hours before the show, performed, and flew out again immediately after, to meet appearance obligations somewhere else (Vegas, I think, but memory lapses after 55 years and I was only a spectator anyway.)
Mancini's opening line was "So this is where Lawrence Welk works. Doesn't record here." The acoustics were second-rate. It took Peggy Lee two numbers to get the sound system adjusted so she could hear herself perform.
Mathis performed straight up, just like it was a recording session. We later saw him at the Greek Theater and he was doing his "African Queen" routine for the West LA audience. Same singer, two different performers.
At the time, my ex and I were friends with Skip and Lynn Weshner. Skip had been with AFR in 1945-46 and worked the first show that used Ampex tape decks. A Bing Crosby show, if I remember the story correctly. Lynn had been a torch singer in front of, among others, Benny Goodman. She was also the chick singer of the Rooftop Singers when they cut their first version of "Walk Right In." The tickets were comped to us by Paul Rhone, a regular evening DJ at KRHM. I seldom listened to Bill Stewart's show because he was on at a time of day when I was not around radios. But I know that the DJs all respected and admired him and his work.
I want to recall that Bill's title on the air during the war and early postwar years was "The Master of C" or something similar. I talked with some WWII overseas vets who remembered him fondly.
I hope this is of some interest to you and that it might lead to some research that could round out his biography a bit."
Thank you Larry! From 1969 here's Bill with guest Mort Garson, the writer of "Our Day Will Come", Mort did neat things with the early synthisizers.
JIm Pewter 1981
Come and get your memories. Jim's back again with another great half hour. Starts with the original version of a song made huge by the Beatles. Jim was one of us and it shows up on every show. They don't make music like this anymore. No one ever presented it better.
Don Browne has more: All AFRTS radio programming records are spotty, but Jim Pewter is more complicated.
Jim Pewter started his AFRTS-LA career in January 1967, presumably with #1M in flight RU 27-7. His "oldies" specialty show was initially 5-25:00 and lasted about two years. About March 1969, just in time for my arrival at FEN, Tokyo, JP, Jim Pewter was demoted to once a week at 1-55:00. I made a note of it in my FEN log when I reviewed show #366, RU 41-9 in April 1969. The Jim Pewter Show 1-55:00 lasted for about seven years (364 weeks)!
Then at the start of the Bicentennial Year, the Jim Pewter Show was promoted to 5-30:00 with (approximately) #752M in flight RU 1-76 (the first transitional quarter) in January 1976. Because of the long period of one-per-week, the numbering system was in complete disarray. For five-per-week, Mondays, which normally started with xxx1 followed by Mondays as xxx6, instead started with Mondays as xxx2 followed by Mondays as xxx7.
If Jim Pewter continued his 5-30:00 "oldies" show through the transition to Unistar/SMN satellite programming in October 1995, his final cassette-delivered program would have been (about) #5961F in flight RC 52-5, December 1995.
Don Tracy 1980
The weekend came blasting like a freight train. Here's Don Tracy, making a Friday rock..
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Chris Noel 1968
Chris Noel is back with another hour of the voice of home. From 1968 a Date With Chris.
Joe Ferguson 1983
It's a Wednesday in the summer of 1983 and blogfan Joe Ferguson has "The Joe Show". I ran these on SCN... Thanks again for sharing the memories Joe!
Sunday, October 8, 2023
Gene Price 1992
Gene Price, Charlie Tuna and Jim Pewter
Gene Price has another hour of your country favorites. Gene had some recent health issues and is bouncing right back. It's like the Country Express! Prayers.
Friday, October 6, 2023
Command Performance 1977
Thursday, October 5, 2023
Charlie Tuna 1988
Ask must anyone about Armed Forces Radio in 70s, 80s and 90s and they'll remember different things, but always Charlie Tuna.
Charlie woke the world for a quarter century. Who else can make THAT claim?
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
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.
Wolfman Jack 1981
When I came back from Korea I met Wolfman at LAX. The only time in my life I was totally blown away by meeting a celebrity. Only thing I remember was that he was nice with magic. I've been a fan ever since.
Wolfman Jack - 1981
Wolfman Jack - 1981
Monday, October 2, 2023
Roger Carroll 1969
Our friend KMPC good guy Roger Carroll is back from a 1969 Thursday. Roger sent his collection of shows to the blog to be shared. I'm very grateful for such wonderful radio.
Mary Turner 1983
Mary Turner and Ted Nugent
Mary Turner was the opposite of GI Jill and Chris Noel, a broadcaster that was a female, it kept with the times, yet still was the girl left behind.
When Mary started her show we were concerned about how an hour of slamming rock and roll would go over. I knew the troops would love it but the Colonel. The Canal Zone civilians? They really liked to complain. It went over great and was a wonderful addition.
Herman Griffith 1968
Jim Pewter, Herman and Roger Carroll
Herman was the first of the really great soul jocks at AFRTS. He was making waves at KGFJ and went worldwide. Herman was the one that brought Roland Bynum in..
1968 was great year for music. Take a listen:
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Andy Mansfield 1963
Here's part 3 of America's Popular Music, Andy Mansfield continues his tribute to Glenn Miller.
Bill Stewart 1969
Amazing talent from KMPC
Don Browne has some insights: Not all AFRTS-LA radio show hosts methodically recorded their programs at the beginning of the RU 8-week cycle-to-air. Of course, all AFRTS stations and networks held the RU "on the floor" for an additional 3-weeks as a protection for four-class mail delays enroute. The only exception was AFVN in Saigon, RVN who aired the RU and RP ("Date With Chris") the week that it was received. Saigon had daily flights from Travis AFB, CA and didn't have to worry about delay in four-class mail deliveries.
Bill Stewart, and a few other hosts, recorded and stored their shows at AFRTS-LA for four to six months prior to air. Although the programming was 5-55:00 at the beginning, it was considered "ever green" by the LA producers. Bill Stewart never mentioned "it's the Monday edition" or "it's the Tuesday edition" the way Roger Carroll did for his 5-55:00 series. I believe this was due to the inordinate delay in recording the Bill Stewart Shows. He just didn't know what day the show was to be aired!
When Bill Stewart says "this song is a new release", it really isn't. . .it's four to six months old!
Because of the long "lead-time" in recording the Bill Stewart Shows (at the request of Bill himself), I reviewed and logged a year of the Bill Stewart Show to determine if there was a detrimental effect on the program. This took about two weeks of auditioning the pristine discs in the Library of Congress. I saved the "Bill Stewart logs" when I retired from AFRTS in January 2001.
The core artists most likely to be featured on the 1-110:00 series Bill Stewart Show were: Mel Torme, Buddy Greco, Damita Jo, George Shearing, Andre Previn, Les Brown, Ted Heath, Artie Shaw, Peggy Lee, Anita Kerr Singers, Nelson Riddle, David Rose, and Burt Bacharach. The "Bill Stewart logs" began with #733 RU 41-9 (April 1969) and ended with #790 RU 47-0 (May 1970). In this series, Bill Stewart used Hugo Montenegro's rendition of "Palm Canyon Drive" as a bridge (or bumper) between Part 2 (the "b" side) and Part 3 (the "c" side).
In #734 RU 42-9 (April 1969), Bill Stewart remarks "This is the beginning of the Twenty-fifth Year of AFRS (nee AFRTS). . ." in the beginning of Part 4 (the "d" side).
In #749 RU 5-0 (August 1969), Bill Stewart remarks that Henry Mancini's rendition of "Crocodiles Go Home" from the soundtrack album "Hatari" was his "bridge theme" (between Part 1 and Part 2) when the show was 5-a-week (5-55:00).
Although the AFRTS-LA records are not accurate, due to the numbering scheme, the first Bill Stewart Show was probably #1M in RU 27-6 (January 1966). Around #651 in RU 1-9 (July 1968), Bill Stewart was demoted to 1-110:00. An easy way to rank AFRTS-LA radio show hosts was by the number of disc sides that they recorded. 1-25:00 or 1-30:00 was one side; 1-45:00 or 1-55:00 was two sides; 1-110:00 was four sides; 5-55:00 was ten sides. So moving from 5-55:00 to 1-110:00 was considered a demotion.
Bill Stewart is back for another swinging hour. It's a little jumpy near the beginning but it fills the Bill..
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