Posts
If Freedom Failed continues with a look at what will happen when the communists take over the trade unions.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Chris Noel - 1969
It's a "Date With Chris". Chris Noel has spent her life giving to the troops, for doing to the AFRTS show to running a shelter for our homeless brothers. Support Vetsville
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Marine Band Concert 1962
In 1962 CBS was broadcasting weekly concerts by the Marine Corps Band. AFRTS aired them worldwide.
Friday, April 15, 2016
Chris Noel - 1968
Chris Noel got a lot of people through some difficult times with "A Date With Chris". She was the girl back home. A few years ago Chris made her shows available to us so we can hear them again. Thanks Chris!!! Take a listen.
Enchantment of Music - 1961
Here's some light classics for your dinner hour. "Enchantment of Music" was originally from KCBH-FM, Beverly Hills. They presented their shows in "the matchless fidelity of frequency modulation". Bruce Wendell was the host. Most of the time they would have been heard on AM stations. Such is life.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Sound Effects.
So do you remember these? I think it was a repackaged Major library. Valentino kept repackaging the same library from the 1940s over and over again.
There was a long history of sound effects libraries. Usually awful ones. If you have to read the jacket to figure out what it is, it wasn't done very well. But when we got the CBS library it was a world of difference, no download link on these. I don't know anyone at Major to ask...
Saturday, April 9, 2016
If Freedom Fails
In 1951, AFRTS addressed communism and our freedoms. All star casts, good writing "If Freedom Failed". It certainly has a message/
Chris Noel - 1969
Chris Noel brought a little piece of home to Vietnam era troops. If you get errors trying to play this, use any non-Microsoft browser. Google Chrome, Firefox, any Macintosh or Android browser work.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Mister DJ, Don't Play That Song
Eric Burdon - Sky Pilot
Simon and Garfunkel - Homeward Bound
Peter Paul and Mary - Leaving On A Jet Plane
Mel Tillis - Stateside
Barry McGuire - Eve Of Destruction
Freda Payne - Bring the Boys Home
Bobby Bare - Detroit City
Animals - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
Boyd Bennett and his Rockets - My Boy Flattop
Edwin Starr - War
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son
When I was in Panama and we had troops in Nicaragua, there was a rather corny big band song "Managua Nicaragua", recorded by both Freddie Martin and Guy Lombardo Lyrics were rather interesting.
Did you have other ones?
At AFKN-TDC they got a new general and a not very smart DJ dedicated Stevie Wonder's "You Haven't Done Nothin' Yet" after a diatribe. BAD idea.
Do they play Ray Stevens "Ahab the Arab" in Iraq/Afghanistan?
What did you play that they didn't care for...
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Why We Fight - 1942
In 1942, Troops needed to understand what we were getting into. There was no AFRS yet so outreach was very hit and miss. CBS broadcast a series of speeches to help. The mandate was to get these to the troops. Difficult to say how effective that was. Correspondent Lee White was in Europe when that part of the war started. He shares his thoughts.
One Night Stand - 1962 Teddy Wilson
This is my favorite "One Night Stand". The show was mostly big band remotes from all over the country. It's surprising how many orchestras were working well into the 1960s. Mostly regional ones that never had a national impact, but take 12-20 musicians playing well with good scores and it can be great.
"One Night Stand" wasn't always big bands. Teddy Wilson was a great pianist on hundreds of sessions backing Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and the rest of the best.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Chris Noel - 1969
Some pretty amazing radio in it's own right. Chris cared. Cared enough to do the shows, cared enough to tour to the troops, even in war zones. Cared enough to open a veterans shelter, which is still going strong. We owe you a lot Chris.
Spectrum USA - 1971
Today on Spectrum USA Dick Stark has stories of Benjamin Harrison, who was the namesake of Ft Benjamin Harrison, the home of the Defense Information School. Thank you John!
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Over 2000 posts.
It's pretty amazing, over 2000 posts on this page since 2009. There were a couple of other websites before this one. Thank you for visiting. Thank you for telling your friends. Thank you for sharing your memories. Thank you for making this happen.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Freedom Sings - 1963
"Freedom Sings" was presented by the Freedoms Foundation in Valley Forge for decades. It was a natural for AFRTS "The Presidents Own" Marine Band and inspiring stories. Really well done.
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Flair - 1962
Did you see this? 90 year old Dick Van Dyke at the Emmys
In 1962 Dick Van Dyke was getting it together. Some Broadway, television and "Flair" on ABC radio. We had it on AFRTS:
In 1962 Dick Van Dyke was getting it together. Some Broadway, television and "Flair" on ABC radio. We had it on AFRTS:
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Chris Noel - 1970
There was a Monday in 1970 that was this much better because of Chris Noel and a "Date With Chris" on AFRTS. She really was a natural, because she cared.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Monte Jones - FEN 1969
Monte Jones, an amazing talent. When I went through the DINFOS I was lucky enough to have both Bob Runda and Monte Jones as instructors. Did Mr. Runda ever do an airshift anywhere? A lot of broadcasters attempted to style themselves after Monte. Something I didn't know was that FEN at the time was using a primitive automation system. The first transcription disk would run out and start the second. The newscasts were all on tape. Since the 'automation system' required someone to feed it, it's difficult to imagine what was gained over using a board operator. Maybe a lifetime job for the automation operator.
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Can't download?
Apparently our friends at Microsoft believe mp3s are dangerous. There's a long story, but if you're getting errors when trying to hear the shows it's a Microsoft issue. Jeez. Anyhow, any decent browser will work.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Johnnie Darin 1942-2016
Johnnie was born John Christian Miller. On one of his first jobs as Johnnie Christian.
KACY Oxnard, KMEN San Bernardino, KRLA and KIIS; KRLA, 1968-71; KDAY, 1971; KROQ, 1972-73; KNAC, 1975; KGOE, 1975; KNX, 1976; KGIL, 1976-83; KJOI, 1978; KBLA, 1989-92; KGIL, 1993; KFWB, 1998-2008 and many more. We had Johnnie in the 1970s and 80s. We lost Johnnie 03/09/2016 to pancreatic cancer. He had been hospitalized in Olympia, WA to be near his friends and family. It was a great loss.
Chris Noel - 1969
Chris Noel did some great shows, toured war zones and is still there for us. Thank you my friend.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
AFN Berlin 20th Anniversary 1965
In 1965 AFN Berlin was 20 years old and told the world about it. Thank you Hans Knot!
Monday, March 7, 2016
If Freedom Failed - 1951
If Freedom Failed was a 1951 AFRTS production, highlighting the communist menace. It was very well done. Today Jeffrey Silver IMDB biography in "The Pledge"
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Walt Pinto - AFRS Alaska 1961
The only thing I have is a picture, since I did mostly TV. (And there was no videotape in 1961 and 62.
Greely had the Arctic Test Board and the Cold Weather and Mountain School. I think I mentioned that we broadcast on Channel 8 with 200 watts. That got us into Delta Junction about 10 miles away. The only other TV the town had was one translator from a Fairbanks TV station.
But I worked in radio for two years before the Army. I enlisted for the 3 years because I was about 6 months from being drafted. As you know the 3 year enlistment guarantees the school and no reserves after separation. Went to the Defense Information school at Ft. Slocum in NY. Spent a year at Bragg in Psywar, doing details. Then the year and a half in AK. Discharged 45 days early in Nov. 62. Went back to radio and am still in it today.
When I got there in May of '61, the TV station was halfway between the New post and the Old post. The staff...all 3 of us lived at the station, which was great. We had a kitchen and private rooms. Then about 6 months later, they moved the radio station into the building and built several more rooms for those people.
We were the first station to get the weekly shipment of films from LA. After we used them, they were sent on, eventually reaching the middle east about nine months later. The shows...an entire week's worth of programming...arrived two weeks before they were supposed to air. We had a projection room with two projectors which an editor used to watch every piece of film to make sure there was no commercial or even a commercial frame on those films. I became friendly with a couple of the MPs, and many weekends they would come by late at night on the weekends and we'd have a beer party watching the shows before they aired.
Living at the TV station was great. Not one inspection or any kind of the usual oversight.
I have wanted to go back to Alaska since I left, and three years ago got the chance. My wife and I flew to Anchorage and drove around for two weeks. Before I left from here, I contacted the Info office at Greely about getting a tour. They said OK, and we had a nice tour when I got there. The post was closed a few years ago, but reopened later and now is a missile base. Part of the post is now top secret, but I got to see the rest...almost nothing recognizable from 50 years ago.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Yarns for Yanks - 1943
"Yarns for Yanks" was one of the first shows on AFRS. A talented star telling a story. This was adapted from the show "Night Cap Yarns", which had been running for years on CBS Pacific. The first 18 shows were recorded by Frank Graham then Hollywood's brightest stars came out to support the troops. Today Lloyd Nolan tells us a O Henry story,
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Chris Noel
Chis Noel takes everyone home, for 55 minutes on "A Date With Chris" She connected, playing great music and brought America to the world.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Spectrum USA - 1971
Happy Presidents Day! In 1971 the Marine Corps Reserve was sending the stories of the Presidents in Spectrum USA. Col Dick Stark has the information.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Adventure Theatre - 1976
In the 70s and 80s AFRTS went back to the shows that had been run over the years and repackaged them into "Adventure Theatre". There were still a lot of places with no television.
"Zero Hour" had been done several times on Dimesion X, Escape and on Future Tense. This was originally on a 1955 Suspense broadcast.
Isa Ashdown, John Dehner (narrator), Parley Baer, Paula Winslowe, Beverly Hanley, Eve McVeagh, Ray Bradbury (author), Antony Ellis (adaptor, producer, director), Larry Thor (announcer), Lucien Moraweck (composer), Leith Stevens (composer), Wilbur Hatch (conductor), Bill James (sound patterns), Ray Kemper (sound patterns).
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Welcome to AFVN - 1972
Picked up some wonderful documents, a 1972 welcome package to AFVN. We had similar ones in Korea.
These were originally from Tom Peterson. After DINFOS Tom was in the 82nds PAO shop and then to Saigon as a newsman, later being a part of Stars and stripes. After discharge Tom spent 20 years at KCAU-TV in Sioux Falls. We lost Tom to a car accident in 1994.
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