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Interlude was one of the many "Music for Colonels" shows. Soft symphonic music for the dinner hour, or evening, or overnight. Through most of the history of the network, we played this music.
Friday, July 28, 2017
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Chris Noel - 1969
Thank you Chris Noel for sharing the memories. A few years ago Chris called and asked if I'd like to be able to share these shows. She had saved most of them. That was an easy question. She had finished doing the show before I enlisted but at the station at the 2d Infantry division had saved hundreds of these. I thought they were perfect radio. Then and now.
Let's remember 1969 with A Date With Chris.
Friday, July 21, 2017
The Green Slime - 1969
Today (July 18, 2017) I saw the movie The Green Slime (1969) again on cable channel Turner Classic Movies (TCM). It aired at 12:45 p.m. EDT. The thing about The Green Slime was that the monsters were not "green" and were not "slimey". Their alien blood however, was "green".
To my knowledge, this is the only Tokyo-made movie that featured the FEN Production Director, Leonard "Bud" Widom (FEN 1964-1969), in fourth billing, along with dozens of FEN enlisted personnel and wives as "extras". I recognized SSGT Larry Rogers, now called Frank Rogers, in a "party" scene.
The movie was actually filmed in 1968 from studios that were located on the road, as you drove from the "back gate" of Grant Heights FHA to Momote Village.
Some FEN announcers may have been given "bit" parts where they spoke a few words. All the performers were "round-eye"; there were no Japanese actors visible. They all had "appropriate" haircuts for 1968, and senior enlisted personnel (E-7 to E-9) stood out. There were many 20-something females featured from somewhere, but not FEN who had only dependents available.
The Green Slime was featured on TCM with a group of "horror" movies that were considered "camp" or Grade B. The Green Slime was also the premiere movie of the parody-series Mystery Science Theater 3000. That was the series where the host and two robot-puppets were super-imposed on theater seating in opaque and added snarky commentary as the movie was super-imposed behind them.
I was at FEN in 1969 when the movie premiered on the Japanese AAFMPS circuit, to much hoopla and fanfare, in October 1969, at North Camp Drake and Grant Heights Theaters.
Don Browne "LT", FEN Tokyo 1969-1971
Thursday, July 20, 2017
AFKN video production 1977
AFKN video production 1977. So that's how it was done 40 years ago... and kinescopes...
Thanks Linda! High tech is us.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Jingle Jangle...
Grab a bunch of TPs, the currents and some jingles! You're late for The Morning show!!!
Saturday, July 15, 2017
LaRita Shelby 1994
There is a party going on, with LaRita Shelby. She shared several programs with us and I'm thankful.
If you haven't heard "Date With a Song" you really should. Light, jazzy but not muzaky. Information at http://www.laritashelby.com
Golden Days Of Radio - 1968
In 1968 Frank Bresee started doing the Golden Days of Radio. Frank had been a radio star in the 1940s and brought back the memories. The show was most often a potpourri of the best of radio. Radio dramas and comedy were on AFRTS for many many years. We still had multiple places with no television station.
Sunday, July 9, 2017
AFN Nightside - Craig Miller
Nightside was a little bit of everything. Craig Miller was a part of it. Definitely good radio.
Thursday, July 6, 2017
If Freedom Failed - 1953
The Voice Of Information with "If Freedom Failed" 1953 government-produced radio series dramatizing the impact of a Communist take-over of the United Statestoday starring Mary Anderson. Mary had quite a career 31 films including Gone with the Wind (1939), Lifeboat (1944) and The Song of Bernadette (1943). Later she did a bunch of television.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Chris Noel 1968
Something fun for the collection is an original wirephoto from the Baltimore Sun of Chris Noel
Top Pops
The TP (or "Top Pops") were a weekly series of disks with the hits of the week. It ran from 1962-75. After 1975 we received similar disks but as regular library records, making it harder to use. Remember grabbing a handful and rocking up a storm?
Monday, July 3, 2017
Not allowed in your country
Roger Carroll's Best Sounds in Town is up and streaming, out of beta. Yay! Apparently if you're not in the United States you have to use an internet proxy. Same thing I use too listen AFN here. It's worth paying for, but there's a free one. I did a story about this a while back.
Sunday, July 2, 2017
WACR Radio Blackhorse, Vietnam 1970
During Vietnam, several commands had their own command information radio stations, providing a fast way to communicate with the troops and of course an ego stroke for the commander. "Radio Blackhorse" (11th Armored Cav) was in Quon Loi.
Don Browne shared the following:
Due to the "Status of Forces" agreement, the RVN agency that controlled radio broadcasting, ostensibly the QC, had no control over any U.S. agency broadcasting.
This included AFRS and its successor AFVN, any U.S. PIO "independent" radio stations, the VOA, and the CIA "black" stations in RVN.
WACR was considered one of about ten PIO "independent" radio stations. They received hand-me-down broadcast equipment from AFVN, received free "DJ copies" of 45 RPM and 12-Inch LP's, and purchased "jingles" from state-side producers.
WACR purchased jingles from a company that was inferior to Pepper-Tanner.
This was unfortunate.
At the time in question (late sixties), a private person could purchase any Gwinsound jingle for twenty-five dollars. Many jingle collectors in my jingle-collecting community actually did this. The quality of Gwinsound was excellent; it was equal to top-selling CRC but not as good as PAMS. But PAMS was too expensive for "private collectors".
The equipment featured in the photo of WACR was mostly provided by AFVN. This included a McMartin six-fader tube-based audio console, an RCA twin-mounted cartridge player, and an old ATC P-150 cartridge player (mounted on the audio console).
The WACR transmitter used at the time was a ten-watt exciter on 107.9 MHz.
Later a low power AM transmitter on 1550 kHz would be added.
WACR was close enough to the AFVN FM transmitter at #9 Hong Thap Tu and its 100,000 watts to receive a clean off-air feed of News-On-The-Hour (NOH).
The 7 p.m. NOH featured "Larry Rogers", who I worked with at FEN in 1969 prior to his assignment at AFVN. Based on the "Black Panther Courtroom Rally in New Haven, CT" story which occurred on Friday May 1, 1970, the newscast was 7 p.m. Saturday May 2, 1970 (7 a.m. Saturday morning May 2, 1970 New Haven time).
Gary W. Gears was still the production voice featured on AFVN news in 1970, although he had ETS'd a few months earlier.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
One Night Stand - Lionel Hampton 1947
One Night Stand was on for decades featuring the best bands in the land. AFM and the networks sent in live remote broadcasts which were repackaged. Some of these really were the best, like this one with vibraphone master Lionel Hampton.
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Chris Noel 1968
When I was at AFKN Camp Casey in 1977, there was an amazing stack of these in the record library. I heard Chris the first time then and thought that these were great programming. If I could have figured a way to reuse them, I would have. Wonderful radio. To this day she helps or veteran bothers.
Sunday, June 18, 2017
FEN Macabre 1962
Macabre was produced in-house by the Tokyo studios of the Far East Network of the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. Two Air Force personnel were most responsible for creating the series: William Verdier as writer, performer, and director; and Program Director and performer, John F. Buey, Jr.. Mr. Buey entered the Civilian Service from the old Yankee Radio Network, serving as Program Director of FEN Tokyo from its inception in 1946.
The Verdiers, William and Christine, were active in several local origination FEN Tokyo productions, with Mr. Verdier responsible for the original 15 ips tape submission that resulted in the green light to produce the series of broadcast episodes.
The series arose out of an impromptu competition between The Far East Network and The Armed Forces Network-Germany. Both networks sent 15 ips audition tapes to the AFRTS Headquarters in Los Angeles and FEN Tokyo won the 'competition'. The AFRTS transcribed and distributed the Macabre series on October 4, 1961-- a month before FEN Tokyo recorded a ninth episode of Macabre for Christmas Day, titled Of Frankincense and Myrrh.
Sunday, June 11, 2017
AFN 1983
Here's what's coming up on AFN ---
00:00 AFN Tonight
01:00 Mary Turner
02:00 Wolfman Jack
03:00 Roland Bynum
04:00 Jim Pewter
04:30 Mary Helen Barro
04:30 Mary Helen Barro
05:00 Harry Newman
06:00 Morning Show
10:00 AFN Today
12:00 News
13:00 Charlie Tuna
15:00 Afternoon Show
18:00 News
19:00 Gene Price
20:00 Mystery Theatre
21:00 Don Tracy
22:00 News
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Chris Noel - 1969
If what we were trying to do was bring a little piece of home to troops around the world, Chris Noel did a wonderful job. Right after Vietnam I was at the station in the 2nd Infantry Division and found a stack of these shows. It was a wonderful listen then and now. Memories of 1969.
Saturday, June 3, 2017
AFVN Jim Lull 1966
Summer 1966 in Vietnam. It wasn't AFVN yet but Jim Lull had the sounds of home. Thanks Dennis!!!
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
AFN Bremerhaven 1968 - Paul Hennessey
Left to right are SP5 Dave Stewart (later became a SGM), SP5 Paul Wetterhahn (aka Paul Drake), myself SP5 and SP5 Dick Dalrymple (not sure of spelling).
A little while ago we posted AFN Bremerhaven in 1968. Paul Hennessey was there and sent some great memories of AFN Bremerhaven in 1968. "I never worked as a dj after my AFN experience. I felt very fortunate to have been able to do it back then. I’m 72 years young and living in the MO Ozarks for the past 13 years. Also, am trying to get some screenplays I’ve written made into movies. Haven’t been able to make the right connections yet even though I worked at SAG Union Headquarters for 20 years from 1984-2004." It must be morning, it's time for the Bremerhaven Bugle Call!
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Chuck Cecil 1979
Chuck Cecil was playing the big band oldies around Los Angeles by the 1950s. He got it on KFI, syndicated it and ran it for decades. We were pretty lucky to have it so long on AFRTS.
Monday, May 15, 2017
You can help!
There's several ways that you can help make this a better place:
- Tell a friend. You know people that appreciated what the stations did over the years. They might like it too. That's the best advertising. Some of us were at the stations around the world. Some were in AFRTS-LA, AFRTS-NY or AFRTS-W, some turned the radio on before a day in the "real army". Some were residents of the host countries. AFRTS touched a lot of people. Tell your Friends on Facebook and Twitter.
- Tell your story. The whole story is huge. All of the groups above were a part and the others would find it interesting.
- Share your media. Some recorded things off the radio or rescued disks from the dumpster. I'd like to hear what you have and I'm sure others would too. Is there a box in the basement/garage/storage?
- Feed the kitty. If you could make a contribution, we can have nicer things. Everyone who has clicked the Paypal box, thank you so very much. If you haven't yet...there's still time. Paypal will convert any currency. Just click the "Donate" button.
Your help makes this a nicer place. Thank you.
If any outside media would like to tell our story, I'll do what I can to help.
Thank you for visiting, let me know if there's anything I can do for you.
Thank you for visiting, let me know if there's anything I can do for you.
Linda Lord
Erkan Acar
Ken Hissong
William James
Dale Nulik
John Miller
Chris Andrews
Glen May
Burt Schneider
Steven Kuhn
Jeff McKnight
Gary Schneider
Robert Baucik
Joseph Webb
Roger Carroll
Garry Terrell
Bill Cain
Joel O'Brien
Pete Pittman
Joe Ferguson
Don Dornberg
Phillip Holloway
Robert Schultz
Barry Thomas
Gerry Fry
Robert Cleveland
AFKN, Korea 1976-77
SCN, Panama 1980-83
612-356-AFRS (612-356-2377)
Friday, May 12, 2017
AFN Bremerhaven 1968
This is fun, Hans Knot sent this along. It's wonderful. His friend Paul was a big fan:
I came across a 1968 AFN Bremerhaven aircheck for a almost complete broadcast day. I started listening to AFN Bremerhaven in 64 and stayed with the station till closedown in 93. Especially those 60s recording for me are the best. The programs and the jingles, that’s my AFN Bremerhaven. I did work on the sound quality of this unique recording and was able to enhance it from poor to fair AM quality for those aging radio listener ears.
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Chris Noel 1967
Thank you Chris for all that you do. Even today the Ceasefire house is a home to our brothers. Please throw a few bucks to help. Vetsville Ceasefire House on Facebook
Sunday, May 7, 2017
AFN Latin Tempo 1980
In 1980, Germany based Latin soldiers had the Voice of Home with Latin Tempo from AFN. Guenther, a German who liked the music used to record it a lot. It had an impact. Here's another of his tapes.
Sports Reel 1948
Sportsreel, with inside stories about the events and personalities in the sporting world. Today Bill Stearns and Bill Brand have stories:
Thursday, May 4, 2017
FEN "The Way Back"
I see a lot of things where the story has been lost. This is from the "Philippine Air Force Show". I'd have to presume FEN, most likely the Philippines. PAF was created in 1947, late 40s? Any ideas?
Monday, May 1, 2017
Chris Noel - 1969
Chris Noel was and is one pretty amazing lady. She brought home to GIs around the world.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
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