Posts
Beautiful lady, wonderful show. You have a Date With Chris.
Monday, August 23, 2021
1970s jingles
Charlie Tuna 1991
So where were you in 1991?
The first Gulf War, Soviet Union crumbles, Princess Diana and Prince Charles split up. Topicality was a big piece of the Charlie Tuna show:
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Thursday, August 12, 2021
Sunday, August 8, 2021
AFN Old Gold Retold 1983 Ron Hester
"Old Gold Retold" had a long history on AFN. By 1983, Ron Hester had your memories
Thursday, August 5, 2021
Jazz Book 1962
One of America's great exports was jazz. We've played a lot of it on AFRTS. In 1962 Bill Kelly opened the pages of the "Jazz Book" with some wonderful music. When I had the bigband show in Minneapolis Stan Kenton was one of my first guests. Wonderful artist, great musician. Give a listen.
Friday, July 30, 2021
Humble Harv 1980
I few years ago, when I was doing the station for Roger Carroll, I was called by Harv. He wanted a website with a lot of video. Sounded like a great idea but it would be crazy time consuming to do well. Nice guy. Wish I could have pulled that off.
Humble Harve counted them down in the late 70s and 80s.
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Chris Noel 1969
Chris Noel was the voice of home to a lot of troops, halfway around the world and counting the days back to the real world.It's a Wednesday in 1969 with Date With Chris. Please help fellow vets by making a contribution to Chris's "Vetsville Cease Fire House"
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Roger Carroll 1969
I'll always be grateful to Roger for sharing these memories. . Roger brings you the Happy Hour and once again in fine fettle. Time for the Best Sounds in Town!
Thursday, June 10, 2021
Enchantment Of Music 1964
Over the years AFRTS presented a lot of classical music. For a lot of our listeners, it was the introduction to styles of music that they hadn't heard before. "Enchantment of Music" was originally from KCBH-FM, Beverly Hills. They presented their shows in "the matchless fidelity of frequency modulation". The station was also the first one for The Real Don Steele.
Did we ever actually run these on FM stations?
KCBH sounds like a very interesting place Here's their tribute website
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
GI Journal 1943
G. I. Journal. November 5, 1943. Program #16. The first tune is, "I Know That You Know." Arthur Q. Bryan, Georgia Carroll, Harry Babbitt, Harry Mitchell (announcer), Merwyn Bogue, Jerry Colonna, Kay Kyser and His Orchestra, Linda Darnell, Mel Blanc, Sully Mason (vocals). 29:53.
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Dick Sinclair 1961
Dick Sinclair has a special piece in AFRTS history. He was in the first group of broadcasters to train at Fox Movie Studio for the new network. During WWII he has at the Guadalcanal station. After the war he was "Polka Party" on both radio and television for many years.
Standing, Left to Right: Allen Botzer, Dick Sinclair, Jack (Ivan) Saddler, Rudy Luukinen, Al Taylor.
Sitting, Left to Right: George Dvorak, Rudy Rubin, Hy Averback, Spence Allen, Will Kennedy.
Sitting, Left to Right: George Dvorak, Rudy Rubin, Hy Averback, Spence Allen, Will Kennedy.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
AFPN Hitmakers 1975
Richard Clemmons AFPN
"Hitmakers" was completed at the Far East Network Philippines in 1975 and required 20 hours to air. We realized that “19 Years of Hit Music” had outdated itself as soon as it aired, but the response to the show was an overwhelming approval. I began immediately writing “The Hitmakers” to replace it. The first task was writing intros and closes and coming up with the "sound" that would be the program. The opening explosion is from an AFRTS sound effects recording of an atomic bomb. The deep voice saying “The Hitmakers” is mine, slowed down by wrapping the tape deck capstan with scotch tape until the desired effect was reached. Next, obviously, are the Rolling Stones “It’s Only Rock & Roll.” The open ; close announcer is Vic Pinzon followed by Bill Haley ; The Comets “Rock Around The Clock,” kept from “19 Years” as a recognizable tie to the previous show. The voice of the song intros and outros is mine. The theme music for “World Headline News ; Sports” is “Baroque Hoedown” from the LP “Kaleidoscopic Vibrations” by Perrey Kingsley. The Announcer introducing the news and sports is Steve Bagget (Marine Sergeant), somehow left out of the closing credits, I really don’t know why. The news inserts were written by Sandy Dellar, Air Force dependent wife, voiced by Jim Estep. Sports inserts were written by Rich Yanku and voiced by Charlie Kemplin. Gene Pickett was still the radio supervisor. The closing theme is “Storefront Lawyers” by the Ventures. Originally broadcast on AFPN (FEN Philippines) January 1, 1975 it is revived now for AFRTS Archive. Thank you Thom Whetston. Your dedication to keeping alive the incredible efforts of AFRTS alumni worldwide is deeply appreciated. I hope everyone enjoys hearing “The Hitmakers” now as much as I, in retrospect, and everyone involved in the production, enjoyed creating it.
Richard Clemons
AFPN Subic Bay 1970-1972
AFPN San Miguel 1972-1973
AFPN (FEN) Clark 1974-1977
Hi Thom,
It took a lot of scouring around what used to be Clark Air Base to find where AFPN was. Unfortunately there is nothing left at all. According to what I was able to find out, all the buildings were destroyed by the eruption on Mt Pinatubo and when the ash was cleared, so were the remains of the AM/FM/TV station. There is even a building on top of where the tower used to be. Attached is a shot I took the other day of what is on the site now. So much for my trip down memory lane…Jerry
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Chris Noel 1967
Chris Noel in Vietnam
The first hundred plus shows have been recorded and she's finding her groove. Here's more memories.
Friday, March 19, 2021
Monitor 1966
Monitor was hard to describe. NBC took soft news features, great talent and some comedy and music. It was ahead of it's time. There's a website dedicated to the show Monitor Beacon
AFRTS had the show.
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Chris Noel 1971
Chris personified the "girl next door" with her show a Date With Chris. A while back she made hundreds of hours of her shows available to us. Thanks again my friend.
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Roger Carroll 1973
Roger Carroll taken at sea on the USS Voladore sub SS 490.broadcasting KMPC show
Roger Carroll 1973
More Roger Carroll
Roger Carroll 1973
More Roger Carroll
Monday, December 21, 2020
Wolfman Jack Christmas
Here's a 1975 visit with the Wolfman. It really is the most wonderful time of the year! Mark sent this in last year. Great stuff!
Roger Holste
Had this since 2010, the Korean Won dates from the mid 60s. He apparently did time at AFKN and AFVN. Anyone know Roger Holste?
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
SCN John Lennon tribute 1980
Okay it's a repeat, but 40 years ago we lost John Lennon. Here's how the next day sounded on the Southern Command Network in Panama.
Monday, November 9, 2020
Jazzbo Collins 1967
Al "Jazzbo" Collins was quite a talent, broadcasting from the "purple grotto", inspired by horrible paint in the WNEW studios..
"I started my broadcast in Studio One which was painted all kinds of tints and shades of purple on huge polycylindricals which were vertically placed around the walls of the room to deflect the sound. It just happened to be that way. And with the turntables and desk and console and the lights turned down low, it had a very cavelike appearance to my imagination. So I got on the air, and the first thing I said was, "Hi, it's Jazzbo in the Purple Grotto." You never know where your thoughts are coming from, but the way it came out was that I was in a grotto, in this atmosphere with stalagtites and a lake and no telephones. I was using Nat Cole underneath me with "Easy Listening Blues" playing piano in the background."
There was a very jazzy imagery.
In 1967, Al "Jazzbo" Collins brought a retrained Purple Grotto to AFRTS.
Monday, October 12, 2020
AFVN Duke Miller 1968
Found this old photo and decided to share with the group. It's of me doing the afternoon show on AFVN-AM shortly after the onset of the Tet Offensive in 1968.
I was AFVN-FM's only announcer. We were live 6:30p.m.-Midnight each night and simulcast otherwise. But, after Tet, all staffers were 24 on, 24 off (in case half of us got wiped out). That's why I was doing the afternoon gig in the photo, subbing for Don Burns. Note the tape on the studio window to the left, put there to prevent shattering from ordnance percussions. Weeks later, after a nearby rocket attack, the window stayed in tact, but most of the ceiling tiles fell, spewing insulation throughout.
Like many, I endured the Army's penchant for snafu's. I enlisted for a broadcasting MOS; they spent six weeks teaching me to type in admin school at Ft. Dix (even though I already could type 65 words per minute); after a brief stint at an intelligence unit at Ft. Meade, MD, I was assigned to the personnel department at a military intelligence unit seven miles north of Saigon. After several months, I went into Saigon, auditioned, and was "hired" shortly thereafter. Strangely, my transfer happened the afternoon of the Tet Offensive. My former unit was blown away the next day. By the grace of God and some trusted informants, the unit was abandoned prior to the attack and all survived.
AFVN, Saigon, was actually about as good as it could get in 'Nam. We lived in a hotel, The Ky Son. Except for AFVN staffers, it's nine stories housed Aussies and New Zealanders, which made staying sober a real challenge! I complete my enlistment at Ft. Meade, MD, producing the U. S. Army Recruiting public service radio shows.
My broadcasting career was short-lived. It got me through high school, college, and the Army. I went on to a successful career in the advertising agency business and spend half my retirement in Florida and half in the mountains of western North Carolina.
Duke Miller
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Monday, August 10, 2020
Dick Sinclair 1959
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Dick Sinclair was in the very first group of AFRS talent. Before we even had a network, this group was training at Fox studios. Dick was at the station on Guadalcanal.
After the war, Dick Sinclair helped to make polka a national joy. Polka Party was heard on hundreds of stations and made the jump to TV.
Thursday, July 9, 2020
Benny Brown AFN 1995
Benny parlayed his AFN time into a BIG gig over at Radio Luxembourg, hear why in this Veterans Day show.
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Roger Carroll 1977
Been almost a year ago that we lost Roger. I had worked with him, making his streaming station happen. That was a great two years. I miss the calls...
Roger brings us back to the best of 1977
Thursday, July 2, 2020
Jim Pewter 1968
Jim Pewter was a giant in "Oldies Radio". After he did his time in Korea with AFKN, he did a lot for the music that we love. Almost immediately after ETS Jim on the full network.
Jubilee 1945
Jubilee. April 16, 1945. Program #129. The second tune is, "If You Can't Smile and Say Yes, Please Don't Cry and Say No." Benny Carter and His Orchestra, Barney Bigard, The Nat King Cole Trio, Judy Carroll (vocal), Eddie Anderson (Rochester), Ernest Whitman (m.c.), Verne Smith (announcer).
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