Army Hour - 1967 Computers!

 

The Army had computers in 1967, just not very sure what they were.  This from a 1967 "Army Hour" broadcast.  The Army Hour had PAO shops from around the world filing reports on what their commands were doing.  These usually ended up broadcast on Sunday mornings in the states. Sgt Raymond Banks reports:

Army Hour - Computers 1967

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Johnny Bond 1961

 To the strains of Les Paul's "Cimarron" and a bushel basket full of gramophone records.  It's old school country from 1961.

Happy listening!

Johnny Bond - 1961

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Chris Noel 1970

 

Chris Noel did so much for so many Vietnam era troops.  "A Date With Chris" brought the girl next door to far flung outposts all over the world.

A Date With Chris - 1970

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Charlie Tuna 1988

It's been five years since we lost Charlie.  I remember that day. 

Charlie was with us a quarter century, right up to the end.  I think we all stole something from him.  Thanks Charlie!

 

Charlie Tuna - 1988

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Rocketing Rhythms 1961

 

Jack Brown is back with Rocketing Rhythms. our 1961 show with tunes for the kids.  Today Jack has the top hits and visit with Kay Starr...

Rocketing Rhythms - 1961

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Halloween's Coming.... Mystery Playhouse 1944

 The Mystery Playhouse was one of the first series on AFRS.  The networks were sending over more good material than could be readily used.  A lot of it was used in anthology programs, sort of the best of radio back home.  "SGT X" (Howard Duff) was the host of the Mystery Playhouse..

Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward in Graham Greene's novel, "Brighton Rock." was originally aired on the CBS show "This Is My Best", in 1944

Mystery Playhouse #37 "Brighton Rock"  

Halloween Memories

Johnnie Darrin 1978

 

Johnnie Darrin's resume included: 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.  

Johnnie Darin 1978

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Jim Pewter 1968

 

Today Jim has memories of Johnny Ace, one of the most haunting talents ever.

Jim Pewter - 1968

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Redd Harper 1948

 

Redd was a part of a concert band that became more and more successful until they were invited to join an Oklahoma City radio station in 1924. From there, his career took off and his music was in greater demand. In 1931 he joined a larger radio station in Des Moines, found more success, and then decided to head to Hollywood, California. However, he arrived at the end of the Western Jazz era and the beginning of the Great Depression, thus finding it hard to find work and was not as successful as he had been. He struggled to find work in the city. When World War II started, he joined the Coast Guard for three years.  After the war, Redd was doing shows for AFRS.

After the war he found success again in Hollywood as he began working with other big name artists of the time from both radio and movies. During this time he also found success in the movie industry and starred in several films, including The Strawberry Roan.

Redd Harper Hollywood Roundup 1948

Operation Little Vittles 1949

 In the late 40s AFRS did a lot of stories about the people side of war.  Operation Little Vittles was a part of the Berlin Airlift. America got candy to kids.

The story is dramatized in this broadcast:

Operation Little Vittles - 1949

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AFVN Your Brother 1969

LINK FIXED

 Bob Mayben sent in a neat AFVN memory: "I was company clerk for the 43rd APU (Post Office). I have a 30 minute air check of “Your Brother” on AFVN DaNang that I recorded at the 80th Logistical Command in the Arts and Crafts shop."

AFVN DaNang - Your Brother 1969

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Roger Carroll 1981

 I'm grateful that Roger made so many great shows and made them available to us. 

 

Today it's memories of 1981.  If you have any of Roger's Christmas shows please contact me!

 

Roger Carroll - 1981

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Rocketing Rhythms 1961

 

Jack Brown interviews Bogart and Becall

Jack Brown was a long time AFRS announcer, with a history going back to WWII.  By 1961 he was counting down the greatest hits on Rocketing Rhythms.

Rocketing Rhythms 1961

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Chris Noel 1970

 

Beautiful lady, wonderful show.  You have a Date With Chris.

Chris Noel - 1970

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1970s jingles

 

TM Productions was big.  Tom Merrman's company along with PAMS were the gold standard.  Here's some of the jingles they did for us in the 70s.

AFRTS TM Productions jingles

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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:

Charlie Tuna 1991

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JIm Pewter 1968

 

Today Jim has memories of Johnny Ace, one of the most haunting talents ever.

Jim Pewter - 1968

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Laura Lee - 1986

 

Laura Lee brought us jazz worldwide on Jazzbeat.  After a long day it was great.

Jazzbeat - 1986

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AFN Old Gold Retold 1983 Ron Hester

  

"Old Gold Retold" had a long history on AFN. By 1983, Ron Hester had your memories

AFN Old Gold Retold 1983 - Ron Hester

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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.

Jazz Book 1962

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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.

Humble Harve - 1980

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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" 

Chris Noel - 1969

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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!

Roger Carroll - 1969

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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

Enchantment Of Music 1963

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GI Journal 1943

 Incredible the depth of talent, giving their all for the troops:

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.

GI Journal 1943

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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.

Polka Party - 1961

More about the first AFRS crew at smecc Click here

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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

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1955

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1956

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1957

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1958

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1959

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1960

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1961

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1962

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1963

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1964

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1965

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1966

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1968

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1969

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1970

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1972

AFPN 19 Years of Hit Music - 1973

Jerry Lewine was vacationing in the Philippines in 2011 and went looking for Clark AFB

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

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.

 

Chris Noel - 112T- 1967

 

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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.

Monitor 1966

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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.

Date With Chris - 1971

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