Tuesday, September 30, 2014

AFRTS Parade of Sports - 1991

I remember the games, when I was in Korea or Panama we were using very lo-fi network lines (probably 1 or 2k).  In 1991 AFN had a better line and Ric Crawford filling in the breaks. 


March 3, 1991 Bradley takes on SW Missouri State

Ric Crawford - Radio News Manager for AFRTS

Sunday, September 28, 2014

AFN Thurndorf


Last year I didn't win an eBay auction, the seller had a second one of these.  AFN Thurndorf?
This has been driving me crazy for a while.  AFN Historian John Provan clears it up a bit:
 
I checked my files and AFN never had a place called Thurndorf. Whoever made this goofed AFN had a location at Thumsdorf, which belonged to AFN Bayreuth. It began in October 1945 and probably operated until November 1946. It is even listed on many German radios as being a real station. It was not, rather it transmitted the AFN Munich programming.

AFN Bremerhaven PSAs 1989-90

Do you remember the package from the PAO?  In 1989-90 the crew at AFN Bremerhaven did some wonderful work.  Every week all of the stations would be tasked with "command information".  Sometimes it could be fun....




Saturday, September 27, 2014

AFN Berlin - Mark White

The late Mark White spent over three decades with AFN Berlin.  He was a legend. 


Here are some big band memories from 1980-83

Friday, September 26, 2014

Mystery Theater - Cary Grant




Mystery Theater was a repackaging of classic radio mysteries. In one form or another it started in WWII and continued well into the 1970s.  AFRTS still had the rights to the best.

In 1950 Cary Grant starred "Suspense" and On a Country Road. A couple is stranded during a storm, with a murderer on the loose! In the early 1970s the program was edited into this Mystery Theater broadcast.


Thursday, September 25, 2014

Chris Noel - 1970


Chris always made the music sound better.  This is a 1970 visit.  The voice of home...



Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Randy Stone - 1969




As a SP5, Randy was assigned to AFVN for 15 months during 1968-70.  His duties were far-ranging.  In addition to hosting the "Go" show, he often filled in on "Orient Express," along with covering the JUSPAO press briefings.  Then, in what might otherwise have been spare time, he did production work, and he learned to edit film using a razor blade and a splicing bar with the skill of a surgeon.  Although he was based at the Saigon headquarters station, he was often called upon for fill-in excursions to the detachments.

Returning to the Nashville area after his Army service, Randy worked at a number of major broadcasters across the South, including WMAK in Knoxville, WKDA in Nashville, WQXI in Atlanta, and KLIF in Dallas.  He eventually retired from the lifestyle and settled into the life of an automobile repair shop owner for a number of years.

In retirement, Randy and wife Melinda moved from Nashville suburb Gallatin, Tennessee to Bixby, Oklahoma in the Tulsa metro area.

Biography from macoi.net


We lost Randy in March 2015, he was 68 years old.


GI Jive - 1944



GI Jill with another Jive Session, your favorites by request,





Thursday, September 18, 2014

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Chris Noel - 1966


Date With Chris evolved from a late night program of mostly dinner music to the a lot more rock.  This is from the first week of the show in 1966.  


Chris does a lot of appearances.  Stay up to date with her website:


Monday, September 15, 2014

Simple Gifts - 1972

Simple Gifts was a 1972 bizarre set of 5 minute filler shows.  It was shipped as a MISC so it was to be saved for later use.


What is that all about?

Sunday, September 14, 2014

We get these things...


Thanks for stopping by.  There are a LOT of different stories behind how this material became available.  Sometimes the talent has made their copies available, thanks again Chris Noel, Roger Carroll, Joe Ferguson and several others.  Sometimes a bunch of disks get rescued on their way to the dumpster and sometimes there's a box of disks have been in storage for decades and sometimes something will show up in a junkshop or on ebay with no story.  If you can help or share material it's always very appreciated. Here's how you can help.


Small World - 1965

Small World was a potpourri of music, comedy and the occasional interview.  Sort of like Monitor, hosted by George Church


Chris Noel made her AFRTS debut on a Small World which I would really like to hear.



Friday, September 12, 2014

Hear AFN live



I've heard from a few people that would like to be able to listen to AFN live.  They use geo-location, a fancy term for not being able to be heard in the US.  That settles that, er... no.

I'm listening to AFN Stuttgart

A proxy server is a computer that transmits data back and forth to your computer.  The point is the original sending computer doesn't see yours, it only sees the one you're connecting to.  

The easiest way to use this is to get Google Chrome Google Chrome allows the easy integration of several features.

Hola is a proxy that directly integrates into Chrome.  It will work with other browsers.

Get Hola

After it's installed, pick the country you'd like to look like you're from, there's a sun/fire icon in the upper right corner of your browser...




Listen to AFN Europe

Listen to AFN Pacific

You should tell a friend about this...

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Transcriptions to talent...


When talent did a show for the network, they would be mailed a copy of the finished show.  These are from the late 1940s, but that tradition continued until they stopped recording transcriptions in 1996.  I'm lucky enough to have several of these, over many years.  

AFN - Old Gold Retold - Thom Robinson - 1975


From AFN, music and memories by request.  Old Gold Retold.


Tuesday, September 9, 2014


In about 1940 Thomas J Valentino unleashed the Major sound effects library.  I was the reissued disks at stations well into the 1980s.  This would have been roughly 1943 at AFRS,

Record of transcription records...


A fun piece of memorabilia, during WWII the ETs would go from station to station.  The was a pre-computer way to record when they were played.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Jubilee - 1945


Some great music to start your week with Count Basie and Lena Horne.
Play this now!




AFN - Morning People - Jonathan Field - 1975

From December 1975 this is nice, a few minutes of the overnight show (who is the host) "Morning People", Lou Irwin with Gazette (a repackaged Earth News), did the net ever send them out that way? Then Jonathan Field who did some great interviewing/public affairs programs over the years.

Benny Brown updates: The correct answer to your "who" question is Lee Hilliard. He is/was the jock hosting your short clip of Morning People in 1975. The frequent squeak you hear is Lee being cute; that squeak was always a Lee feature on Morning People. Today Lee runs a video production company in Connecticut. Another mid-70's good guy.




Sunday, September 7, 2014

AFN 35th Anniversary - 1978


Time to head to AFN and take a look at their 35th anniversary (1978).
Here's part two


AFN 35th anniversary


Date With Chris - 1968


Chris Noel, a huge star.  I wonder what would have happened had she had done radio in the US.  She was a big part in that Voice of Home tradition.  This is a 1968 memory:



Visit Chris's website, http://www.chrisnoel.com/

Friday, September 5, 2014

AFN Frankfurt - Steve Canyon - 1975




From Hans Knot, who does a great job with covering off-shore radio with his website click here, it's 1975 and AFN Frankfurt is on the Nightbeat with Steve Canyon.

I don't think I ever did a show of really long songs...


Benny Brown "Steve Canyon, whose real name was Steve Robinson. As we already had a Robinson on air . Steve was in the US Air Force, we gave him the airname of the USAF comic strip character Steve Canyon. How do I know this? Because Steve and I shared an office for two years. A great guy, and was last seen in Yuma, Arizona as the Sales Manager of KYMA TV, the ABC affiliate.



Wednesday, September 3, 2014

History of Country Music - 1981


Hot on the heels of the re-issued History of Rock and Roll, Drake Chenault came up with the History of Country Music.  The show, voiced by WSM talent Ralph Emery told stories and played great music.


This was recorded from the Torrejon Spain station (thanks again Vicente!)

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Yank Swing Session - 1944


Yank Swing Session was a DJ show but the very different thing was that it wasn't playing "records".  Almost always the music was from live broadcasts and generally wasn't released on record.

Johnny Mercer has a swinging set in this 1944 broadcast





Monday, September 1, 2014

Know Your Ally - Great Britain - 1943



AFRS was always at it's best when it taught a message.  WWII American soldiers didn't know much about their allies.  In 1943 we learned about our allies...