The American Forces Radio and Television service touched a lot of people. Whether talent, support or listeners it touched a lot of us in ways that stateside media could only dream of. This website is unofficial and does not imply any endorsement from AFRTS, the Department of Defense or the United States government.
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From 1972-97 I was a radio announcer, mostly in the Northeast. I had the most fun with Armed Forces Radio first in Korea then in Panama. A lot of the time it was spontaneous or improvised and that made for a great learning laboratory. The network DJs, Charlie Tuna, Wolfman, Kris Erik Stevens, Jim Pewter, LaRita Shelby and the rest were so consistent, it was and amazing thing to hear. Then to Massachusetts and WEIM, WKNE, WKBK, WFGL, WMDK, WKBR, WCGY, WSRS, WGAW. Most of them don't exist as anything that resembles a radio station. I'm always ready to trade war stories... Thom Whetston afrts@live.com 612-356-AFRS (612)356-2377
Talk about a neat career, as best I can put together Benny parlayed AFN into working at Radio Luxembourg when it was over one million watts of one of the coolest stations ever. Shortly after posting this Benny called me on Skype and I had the opportunity to speak with one of the greats.
Benny Brown AFN
Benny, still the perfectionist said that the show is Veterans Day 1995. The reason it wasn't tighter was that he was feeding the network. The show was clearly recorded from the transmitter in Bavaria/Franconia as it has "local Wuerzburg & Bamberg" spot announcements rather than the generic network spots.
Here's part one of the Golden Days of Radio tribute to AFN Europe on it's 45th anniversary (1988) Thanks Garry!!!
For the longest time, the people that collected stateside Old Time Radio primarily had a ton of GDOR shows and traded them back and forth. Today I can only find a handful. If you have any of these programs please let me know.
Golden Days of Radio tribute to AFN 45th anniversary (part one) 1988
UPDATE: Max checked in and may be making an aircheck available!!!
Clem Stein suggests we do something with Max Floyd."First off as an OLD AFN'er 62-64 AFN Munich, I just loved my stint doing "Bouncing' in Bavaria." The real star of the station at that time however was Max Floyd, "The Rock and Roll General." Max did "Early Bird," and I believe on the first morning he did the show in 1962 he said, "Road condition RED," by which he meant that it was foggy and you should drive with care. However that was clever Army code and unknown to Max meant that the troops were to go on alert and thus he got an entire division on alert and as any old soldier will tell you that is a hell of a way to start the day.........Max is in the Rock & Roll Hall of fame, and has had a wonderful 50 year life on the radio. A Great movie has been made about Max. It is called: "The Rock and Roll General" the Max Floyd Story. It is 1 hour and 23 minutes long and is Motion Picture by Scott Sheridan copyright 2008 Noblinque Productions LLC. Anybody who likes a warm inspiring story or the AFN network, or great radio, would love this movie so go on line and order it.
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. I can be reached at afrts@live.com or over at facebook and since we have listeners from all over the world, I can be reached on Skype (thom.whetston)