OK, they encourage us to introduce ourselves. Here is just a little bit of history...
I was 15 in the summer of 1969. (Do the math.) Our family was stationed in Athens, Greece (my father was with the US Military.)
For the next couple of years (mostly during the summer) I spent my days "hanging out" at the local AFRTS outlet. I started out with the "job" of working on the music library, typing out the 3 x 5 index cards where the songs were filed, and replacing the brown manila record jackets (that's how they shipped their records.) Even though I did not "serve" in the traditional sense, I did enjoy a very unique experience, and I even learned something along the way. (I didn't get paid... I guess I was an "intern")
AFRTS is "American Forces Radio and Television Service." I use this term generically for this post. Not all outlets had TV service, and most of the AFRTS stations (like the one in Athens) operated independently. AFN (American Forces Network) was just that -- a network of affiliated stations which operated mostly in Germany, although there was also a Far East Network. They have switched between "Armed Forces Radio" and "American Forces Radio" at least twice so far.
For those of you who have seen the movie Good Morning, Vietnam!, it is a work of fiction. Yes, there was an Adrian Cronauer, and yes, he did shout "Gooooooood Morning, Vietnam!" but anything after that is a few steps removed from reality. Cronauer himself has stated that if he did one tenth of what Robin Williams did in the movie, he would have spent the rest of his life in federal prison.
Some of the characters in the film, were, indeed, rather credible, but one aspect that the movie got WRONG was the playing of commercial recordings. (The subject of music on AFRTS in those days is a fascinating study in and of itself.) To explain, I need to digress a little to discuss MUSIC ROYALTIES. The music played by AFRTS is free from royalites; that is, AFRTS does not pay music licensing fees, as music is intended for the non-commercial use of entertaining the US Military. For this reason, AFRTS stations received their music (and programming, as explained later) by way of weekly shipments of LPs.
AFRTS did not play commercial recordings; rather, music was shipped from Los Angeles headquarters (AFRTS-LA) on different series of LPs. One series featured new singles each week. Another series was albums. This has to be the most interesting one of all: AFRTS-LA would take the what they considered the "best" songs on an album (usually about half), put those songs on one side of an AFRTS pressing, and on the other side, do the same thing to another LP. There were certain songs that never made it to AFRTS libraries. Mostly, it was an issue of getting the music. There was, however, the occasional song that was actually banned... read on for more on that.
Along with the library, stations also received an assortment of pre-recorded shows from AFRTS-LA. These consisted of mostly one-hour shows from some of the biggest names in LA radio at the time. (Roger Carroll, Herman Griffith, Jim Pewter, Charlie Tuna, and others. Wolfman Jack came along later as well.) The shows would follow the musical trends of the day: Classic country, oldies, R&B, etc... and a lot of "easy listening." The broadcast day would consist of a mix of locally produced shows, as well as the "canned" shows from LA. It was, in essence, block programming. Now there was the occasional show that would actually play a song that wasn't in the official AFRTS library. It was perfectly OK to "lift" the song and play it, as long as the DJ didn't talk over the intro. (I never did find out why this was allowed.)
One of the interesting things was the pre-1961 transcriptions. (I could be wrong on the year, so call it an approximation) These were special 16" pressings that were... well, 16". These were later replaced by the standard 12" LPs. The turntables were, in fact, 16" to accomodate them. One of the errors in Good Morning Vietnam! was that real AFRTS equipment consisted at the time of Gates turntables and consoles (as in "Made in USA.")
Then there was the issue of "host country sensitivities." This was not limited to AFRTS-Athens, but was (probably still is) a universal concern with AFRTS in general. Remember that AFRTS is operating with permission of the host government. As just one example, there was a time when the Greek government had an issue with Mikis Theorodorakis, the composer of "Zorba The Greek." Apparently, he was a member of the Communist Party, or something to that effect. The bottom line was that the Greek authorities banned his music, and AFRTS simply played along. It was one of those things that you just did.... or in this case, didn't play. The weekly shows coming in from LA would have song lists, so that they could be edited "just in case." It is interesting to note that the local AFRTS manager had to listen to his superior (i.e., the base commander, and that usually for local host country issues,) as well as the brass at AFRTS-LA, who made the programming decisions.
I mentioned earlier that certain songs were banned. One saturday afternoon I am sitting at home listening to the Saturday show... on came a song called "Eve Of Destruction" by Barry McGuire. When I went to the station the following Monday, of course I looked up the song. And of course, it was nowhere to be found. Remember, the rule is NO PERSONAL MUSIC. That was just the way it was. Unfortunately for Sgt. Jones, the station manager also happened to be listening. I seem to recall he was transferred to the base Post Office... he was lucky. But I'm sure he got a good "talking to" before being transferred. Someone once told me that you had to be "certifiable" to bring in your own music. Yeah, he was...
I do know that this policy was slowly changing by the late 60s/early 70s (Remember, "Eve Of Destruction" was 1965) as AFRTS-LA actually approved "War" by Edwin Starr (1970) and even "The Battle Hynm Of Lt. Calley" (1971).(We had already left by the summer of '71, but I would love to know if they included "Bring The Boys Home" by Freda Payne.)
There was at the time a series of phone lines to the nearby US Military communications center, which is where the newscasts were received by AFRTS from all of the major networks. It's also where the teletypes were fed from. (The teletypes were one thing Good Morning Vietnam! got right.) Of course, the news was usually delayed by half an hour or so, as it had to be monitored for any sensitive political content. There were also a couple of shortwave receivers in the studio, to be used as a backup.
I even got to host a weekly teen show on Saturday morning for a few weeks until AFRTS higher ups decided to cancel it.
What happened after we came back to the States... that's another discussion for another time and place.
I was 15 in the summer of 1969. (Do the math.) Our family was stationed in Athens, Greece (my father was with the US Military.)
For the next couple of years (mostly during the summer) I spent my days "hanging out" at the local AFRTS outlet. I started out with the "job" of working on the music library, typing out the 3 x 5 index cards where the songs were filed, and replacing the brown manila record jackets (that's how they shipped their records.) Even though I did not "serve" in the traditional sense, I did enjoy a very unique experience, and I even learned something along the way. (I didn't get paid... I guess I was an "intern")
AFRTS is "American Forces Radio and Television Service." I use this term generically for this post. Not all outlets had TV service, and most of the AFRTS stations (like the one in Athens) operated independently. AFN (American Forces Network) was just that -- a network of affiliated stations which operated mostly in Germany, although there was also a Far East Network. They have switched between "Armed Forces Radio" and "American Forces Radio" at least twice so far.
For those of you who have seen the movie Good Morning, Vietnam!, it is a work of fiction. Yes, there was an Adrian Cronauer, and yes, he did shout "Gooooooood Morning, Vietnam!" but anything after that is a few steps removed from reality. Cronauer himself has stated that if he did one tenth of what Robin Williams did in the movie, he would have spent the rest of his life in federal prison.
Some of the characters in the film, were, indeed, rather credible, but one aspect that the movie got WRONG was the playing of commercial recordings. (The subject of music on AFRTS in those days is a fascinating study in and of itself.) To explain, I need to digress a little to discuss MUSIC ROYALTIES. The music played by AFRTS is free from royalites; that is, AFRTS does not pay music licensing fees, as music is intended for the non-commercial use of entertaining the US Military. For this reason, AFRTS stations received their music (and programming, as explained later) by way of weekly shipments of LPs.
AFRTS did not play commercial recordings; rather, music was shipped from Los Angeles headquarters (AFRTS-LA) on different series of LPs. One series featured new singles each week. Another series was albums. This has to be the most interesting one of all: AFRTS-LA would take the what they considered the "best" songs on an album (usually about half), put those songs on one side of an AFRTS pressing, and on the other side, do the same thing to another LP. There were certain songs that never made it to AFRTS libraries. Mostly, it was an issue of getting the music. There was, however, the occasional song that was actually banned... read on for more on that.
Along with the library, stations also received an assortment of pre-recorded shows from AFRTS-LA. These consisted of mostly one-hour shows from some of the biggest names in LA radio at the time. (Roger Carroll, Herman Griffith, Jim Pewter, Charlie Tuna, and others. Wolfman Jack came along later as well.) The shows would follow the musical trends of the day: Classic country, oldies, R&B, etc... and a lot of "easy listening." The broadcast day would consist of a mix of locally produced shows, as well as the "canned" shows from LA. It was, in essence, block programming. Now there was the occasional show that would actually play a song that wasn't in the official AFRTS library. It was perfectly OK to "lift" the song and play it, as long as the DJ didn't talk over the intro. (I never did find out why this was allowed.)
One of the interesting things was the pre-1961 transcriptions. (I could be wrong on the year, so call it an approximation) These were special 16" pressings that were... well, 16". These were later replaced by the standard 12" LPs. The turntables were, in fact, 16" to accomodate them. One of the errors in Good Morning Vietnam! was that real AFRTS equipment consisted at the time of Gates turntables and consoles (as in "Made in USA.")
Then there was the issue of "host country sensitivities." This was not limited to AFRTS-Athens, but was (probably still is) a universal concern with AFRTS in general. Remember that AFRTS is operating with permission of the host government. As just one example, there was a time when the Greek government had an issue with Mikis Theorodorakis, the composer of "Zorba The Greek." Apparently, he was a member of the Communist Party, or something to that effect. The bottom line was that the Greek authorities banned his music, and AFRTS simply played along. It was one of those things that you just did.... or in this case, didn't play. The weekly shows coming in from LA would have song lists, so that they could be edited "just in case." It is interesting to note that the local AFRTS manager had to listen to his superior (i.e., the base commander, and that usually for local host country issues,) as well as the brass at AFRTS-LA, who made the programming decisions.
I mentioned earlier that certain songs were banned. One saturday afternoon I am sitting at home listening to the Saturday show... on came a song called "Eve Of Destruction" by Barry McGuire. When I went to the station the following Monday, of course I looked up the song. And of course, it was nowhere to be found. Remember, the rule is NO PERSONAL MUSIC. That was just the way it was. Unfortunately for Sgt. Jones, the station manager also happened to be listening. I seem to recall he was transferred to the base Post Office... he was lucky. But I'm sure he got a good "talking to" before being transferred. Someone once told me that you had to be "certifiable" to bring in your own music. Yeah, he was...
I do know that this policy was slowly changing by the late 60s/early 70s (Remember, "Eve Of Destruction" was 1965) as AFRTS-LA actually approved "War" by Edwin Starr (1970) and even "The Battle Hynm Of Lt. Calley" (1971).(We had already left by the summer of '71, but I would love to know if they included "Bring The Boys Home" by Freda Payne.)
There was at the time a series of phone lines to the nearby US Military communications center, which is where the newscasts were received by AFRTS from all of the major networks. It's also where the teletypes were fed from. (The teletypes were one thing Good Morning Vietnam! got right.) Of course, the news was usually delayed by half an hour or so, as it had to be monitored for any sensitive political content. There were also a couple of shortwave receivers in the studio, to be used as a backup.
I even got to host a weekly teen show on Saturday morning for a few weeks until AFRTS higher ups decided to cancel it.
What happened after we came back to the States... that's another discussion for another time and place.
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