AFRTS To Drop Talk Radio Broadcasts

[fred flintstone]

Last fall, AFRTS (American Forces Radio and Television Service) got their arm twisted and added one progressive talk show (Ed Schultz) to their radio line-up (which included Rush and Dr. Laura). Now, "a farts" has hired a consultant and done some audience research. The recommendation: Ditch talk. Also ditch ball games and country. No surprise here. The debate about balanced talk radio (both liberal and conservative hosts) involved people in congress and other activists with a political agenda - not anybody who actually listens to or has anything to do with American Forces Radio. Full disclosure: Back when they were still drafting guys, I ended up working for AFRTS. Barry Levinson's film "Good Morning, Viet Nam" gives a pretty good picture of what it was like. Then - as now - AFRTS was run by "lifer" NCOs (career sergeants), who were completely out of touch with the tastes and interests of first term (actually one term) enlisted personnel - and programmed American Forces radio for themselves (back then, the lifers played lots of country, too). After spending all this tax payer money on consultants, today's crop of lifers learn that the 18-24 demo, which is the bulk of their audience, wants Rock and "Hip-Hop." (As Gomer used to say: Surprise, surprise!) The article also points out these listeners have already turned to mp3 players for their music - just like most of their civilian contemporaries - so it is doubtful military radio will get them back. The report also recommends dropping local-live programming and local jocks and going with centralized satellite-delivered programming (canned radio - just like a lot of stateside terrestrial stations). Talk formats skew old. The military skews young - very young. Two per cent of talk listeners are 18 to 24. More than one-third are eligible for Social Security. Better than nine out of 10 are over 35 (you can retire from the military as young as 38). What made anybody think grunts getting shot at want to take time out for El Rushbo or Big Ed (let alone "Dr" Laura talking about chastity).From Stars and Stripes:

Future military radio menu could be more pop, less talkHip-hop-heavy content recommended for stations around the world WASHINGTON — Military radio stations around the globe soon could be playing more hip-hop, more pop hits, less country music and no sports or political chat shows.A media consulting group reviewing American Forces Radio has recommended those changes as a way to boost ratings. The analysis of the radio broadcasts is the first major review of the over-the-air offerings in more than a decade.FULL ARTICLEhttp://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=36735&archive=true

AFRTS also offers audio programming via cable and satellite overseas, and Rush, Big Ed, "Dr" Laura, "Focus on the Family" and other lifer-friendly programming will still be available via cable and satellite audio channel - but not on the radio. And Rush may again start hawking $50 gift subscriptions so US listeners can make sure troops are able to listen to "broadcast excellence" online.From RadioDailyNews.com:

Since World War II, the U.S. Armed Forces Radio (AFR) has broadcast to the troops, no matter where they are. But declining ratings, caused by iPods and changing tastes, has resulted in massive changes in what will be heard. Surveys and focus groups were conducted among the military audience, and it was found that a lot of the current programming was not well liked, or listened to (read more - Strategy Page) http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmoral/articles/20060605.aspx (read more - John Gibson-Fox News) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198459,00.html

 

[DaleGriffin]

Gotta agree with you here Fred I was a 21 year old Army Sergeant six years ago and while I listened to talk radio, I was the only one. These guys are kids very few want to hear Talk Radio. This is obviously a case of the brass putting on what the brass wants.

 

[CrankyYankee]

AFRTS tunes out consultant's call to eliminate talk radio shows

(From the "Stars & Stripes")American Forces Radio listeners could hear some music changes in coming months but won’t lose their talk radio, according to the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for internal communications.Allison Barber said officials won’t follow a media consultant’s recommendations that military radio drop Rush Limbaugh, National Public Radio and other talk shows in some markets in favor of potentially more popular music offerings.A report from Lund Media Research commissioned by military radio officials had recommended breaking away from the one-music, one-talk format in regions with two radio stations, instead replacing it with two music stations playing more popular genres and dropping country music. The consultants recommended a politics/country music station only for regions with more than two stations.But last week, Armed Forces Radio and Television Service officials decided not to make any immediate programming changes based on those suggestions.(Read more at the following linkhttp://army.laser.net/article.asp?section=104&article=37938

 

[fred flintstone]

Your tax dollars at work

When the government pays for advice, they don't have to take it.But the consultants don't have to give back the money.And consultants generally charge more - a lot more - when they do government work.Once again, AFRTS is run by the lifers, for the lifers and screw the troops.Some things never change.

 

[CTListener]

The recommendation: Ditch talk. Also ditch ball games and country.

"Ball games" meaning baseball or all sports? In either case, why ditch them? The troops aren't interested in their hometown teams anymore? Or are all the games on TV now?

 

[MikefromDelaware]

I worked on AFRTS while in Alaska during the Viet Nam War (1490 AFRN Eielson AFB, Alaska). The movie "Good Morning Viet Nam" is realistic as the other poster mentioned. Sounds like some things have changed as we had only one station which meant "block programming". One hour top 40, then Classical (as in Beethoven and Mozart), then Soul, then Country, then Big Band, etc. Sports were important, at least on AFRN (Alaskan Forces Radio Network) as back then (1972-73) before they had TV satelites that flew over Alaska, even the civilian network TV broadcasts were on film or tape. The Newscasts (Walter Cronkite, etc) were flown to Alaska so that we saw the way it was, the next day. As far as regular TV shows, they were a month behind as those shows were mailed to Alaska. The world series and the Super Bowl were viewed the next day. So radio was important for sports as we'd get the network radio feeds from ABC, CBS, NBC, and Mutual live via phone lines so we aired the World Series and the Super Bowl live plus many of their features like Paul Harvey, some CBS and NBC commentaries, plus we'd air hourly news using all of the networks at different times of the day. We'd carry all sorts of sports, which seemed to be very popular with the younger military listeners as well as near by civilians who lived near the base. Of course today, AFRTS may have all the games available live on TV so the demand to listen to the games on the radio may be very small in today's military.

Back then, AFRTS had its own record label. You weren't allowed to use civilian records. Of course, this gave them (the programmers at AFRTS network headquarters in LA) complete control over what songs were available or could be edited if lyrics were offensive (for those who weren't around then, the Viet Nam War was not very popular with many folks so there were a number of anti war songs, etc put out back then). The odd thing though, was we also aired Kasey Kasem's American Top 40, so even though we couldn't play a certain song, Kasey could and did. It was fun to hear what songs we didn't get or if they had edited the version somehow. I wonder if AFRTS still has it's own label today? Of course, if AFRTS drops all local programming and simply goes with satellite syndicated music shows from the civilian world then censorship wouldn't be an issue as they'd not have any control over content of a show say from ABC radio or Westwood One, etc.

 

[fred flintstone]

Of course, if AFRTS drops all local programming and simply goes with satellite syndicated music shows from the civilian world then censorship wouldn't be an issue as they'd not have any control over content of a show say from ABC radio or Westwood One, etc.

The Lund Report recommended AFRTS program its own music channels (in accord with their playlist recommendations). Taking commercial 24/7 formats was not recommended, nor is there any report of it being considered.
AFRTS broadcasts (terrestrial and satellite broadcasts) still must be acceptable to the military. Terrestrial broadcasts must be acceptable to the host country and to local commanders, as well.
Nothing has changed. Censorship is still an issue. The only difference is AFRTS distributes music by satellite feeds instead of those records you talked about. Censorship might be even more of a factor with satellite feeds which must be acceptable everywhere.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

 

[Ultimajock]

Back then, AFRTS had its own record label. You weren't allowed to use civilian records. Of course, this gave them (the programmers at AFRTS network headquarters in LA) complete control over what songs were available or could be edited if lyrics were offensive (for those who weren't around then, the Viet Nam War was not very popular with many folks so there were a number of anti war songs, etc put out back then). The odd thing though, was we also aired Kasey Kasem's American Top 40, so even though we couldn't play a certain song, Kasey could and did. It was fun to hear what songs we didn't get or if they had edited the version somehow.

...I have an AFVN aircheck from 1970 that contains Crosby Stills Nash & Young's "Ohio." Wonder how *that* slipped past the Stateside censors?...

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Every now and then, if on an "off shift" when no one else was there, it was known to happen that civilian records were sometimes brought in and played.

 

[News1360]

I remember listening to AFRTS on shortwave back in the 70's and 80's. They used to air short and long form features from all the radio networks and their hourly newscasts. Talk was limted to the weekend shows like Meet The Press (NBC), Face The Nation (CBS), and Issues And Answers (ABC now called This Week). But when
they began using satellite technology in 1988, they abandon shortwave altogether.

 

[drtylawndre]

I heard the wwe wrestling was more popular than wayne newton as far as uso shows........I think most most of the self identified military callers to hannity want a ruth's chris gift cert...