60 Years and Counting Sive Rights to Some Popular American Radio Shows
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By Herb Glover, John Provan and Roger Williams organize the establishment of the radio net- AFN Europe: work. His first goal was to persuade the BBC to relinquish some of its monopolistic broadcasting rights. As an incentive he offered the BBC exclu- 60 Years and Counting sive rights to some popular American radio shows. After organizing a small office in From a London base- phy that formed the foundation of his London and hiring a secretary, Captain ment to remote stations vision. The General and his staff of war Hays began a tedious search through mili- planners in London also knew that thou- tary personnel records. He uncovered the across Europe, AFN sands of American GIs who were pouring names of 12 civilian broadcasters in uni- radio and TV tells the into Great Britain and preparing for D-Day form already in England. They were trans- GI’s story. also needed entertainment…American ferred to AFN, and, with the help of the U.S. entertainment. State Department, Captain Hays obtained he American Forces Network Europe studio space at 11 Carlos Place in London. Thad an extraordinary beginning, born THE PROBLEM Hays, like many AFN alumni, would con- out of the winds of war and nurtured into In September 1942 the results of a soldier tinue to gain prominence as a public ser- broadcast history by legions of citizen-sol- survey revealed low GI morale due to harsh vant after leaving the network. He served diers. American Forces Network Europe conditions in overcrowded camps, constant for a time as the U. S. Ambassador to training and growing anxiety of the Switzerland. The names of other well- impending war. USO camp shows provided known Americans appeared on the uniform some entertainment and the British roster of early-day AFN Europe including Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC, provid- actors Broderick Crawford and Mickey ed 30 minutes of American music and five Rooney and famed Hollywood movie direc- minutes of news and sports on weekends, tor Josh Logan, to name a few. but it wasn’t enough. GIs disliked the BBC so much that some resorted to tuning their BORN ON THE 4TH OF JULY radios to Nazi propaganda broadcasts from It is not by accident that AFN transmitters Germany. were activated on Independence Day. It is somehow appropriate that the soldier net- THE SOLUTION work would begin to broadcast on General Eisenhower ordered his staff to America’s most patriotic annual obser- quickly find a way to provide solders with vance. At 5:45 on the afternoon of the 4th information and entertainment to which of July, 1943, listeners heard “The National they were accustomed “back home.” Anthem” followed by introductory remarks General Everett S. Hughes and Brewster by Brewster Morgan. Then, AFN’s first disc Morgan at the Office of War Information jockey-announcer, Technical Sergeant Syl called a meeting and within hours agreed to Binkin, began spinning records and a tra- establish a magazine, a newspaper and a dition in military broadcasting was born. radio station. The magazine, later called Among the early locally produced pro- “Yank”, was popular throughout World War grams were “The Duffel Bag Show,” II. The newspaper, which had its roots in “Combined Operation,” and “Your Town”. World War I, “The Stars and Stripes”, con- The programs had an immediate and posi- AFN – London, Mickey Rooney 1945 tinues publication today. The radio station tive impact on soldiers and were widely started as an idea in the mind of General that would have a series of transmitters heard by the British population. Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower more than a located near U.S. soldier camps would be year before the invasion of Europe during known as The American Forces Network. THE INVASION World War II. By May 1944, 1.7 million U.S. soldiers As an experienced military leader, Ike THE LEADER were poised in Great Britain waiting for knew that an informed soldier would be a Because of his civilian broadcast experi- orders to cross the English Channel to better soldier and it was this basic philoso- ence Captain John S. Hays was selected to 4 R&R JULY 2003 begin one of the largest invasion opera- tions in military history. D-Day came a month later and AFN reporters accompa- nied the invasion force to broadcast the soldier’s story, to entertain and to inform. That same month AFN studios moved to 80 Portland Place, closer to BBC headquarters and farther out of range of German V-1 rockets. By war’s end, some 75 AFN radio transmitters were operating throughout Great Britain. THE PROGRAMS The Armed Forces Radio Service provided AFN Nuremberg, SGT Alfred Badynski “Hymns from home” 1953-1955 much of the radio programming on 16- inch transcription discs in the United States. Among the early programs were ensure everyone got the same information, Havre, Lyons, Nancy, Nice, Nuremberg, “Mail Call”, “At Ease”, “Sound Off”, it all came from a single source, the AEFP. Marseilles, Munich, Paris, Port de Bouc, “Hymns From Home”, and GI Journal. One This joint national arrangement continued Reims, Rome and Stuttgart. of the most popular and successful shows operating until July 28, 1945. Several of the mobile units eventually was “Command Performance”. It was a were used to help establish the AFN net- spectacular wartime variety show and was THE “RIGS” work in Germany. A 7th Army unit was prepared for AFN by top names in the Mobile broadcasting units were built and used in the creation of AFN Munich. 1st entertainment industry and transmitted by the first rig to see action was attached to Army’s mobile rig became AFN Paris, and short wave from CBS and NBC studios in the 5th Army Italian Campaign. Soon other was later transferred to AFN Frankfurt. The the U.S. mobile units were built and were assigned 9th Army gear went to Bremen. 5th Army Famous personalities donated their tal- to the 1st, 7th and 9th U.S. Armies. left several mobile stations behind in Italy ents each week to the war cause and were that were later used in the formation of the requested by servicemen to appear on this THE HEROES U.S. military’s Blue Danube Network in show. The show was created by Louis G. Like most wartime military outfits, AFN suf- Austria. Elements of the 5th and 15th Cowan and virtually all the big names of fered casualties. Sergeant Keith Jameson mobile units found their way to AFN Berlin. radio and film appeared at least once in had the top of his mobile unit shot away The end of the war abruptly dropped the this production which ran until war’s end. while on assignment in newly liberated size of both the AFN staff and audience. Paris and suffered minor injuries. The 7th Troops went home on Liberty ships and were THE STARS Army AFN broadcast unit often came under often accompanied by returning AFN broad- Many famous stars also stopped by the AFN enemy aircraft fire. On one tragic occasion, casters who continued to provide entertain- studios in London while on troop entertain- AFN Sergeant Jim McNally was killed while ment on ship sound systems. Upon reaching ment tours. There, they would be interviewed manning his station. Other AFN reporters New York, AFN announcers would sign off by AFN reporters beginning a longstanding also flew bombing missions and jumped with, “This is AFN’s Atlantic Forces Network tradition that increased the popularity of the with airborne units. While accompanying a turning you over to NBC, CBS, the Mutual network and the morale of the troops. paratroop unit into France, correspondent Network and your local stations. Welcome Sergeant Pete Parrish was killed in the line home!” THE PARTNERSHIPS of duty. As the war progressed, AFN joined with the THE AUSTRIAN ANNEX British and Canadian Broadcasting THE WAR ENDS Back on the European continent, AFN Corporations (BBC & CBC) to form the By war’s end, AFN began reconstituting began establishing permanent studios. Allied Expeditionary Forces Program itself on the European continent, with Among the most memorable early stations (AEFP). It was General Eisenhower’s main transmitters and studios located in and networks was the Blue Danube concern that Allied forces show unity, at all Antwerp, Biarritz, Bremen, Berlin, Network with headquarters in Vienna and cost. To prevent misunderstanding and to Chamberry, Cannes, Frankfurt, Kassel, Le 6 R&R JULY 2003 As SEB moved into the 1990s, studios in Salzburg and Linz. From the network continued its tradition August 1945 to October 1955, BDN of excellence and innovation with provided 5,000 U.S. soldiers sta- continued support of the DOD tioned in occupied Austria a taste of agencies and commands that make home. With the end of Austrian up the southern European region. occupation and that country’s neu- During Operations Desert Shield tralization BDN stopped broadcast- and Desert Storm SEB played a key ing in October 1955. The stations’ role in the establishment of the equipment was sent by convoy Desert Storm Network, deploying across the Brenner Pass and was personnel to Southwest Asia and used to help establish Headquarters, providing U.S. radio and television Southern European Network (SEN) news, information, and entertain- at Caserma Passalaqua in Verona, ment to American forces in the Italy. SEN also established a closed- Persian Gulf. circuit radio station at Camp Darby In October 1992 DOD directed at Livorno, Italy. the Army Broadcasting Service to provide a single source for AFRTS program services for the U.S. audi- SOUTH OF THE ALPS ence in Europe. The plan also American Forces Network South called for the eventual merger of (AFNS), based at Caserme Ederle in SEB and AFN.