Friday, January 30, 2015

Bud Miller funeral February 5th 2015

Vincent "Bud" Miller was born on November 11, 1922 in Rochester (NY).

He was BDN's oldest  staff  member - in terms of service  with the  network; he joined the station in 1945 while in the military stationed in Vienna. "I started on Aug. 16, 1945, in  Vienna, then moved to Linz, then to Vienna and then to Salzburg and back to Vienna before returning to Salzburg. I married my wife in Salzburg in the Mirabell Castle and had the wedding party in Schloss Klessheim."

Mr. Miller was not only program director of BDN and also hosted shows like "Doctor music", "The judge is you", but also worked as "Area Cmd. Sports Director" with BDN (successing Gar Fairbanks, who returned to the states in 1954). His extraordinary memory was (and is) legend - he could recall the results from sports events dating back about five years without any problems and also give the names of players.

Bud Miller also initiated "Luncheon Matinee" - a mid day request program, which was also named „Noontime notes“

In 1955 Bud Miller moved to Germany and worked as program director of the Armed Forces Network in Frankfurt.




Dave Stewart sends the following:

I forward this for your information since many of you knew or worked with Bud.

It is with regret that I share with you the news of the passing of Vincent “Bud” Miller.  Bud died peacefully in his sleep.

We are working to have an AFN representative attend the funeral next Thursday.

The funeral is set for Thursday, 5 February at 1400.  Bud's remains will be cremated and the urn
interred at the Using City Cemetery on that day.

The widow has asked that there be no flowers.  The attendance by a senior AFN Representative would
be a wonderful gesture to a Gentlemen that gave a large part of his life to the Network. Here is a
short bio that I sent to the AFN Group page yesterday.

"Bud was a legend in AFN history.  He started in military broadcasting with the Blue Danube Network
at war's end and served in the North Apennines and Po Valley Campaigns in Italy and Austria with a
Photo Squadron of the Army Air Corps.   Bud was discharged as a Sergeant in 1946 and started his
long civilian career with Armed Forces Radio serving first in the Blue Danube Network out of Linz
Austria and then with AFN Europe.

Bud was also a great COMREL conduit between the Americans and Germans.  He organized the annual
Fasching Club storming of AFN HQ during the Carnival season.  He also hosted a jazz program on
Hessischer Rundfunk for many years.

Bud served as the Station Manager for AFN Stuttgart before moving to take over the AFN Frankfurt
local affiliate."

Bud's widow is accepting condolences:


Jutta Miller

Beethoven Str. 4a
61250 Usingen, Germany

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Good morning!

It looks like we have many new visitors.  Welcome!  If you enjoy what you see, tell your friends.  A line in an email... a quick Facebook or Twitter post.  Those help a lot.  If there's something that you'd like to see more of please let me know.  The biggest problem is finding it usually.  There is a mailing list.  Approximately weekly I send out an email listing all of the updates.  Click here to be added Makes it easier to not miss something important to you. And now on with the show.





Chris Noel


If you haven't already, this would be a good time to "friend" Chris Noel on Facebook. Click here

Right now it's memories of 1968.  Good year for some, bad year for others.  Chris made it better.  Click the link to hear the memories



Monday, January 26, 2015

Adventure Theater - 1977

Gerald Mohr

Well into the 1970s and 80s AFRTS drew from their library of classic old-time radio broadcasts.  One of these new anthology shows was "Adventure Theater".  This time it's a  1977 rebroadcast of Phillip Marlowe and "The Persian Slippers".  Originally aired in 1948, Marlowe tries to find a woman who has left her husband and disappeared.



Saturday, January 24, 2015

RIP MAJ James Reid Lapp

Just received this ....................

01/23/2015

I found your email and I thought you would be a good place to start. My father, Major James Reid Lapp, the former Network Chief in Korat in 1974 and later the Commander of FEN in Japan, passed this morning shortly after midnight in Gloucester, VA.

I suppose that there might be a "Remembrance" website of some sort, but I figured that you would have better insight to this than I.

Sincerely,

James "Randy" Lapp

Friday, January 23, 2015

Polka Party - 1968


Dick Sinclair was in the first class of AFRS talent during WWII.  He later served with the Mosquito Network on Guadacanal.  When he came back he had a big career, mostly hosting polkas.  In the 50s and 60s that really was a huge deal.


Dick was doing Polka Party starting in the 1950s and AFRTS picked it up.  We were running the show well into the 1960s




Thursday, January 22, 2015

Contest Theater - 1955




Contest Theater  was actually the NBC Radio Theater.   Dane Clark stars in "Destination Mars".  Pat O'Brien hosts with announcer Jimmy Wallington.



Date With Chris - 1970


Chris Noel back with another hour of memories of 1970.


Chris has a new book "Filming Cease Fire" about the movie she did with Don Johnson. "Cease Fire" was the first movie to deal with PTSD.   Details at her website.  Click here

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Dick Van Dyke - Flair - 1961


Dick was an announcer/host during WWII, can't confirm an AFRS assignment. Did you hear anything about that?  Entertainment was in his blood and after the war there was a lot of local broadcasting and theater.  In 1955 he first went to CBS.  In 1960 starred in the Broadway "Bye Bye Birdie" before getting the Dick Van Dyke show.

Between those, Dick was doing "Flair" at ABC radio, the show sounded a lot like "Monitor" but with a Flair... We had it on AFRTS take a listen.




Tuesday, January 13, 2015

The Shadow audience

A couple of years ago historian John Provan spoke with the Bavarian Times about AFN's impact on Germany.  You should read this.

AFN Pete Wyatt 1972

Jeff McKnight has the night off, Pete Wyatt has the Nightbeat.




Sunday, January 11, 2015

30th Anniversary of The Army Air Force - AFRS Canal Zone 1945


Rex Lipton went on to Hollywood after the War, but in 1945 he was writing scripts for the PAO office in the Canal Zone.  In early television he was involved behind the scenes in the Roy Rogers Show, Burns and Allen, Sgt Preston and many other credits in television and the movies.


Saturday, January 10, 2015

This Is The Story - Freedom Of The Press 1943

Probably the most important mission of AFRS was education.  Programs like "This Is The Story" helped to answer the "Why are we here?" questions.



Raymond Edward Johnson, from Broadway and the "Inner Sanctum" radio show tells the story of Andrew Hamilton and why there should press freedom.


Friday, January 9, 2015

Larita Shelby


A few years ago LaRita did a wonderful presentation via Powerpoint, mostly about her time with AFRTS.  This is great!


I really wish we had more of her shows, if you have any please share!


Spectrum USA - John Quincy Adams - 1971


Spectrum USA was a very nicely done Marine Corps recruiting show from 1971, with a spotlight on the presidents.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

AFRS Keflevik 1998

Larus sent this along:



Okay 6 minutes [EDIT 9 mins. past midnight 2015] to the new year and I'm sitting here with my frightened dog, and the Icelanders, who are usually big spenders on firecrackers, are going berserk!
BTW That word: berserk comes into English from the Icelandic!

I'm going to upload for you on my Dropbox an old HIFI STEREO off-air VHS recording of the Navy Broadcasting Service, Keflavik, Iceland and it's THE MORNING SHOW, unfortunately the lady never mentions her name in the recording, but I think Thomas Jones may help with that.

And, oh, yeah this is recorded from the stations FM broadcast channel, in Reykjavik, Niceland.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Thursday, January 1, 2015

AFN SHAPE Barry Cantor 1977


From Hans Knot, Barry Cantor has the Road Show from AFN SHAPE.  1977 magic...



Enchanted Keyboard - Art Tatum 1951


By the 1950s radio was changing.  The US networks were producing a lot less programming.  AFRTS got creative.  "Enchanted Keyboard" was a pianist and an announcer.  The pianists came from all walks of music.  The program was produced in Los Angeles.

Art Tatum was an amazing musician.  Take a listen: