Armed Forces Radio

Joe was the civilian program director and veritable walking encyclopedia of all things Chinese. He had served in the US Army in China and Korea and also worked in Armed Forces Radio-TV in the Philippines and Okinawa. He was the author of "From a Yankee Notebook," detailing his personal experiences in Taiwan. He spoke Chinese fluently and had many local friends including those in the Chinese army. He was famous for presiding over elegant banquets prepared by his personal chef. One of the funniest stories I heard about Joe, was that he actually fell asleep while he was on the air hosting the Saturday morning program, "China Express." Seen here with Larry and Rosalie Fogel.

Army Specialist Fred Friend and Nan Nixon Announcer Larry Fogel Marty Bonderoff (courtesy Don Hein) Dave Hess (courtesy Don Hein) Bob Smith interviews Chubby Checker in 1963

  Program guide from Winter, 1968 Taipei AM 1560 FM 100.1 SW 3.990 7.215 Taichung/CCK AM 1580 FROM THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR: "New headquarters are in the offing. For some time AFNT has been looking forward to a move from our present location in the Sugar Building on Hankow Street in Taipei. Hopefully, if the gods smile benignly on our plans, our next printing should find us operating out of new quarters in building P-1 on Grass Mountain. With new facilities, more space and additional personnel who are due to report in during this three-month period, we hope to stimulate our program sound. Emphasis will be on a more 'commercial' sound, most familiar to those recently arrived from the USA, with more programming fitted to the local scene. It will all take time, but be patient -- we will try not to disappoint you." Staff: TSGT Roger Klucas, JO2s Vernon Brady and Ron Garland, JO3 Doug Williams, SSgt Izzy Keller, SP4 Fred Friend, SGTs Jerry Calenberg and Mark Bragg, and A1...

Found some pics from the good old days. Army Specialist Fred Friend, "Good Morning, Taipei." Also ended up in Tucson after getting out of the Army. Fred was anchor and news director at several local TV stations and went on to be director of public affairs for Diocese of Tucson. He is married to the former Nan Nixon, whom he met at the station.

I sent Cal Thomas a link to this site and we exchanged several emails over the weekend. He mentioned several names I haven't heard in about 40 years -- staffers who served with us including Les Blatt who went on to be a network news producer and Paul Kerivan whose car Cal used to borrow for his monthly PX and commissary run . Also CG Wells who Cal says died some time ago. If I remember correctly, CG was the news director of the Armed Forces Press, Radio and TV Service in New York, and a real professional. When I told Cal that I am currently hosting the local segments of "All Things Considered" on Tucson's NPR station, he suggested tongue-in-cheek that I have him on the show. "We could choke the audience with nostalgia," he wrote.

When Col Hornsby and I went to Screen Gems TV in 1965 to see the pilot of "The Monkees," I ran into a problem when I introduced myself to the receptionist. It seems the producer of the show was also Bert Schneider . We eventually ran the show, although the colonel thought it was a bit racy for the troops. Coincidentally, my aunt, June Whitley Taylor , had a small role in the pilot. She died earlier this summer.

Just found this link selling AFRTS logo gear .

I worked at the Armed Forces Press, Radio and TV Service in New York City in 1965 and 1966. My main job was to secure permissions from the networks and program producers to air programs on AFRTS. From time to time, I anchored the evening shortwave radio news which was broadcast to Europe. I also interviewed celebrities including Tom Jones and the Supremes. Most interviews were conducted on sets of television shows such as "Shindig," "Hullabaloo," and "The Bell Telephone Hour." We had members of all the service branches plus Department of Defense civilians. We shared offices and studios with the Voice of America at the Fisk Building, 250 W. 57th St. It was a great place to be, accessible to the commercial broadcast studios and Broadway theaters. I also moonlighted in master control at WOR-TV located on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. Some notable members of the crew were Col Joseph Hornsby, USAF, Officer-in-Charge; Navy Journalist Jim Brumm , w...