[78-L] YMCA War Prisoners Aid American Radio Series for U.S. POWs in Germany

[Steven C. Barr]

From: "Michael Biel" <mbiel at mbiel.com>
> You are mixing several things together.  V-Discs and Armed Forces Radio
> Network are two entirely different and totally separate projects. 
> V-discs were made for the soldiers themselves, shipped directly to their
> facilities, and played and handled by the soldiers.  They were not meant
> for broadcast, even by AFRS.  The AFRS recordings and broadcasts were
> aired on radio stations and similar facilities, and were not in the
> hands of the individual soldiers.  AFRS also had a music library service
> that contained music meant for putting together broadcasts at the
> individual facilities, but they were not V-Discs. I forget if the German
> language Glenn Miller broadcasts were for AFN, AFRS, BBC European
> Service or Voice of America, but they were not V-Discs.
> 
Having been in Germany thanks to the USAF, 1967-1970, I can personally
recall listening to "AFN" (Armed Forces Network). It was available as an
AM (medium-wave) station; most were fairly low-power, to serve US
"bases" but their content of current rock hits made them popular among
"local" listeners as well...! The best broadcasts were those of "Radio
Luxembourg," which was effectively a pirate station bc'ing rock hits!

Steven C. Barr