Oddity Archive: Episode 263 - American Forces Network (AFN) TV Ephemera
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- Опубліковано 24 тра 2023
- The OA celebrates Memorial Day with some genuine WTF from the AFN (AFRTS). Presented on the DL of course, ‘cause we gotta think OPSEC.
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Fwep.
And, yes, it is supposed to be "American Forces Network". As if my civilian status wasn't showing enough.
Also, wouldn't the Germany based anchorman having the last name German be synchronicity not serendipity?
Guess it works either way.
I talk a little bit about the history of AFN in the episode of As Sold on TV I did for Memorial Day about 7 years ago. (Sorry for the ugly watermark)
ua-cam.com/video/NXngJ7uPfC4/v-deo.htmlsi=akNA97GnxwrEoI9S
Fun fact that just hit me: The opening drumbeat (and accompanying guitar) in Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" came from AFN. You know the "beep beep beep, beep-beep, beep-beep" call signal that would sound at the top of every hour? In his early solo years, when he lived with David Bowie and a few others, he, David, and the drummer were just sitting around their rented England apartment watching TV, waiting for an episode of "Starsky and Hutch" to come on the local AFN affiliate, when that top-of-the-hour signal went off. The drummer immediately got the inspiration for the rhythm of what would become "Lust for Life". Related trivia: Two of famous Jewish comedian Soupy Sales's sons played on the song. Tony on bass guitar, and Hunt on drums.
The weirdly perfect synergy of Steve German being stationed in Germany
We moved to Okinawa for my stepfathers last two years in the Air Force, so we were watching the Armed Forces Network from 1973 to 1975 , also watching the local Japanese tv networks also sometimes. It was an experience we all will never forget!
My dad spent a year on Okinawa in either 1972 or ‘73. He was in the SeaBees.
I was an army brat and from 1991-1994, I lived in Germany. These PSAs, etc all bring me back down memory lane but there is one in particular I wished was added--one where some Egyptians were painting the wrong thing (I think it was a PSA about getting instructions right) and they ended up painting Cleopatra in the Nile R. and she inspects the paintings and says something like "I'm Queen of the Nile, not Queen in the Nile!!" They had several like that too
Dude, Ben, I mean this with 100% of my heart, you are absolutely and truly an American treasure
I remember stumbling into the world of AFRTS when the blank VHS tape I bought at the Salvation Army store turned out to be recordings from FEN Okinawa.
too bad there's not another A in that acronym 🤣🤣
Yeah, my family used to refer to it as 'A-Farts' ourselves..
This Air Force Veteran thanks you.
As an Army brat and a broadcast geek, I thank you for releasing this, and I thank our men & women who have worn the colors of our nation in defense of our freedom.
As someone who was stationed in Italy for 2 1/2 years, 97-99, this AFN stuff is great. Not only did we have the standard AFN stuff, we had local ads and news for our specific base, LaMaddalena, Italy. I wish we would have recorded the ads, as the local ones were hilarious (sometimes intentionally).
I moved to South Korea in 1991 (non-military) and found AFRTS Korea (locally called the American Forces Korea Network) on terrestrial television on Channel 2. I remember the Opsec PSA with the men in fezzes and the two PSAs involving aliens. I remember one often played PSA here that involved an American woman in Germany trying to fit in by speaking the language. She talks to a German butcher and says something like, "Mmmm. The meat here really stinks.' Again, the PSA was set in Germany, which is rather famous for not being Korea.
AFKN used to show reruns of M*A*S*H on AFKN until the Korean government complained. AFKN responded by replacing M*A*S*H with St. Elsewhere.
Imagine having to read "AFRTS" and you're dyslexic.
Oh man, the memories this brings back- granted, these all predate my time in the Air Force but I still remember that special brand of endearing AFN ridiculousness helping get us through many long, dull nights.
Seriously, awesome episode!
I ‘member being in the Boy Scouts in the early 90s, and staying overnight at the Warner Robins Air Force Base, on our way from FL to GA for a summer camping trip. A big meal from the cafeteria cost something like $3, and the on-base movie theater was showing Super Mario Bros. (the real one w/ Bob Hoskins, not the cartoon), which we all went and saw. They played the pledge of allegiance before the movie started, which felt crazy to me.
I was ALSO in Boy Scouts in 1990-1992! And visited the Norfolk Naval Station in Norfolk,VA in June 1991. I still have a Boy Scouts photo of me standing near a Jet with my Cub Scouts cap.
Yes. Do another episode about sign offs. I always watch your original sign off video on Father's Day. It's becoming a Father's Day tradition. You should do a Father's Day sign off special! Yes!
As a veteran, I'm so glad you didn't go into the "Powers of Attorney" or "Register to Vote" PSAs (of which there was *sickeningly* large numbers of!).
But I do faintly remember the "Sick Computers" PSA, though.
For what it's worth, I did have one PoA ad in the running. :D
@@OddityArchive I grew up in the USCG. Back when we were in Ft. Lewis/Tacoma,WA in July 1997, I remember seeing tons of janky ads like this on the Cable systems at the Lodging we stayed in until Moving to Federal Way/Seattle on August 15,1997 since my Stepdad was stationed in Puget Sound. I WISH I coulda recorded them as a 14 year old kid.
As for the Commissary, MY ENTIRE Childhood was spent shopping there!
Great episode - a subject I never would have thought about, but was intrigued as soon as I read the title. I knew of the armed forces radio network from listening to old-time radio shows - some of the surviving transcription discs were from armed forces radio network, and just have a mention at the end of the transcription disc that it was from AFRN.
To any veterans who may be watching this episode, or active duty servicemen and women. From this viewer here in Tennessee, I Thank you for your service to your country and I want you to know I will always be proud of the work that you do.
This is a holiday for fallen soldiers not living
Lol
I started my broadcasting career in the army at afn in 1980 after going to the defense information school I enjoyed every minute of it
My first time I saw an AFN tape was an episode of the late '70s reboot of Jeopardy with Art Fleming. It was memorable to me as all the ads were normal American PSA's (e.g. drug & alcohol).
Is this on the Internet or something in your personal collection? There aren't many episodes of that run floating around!
@@VectraQS I spent the last two hours looking for it on UA-cam and more than likely it's been flagged as both the Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune legal teams are notorious for doing that. I remember the PSA's were all the greatest hits that they played in the US (e.g. Smokey The Bear). I also believe it was broadcast out of Germany. If I do find it I'll leave another comment.
Even though I was never in the military, these are kind of nostalgic for me, as one of my Uncles who was in the Marines was stationed in Germany, and then Belgium for a few years in the late 80's before the 1st Gulf War, and sometimes my Aunt would mail us back VHS tapes they had shot of their adventures while over there, and VHS tape was not cheap at the time, so when she would make a copy to send over she would reuse tapes she had recorded off AFN for my uncle to watch on his time off, and a couple had some AFN stuff on there usually at the end set in 6 hour EP mode so the quality was kind of garbage, but I always found it interesting nonetheless, and it did make for a good laugh with the really cheap PSAs. 😅👍
16:52 Boston Public was so popular in its day that the Luther Vandross song "Dance With My Father", which was featured in one episode, became a popular radio request, a Top 40 hit and won a Grammy with the show's help (as well as the fact that it was one of the last songs Vandross released prior to his death)
Thank You for serving up that ephemera from AFN. We salute you! 🇺🇸
'Battery Cable Theater' needs it's own video.
Could see that being used in a Driver's Ed course.
One of your best eps. I work for AAFES now for 25 years and wanted to know about AFN, now I know. once again Great Job!
YES!!!! I remember what my family would call "AFARTS." We lived in Germany and they would always have the crappiest looking public affairs shows and some of the shows that played in the states. So many memories!
“ AFRTS?” (AFARTS I get it lol 😄) That’s the way I remember it, but yeah, we lived in Okinawa from ‘73 to ‘75
That jumper cable PSA would fit right into _Kentucky Fried Movie __ I feel!!
AFN runs networks in the united states, on base, with family tied to the US Navy, the bases used to use AFN to introduce the families to the new area. I didn't know they did this till we left San Diego in the early 80s for south Texas. Most of the time it's a guide type channel or was. They also run a network for exchange stores on base, this I seen recently as of 2020.
Still having access to some military bases is when I found out about AFN doing a network for exchange stores.
Having been in Germany as an army brat in the 80s, I remember vividly the offbeat ads and the "watch what you say" PSAs. I also remember watching old TV programs from the 1960s with the ad bumpers intact. Not to mention obscure cartoons like "Space Angel."
That toys for tots commercial 100% aired on regular civilian TV. I remember seeing it all the time
I remember it too.
@@OddityArchive what’s weird though is there I remember it reairing for years, at least until 2006
"I've saved the weirdest for last." That one about shareware right before it was definitely the weirdest one I've seen since the PeeWee Herman crack one.
I was Stationed at Ramstein AB 1997-98 and I remember some of those PSA's. Great memories of a lot of them
Some poor kid definitely got spooked out by the “Think Opsec!” PSA growing up
My favorite was the General "Doc" Fuglesang PSA's on AFN Europe circa 2004. They got pulled because soldiers turned his catch phrases into a drinking game.
In the 1990 and 2000s, AFN actually ran the same PSAs that were available in the states, the ones that originated from the Ad Council. Additionally, live events are broadcast live, straight from the networks, and the gap has been closed in a program’s delay so it airs with as little as a few days delay, instead of a year. (Although when I was there, soaps and SNL were delayed one week and general entertainment shows were delayed three months, but AFN only operated four channels so it had to shuffle things around to accommodate scheduling). Anyway, not quite government ineptitude as alleged.
Honestly, that "Radio being too loud" reminds me of an issue that really does need a PSA, even though IT SHOULD be common knowledge. Random idiots taking pictures or video of people without their permission and often behind their back because they're "interesting" and are looking for clout. Y'know like taking a picture of someone buying only one Banana at a store. I've wanted to set a lot of people on fire in my life, and the one that came second closest to happening was a chode who insisted they take a picture of me buying an apple at Walmart. Without my permission. A manager eventually had to step in to kick the idiot out.
In my day when I was stationed in South Korea; AFKN had current cherry picked TV shows. Even late night talk shows a day late due to the time difference. There was a lot of drek as well. When stationed in the UK, we just watched regular BBC, ITV and what not. The commercial breaks of course were about safety, terrorism, that sort of thing, local base actives. That is where I learned to stop watching TV. In Korea, usually the squadron bar had a VCR with porn running after about 20:00 hrs.
Notice how the weather forecast has temps in Fahrenheit. Nice of them to do that.
You're wrong for that Sam Kinison joke. I still laughed.
I was just paraphrasing one of his most famous lines (see his "Have You Seen Me Lately?" album), not taking a shot at him.
Abandoned vehicles were a real problem. There were a lot of ads telling people not to abandon their cars when they transfer back to the states.
From one military brat to another, thank you. It feels good to be reminded there are others out there, and ones that share my hobby no less!
OPSEC! IT'S EVERYONE'S RESPONSIBILITY!
Subscribed.
18:45 God bless our troops who gaurd the Gamecubes of the PX Power Zone, we salute you 🫡.
Army Brat here too and I agree they ran those in the electronics department but without the sound, because I have NEVER heard it pronounced as "affis" I've always heard even the employees call it AFEES.
It was a bit of a surprise to me. But, given they keep pronouncing it "ay-fiss" in the ads, that's probably intentional.
@@OddityArchive I just wonder if it was something they tried that just didn't catch on. I still go the PX regularly with my mom and I'm sure I've heard them pronounce it as A-FEES over the store audio.
Perhaps people were just calling it “ay-fees” so much that the powers that be simply gave up. It’s as good an explanation as any.
This was a banger of an episode, thank you!
Just realized that the music playing during the, er, "Promo" with the little girl in the feather boa was the same they used to advertise Married With Children in the late 80s.
Watching this before The Military comes and Blacklists it. 😂😂😂
“I don’t think I’m qualified”. - don’t think I’ve ever heard that on UA-cam 😂 👍🏻
If that’s the case, I fear intellectual honesty is truly dead.
@@OddityArchive I appreciate you not pretending to be educated on a subject or to educate yourself just for the sake of a video. In my humble opinion this results in what is genuine content that adds to the discourses we have and history we need to preserve in a meaningful way. I’d take this over the lazy recycling and disingenuous false interest I see far too much on this platform.
Brings back memories to when i was living in Germany. Nice to see Bremerhaven make the cut. Thanks for this
I remember some of this channel being on air in Germany when I lived there long ago. Was really funny as a young Dutch/German lad to find a American channel on terrestrial television.
Good man Benny, Thanks
Hey Ben,
You're probably not gonna read this but whatever. It's been over 10 years and you're still making OA episodes. I sponsored you for a few episodes back around 2017. You are what an high functioning autistic persons sense of humor would be, if we high functioning autistics had a sense of humor. Don't ever stop being you.
Ah, good ol' AAFES. Or as it's sometimes know, "Asian American Female Employment Services."
Great episode. It's interesting to see how the AFN tries to create a generic style of American television for service members overseas. I wonder how many military personnel with the AFN go on to civilian careers in broadcasting? Yes, the quality is not the greatest, but not really any worse than what some local civilian stations have done.
27:28 Anyone else half expecting to hear those aliens say "He doesn't like you. I don't like you either!"
Also, if nothing else, this episode gave me my yearly reminder that Falcon Crest existed.
Oddity Archive episode about TV? I AM THERE. These are always my favorite episodes of yours. Been a fan for many years and you still deliver the best videos about this stuff without being boring.
Memories of the. "Anthrax Ninja" information PSAs from AFN Korea spring to mind....
It's neat to see the psa and low budget Commercials
22:38 WARNING: INCOMING GAME! WARNING: INCOMING GAME!
Thanks Ben
Fellow military brat here. I lucked out and found a tape while thrifting from AFN Aviano (Italy). What made the tape better was it was from when my family was stationed there. (I remember seeing a movie that was advertised with my churches youth group) I cut out the ads and uploaded them to my channel. I also made some "videos" of some AFN radio ads from some tapes I made recording oldies music shows.
During the time when the American forces stationed in the Clark Air Base in the Philippines, FEN (Far East Network) Philippines on Channel 8 and 17 provided sports/entertainment/news programs and live events since its first broadcast in 1954, and it didn't take too long for the Filipinos to tune in but it required a strong antenna to catch its signal especially in Metro Manila. Alas, it came to an end due to the Mt. Pinatubo eruption and the non-renewal of the Military Bases act both took place in 1991 and its last program to air was "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" animated tv series. SBN World TV 21 was launched several months later in 1992 to fill in the gap that FEN Philippines had left after its demise.
Goooooood mooooooorning Vieeeetnaaaam!
Could you do an Oddity Archive on Cable In The Classroom and / or Instructional Television?
Yes!!! My middle school had it... In there early 2010s.
That would be a subject that lends itself nicely to this channel. I remember back before my local PBS had enough kids shows to run in the middle of the day, they'd have these weird Canadian educational shows to serve that purpose. And they were really on a scale of weird pineapple and skeleton puppets teaching French, detectives in kangaroo suits talking about math, and some boring crap where some woman lectured you about how body parts worked that seemed to go on forever.
Channel One news also
@@mightyfilm I grew up watching these kinds of TV shows in the 90's. One thing that I remember about those TV shows is that they were usually produced by TVOntario (TVO), the Agency for Instructional Television\Technology (AIT), Annenberg\CPB Project & Mississippi ETV & other PBS stations. Some of the instructional TV shows that I remember are Read All About It, Take A Look, The Magic Library, All Fit with Slim Goodbody, Zardip's Search For Healthy Wellness, The Write Channel & What's in the News. A lot of these shows definitely were oddities!
@PlayButtonPone Channel One hits a nerve with me--and it's not a positive one. I used to dread sitting through it every morning in High School.
Happy Oddity Thursday!
In Berlin on the U-Bahn it is mandatory that you play some hip music from your boombox. It ain’t being inconsiderate, it’s about being respectful of other cultures
This is the report for Frankfurt Germany, I'm Sgt. (quietly) German.... *eyeroll*
Also the jumper cable ad music was used in so many more places on TV, notably during technical difficulties on several New York TV stations including WNYW 5!
thank you for service, Maj. C.A. Cordial
15:00 I think Tailhook might be to blame here.
I thought you said your old man was in the air force! I guess I wasn't hallucinating!
My life is now complete now that I’ve seen the jumper cable puppet theater.
"Now over to Ted Iraqi with the weather.."
"...Wanna PET the PUPPY?..." 😳
The tape from Jeremy were the exact commercials i used to watch. Thanks. They used to sprinkle fox kids psa in there as well. We eventually got Sky One and BBC in Germany so Simpsons!
My father was in the air force too, this is very relatable
oh my god the weather segment feels like it came out of an alternate reality because that sort of dramatic presentation for a weather segment just - would - not - happen - on European civilian television.
8:10 I recognize that music. Wasn't that the song Fox used in their Married...with Children ads?
The other computer voice is the voice of Roy Campbell in MGS and Ben's Uncle in Ben 10 I forgot his name
0:02 - Good grief! There's something I haven't heard in years! Anyone recognise that funk-themed library music? I'm getting 1986 vibes here!
Ha, I was a military brat too. Yeah this was pretty much it for home entertainment aside from bootleg VHS tapes. I lived in Bad Tölz throughout most of my elementary school years in the 80s and AFN was TV to me. What blew me away was finally coming to America and seeing Saturday morning cartoons. The commercials were cooler than the shows. Actually the shows were commercials too lol.
We called it ā-feez too. After my dad retired we'd drive 150 miles to hit up the commissary in Biloxi. Can't be paying that sales tax, and cheap ass cigarettes lol.
I used to listen to Shortwave radio in the mid 80s, and AFRS used to broadcast news clips in a wild feed, I think to the submarines, they would have the countdowns and cue singals for the cart machines. Now it's all digital so public access is no longer possible.
The way you drew out "Oddity Archive" in your opening sounded creepy.
Hey, 19:42, LaMaddalena gets a mention! 😁
5:45 More shocking than a "face reveal"! Benny Boy pronounces Aurora correctly! 😲🤣
Watched countless sporting events overseas on AFN, nothing like watching a Super Bowl on it with these weird skits and PSAs during the commercials in place of the humorous Budweiser and Doritos commercials every one back home was getting.
I was in the military more recently than the clips from this video, but I don't think the delay in network programs is quite as long as a year these days, think it's only weeks. I didn't watch a lot of the network shows AFN would show, but some stuff like South Park would come on and it would be fairly recently after it aired in the US.
18:20 He has the perfect name
24:26 The customs hotline phone puppets sound strangely like Crow and Tom Servo.
I helped produce a sports radio show that would be on Armed Forces Network radio. It felt like a huge honor.
Also thanks to all that served.
That “Suddenly Clown” driving PSA was more horrifying that Protect and Survive.
I'm a former Army Reservist myself, Ben. I'm very familiar with AAFES. Had their DPP plan (later the "Military Star" card) which I wound up turning over in bankruptcy. Funny enough, I got my PS2 from the PX at Selfridge ANGB, MI.
@14:00; that's every other drunk Uber/Lyft passenger I get.
@14:58-15:27; today, they call it "woke".
21:56 holy wow and flutter, Batman!
In the military in the UK and US from 1990 to 1996, I literally don't recall anyone pronouncing at as anything other than "ay-feez". I don't recall if we had AFN in the UK, since it wasn't as crucial in an English-speaking country.
Also he has a boat load of VHS tapes of random junk and he mentioned AFN so I might comb through and see if I can. Find anything for a possible part two
Edit: No dice on any AFN stuff but found a lot of home movies at least.
I talk a little bit about the history of AFN in the episode of "As Sold on TV" I did for Memorial Day about 7 years ago. (Sorry for the ugly watermark) By the way, not a veteran myself. But I am a former Air Force kid. I think I have seen some of the ads for AAFES while waiting to get my military ID renewed but that was 20 years ago now and that military ID (long since expired) serves as a relic of my time at Little Rock AFB. I still have the darn thing too!
ua-cam.com/video/NXngJ7uPfC4/v-deo.htmlsi=akNA97GnxwrEoI9S
Ah yes i know AAFES VERY well my grandfather lived right near a base post service and we always went there for liqour because of the prices lol. Also had many family in the military im not an MB though. We would hit the commisary when he had a doc appt on base. I miss him. Anyways a GREAT video on a very interesting topic.
My folks always bought their liquor there too. I think every small and midsized appliance we bought when I was growing up came from there as well.
NEX,MCEX, AAFES, familiar with em all
I have a NEX (Navy Exchange ) receipt for service done to a car I own today and was bought brand new in late 70s
7:41 I think that's RoboCop's wife!
Why does the guy from the thumbnail look like the current Chief of Space Operations?
He is Santa Claus 20:06
What about the legged services?
Cherry Amaretto Cordial... isn't she a congresswoman now?
@5:00 I always heard it pronounced the way your parents did
The Armed Forces Network, for a PSA nut like myself their brand of original PSAs and stuff that was given to them by the Ad Council for use on their TV and radio networks was like going to heaven. I even reviewed some PSAs from the AFN tv networks and they were the kind of crap I enjoy