Politically Correct?

[k4kyv]

- Jack- KA3ZLR-
-The AM Forum-

http://www.afrts.osd.mil/

Supporting all who Serve.

"American Forces Radio and Television Service"

When I was in the Army decades ago, it was the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.

I suppose the proper pronunciation is "Amurrcan".

When I was a kid and used to SWL, it was simply AFRS,  Armed Forces Radio Service.  

Of course, it disappeared from shortwave years ago.  They now pipe it to the target area by satellite and broadcast locally on the regular AM and FM broadcast bands.

[W1GFH]

Yup, I remember SWLing AFRTS when I wuzza kid, too. Mostly news and sports. Lots of baseball and basketball rebroadcasts. A little music, but nothing too wild.

Weren't they often referred to as "US AFRTS"?

The term "armed services" and "armed forces" is still in use by the US govmt, so the switch from 'armed' to 'american' (in AFRTS) may not have a politcally correct motivation, but a practical one.

Could be a move to develop a shorter acronym. Since their programming is exclusively American, that term is more descriptive and helps differentiate it in the field from among our allies armed-forces-media.

[w3jn]

Blieve there's still a ISB shortwave feed or two around for A-farts, as it's known.  IIRC I've head one in the past year in the 5 or 6 MHz band, not too  far from the 49M braodcashband.

73 John

[Jack-KA3ZLR-]

:?:

[k4kyv]

Weren't they often referred to as "US AFRTS"?

I always heard them identify as "AFRTS, the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service."  Never heard them called USAFRTS, but most army guys did simply call them A-farts.

Of course, any country could have an armed forces radio/TV service.

But that website is the first time I ever heard them referred to as the "American Forces ..."

[Ian VK3KRI]

Blieve there's still a ISB shortwave feed or two around for A-farts, as it's known.  IIRC I've head one in the past year in the 5 or 6 MHz band, not too  far from the 49M braodcashband.

73 John

6350 From Hawaii (I think)

[km1r]

A-farts is STILL the best way to catch a ball game... relatively calm and with none of that comemercial / statistical insanity...

When the appropriate game is on TV, I mute the TV and listen to A-farts audio...

much much nicer... calm, yet detailed...kinda like when we ALL rooted for Ted Williams back in the late fifties !

(gee, guess what team I rooted for!)


Mike KM1R

[Bow/KD5KZN]

Current AFRTS Shortwave High Frequencies

Location                                     
Diego Garcia         USB Daytime: 12,579 KHz    Nightime: 4,319 KHz
Guam                   USB Daytime: 13,362 KHz      5,765 KHz
Keflavik, Iceland    USB Daytime/Nightime:13,855 KHz, 7,590 KHz
Key West, FL         USB Daytime/Nightime: 12,1335 KHz, 7812.5 KHz, 5,4465 KHz
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii     USB     Daytime: 10,320 KHz     Nightime: 6,350 KHz


No AM...

[k4kyv]

A-farts is STILL the best way to catch a ball game... relatively calm and with none of that comemercial / statistical insanity...

When I first started to listen to shortwave, AFRS was one of the stations I monitored most.  Listening to AFRS is what first got me interested in following baseball games.  No commercials.  There were two studios, one in New York and the other somewhere on the west coast (Los Angeles?) using VOA transmitters in Delano and Dixon, California.  Back then VOA transmitters identified by call letters.  I recall KCBR, WBOU, WRUL, WLWO amongst others.

The New York studio broadcast the baseball game from 2000 GMT,  sometimes right to the 2245 GMT s/off.  The daytime games that were broadcast domestically actually started sometime about 1830 GMT.  The delayed broadcast over AFR(T)S was edited down to 2 to 2 1/2 hours, and all commercials and mention of commecial products were deleted.  You could hear gaps in the tape where they edited.  Sometimes they would miss one or two.  They always ran a disclaimer before the game that any mention of commercial products was unintentional and did not represent an endorsement of that product.

The game was replayed during the evening hours over the Los Angeles outlet.

Like many people at that time, we had no TV, so radio was the only way to get the ballgame.

The New York broadcasts were aimed at Europe, while the LA broadcasts targeted Japan, Korea and the Phillipines.  The LA outlet stayed on the air for 12 hours or more, while NY transmitted for 4 1/2 hours.  Later, the hours for both coasts were expanded, but I had stopped listening regularly by then.