I just wrote about some of the fun things I got to do this week, with f/x companies and Robot Taekwon V. But I also had another really fun surprise — a couple of days ago I was emailed by the producer Fred Roos (who produced THE GODFATHER, BARFLY, LOST IN TRANSLATION and much more) about an article I wrote for The Hollywood Reporter about AFN Korea being taken off the air in Korea (at least on cable).
If you read this site at all regularly, you will know that I am quite interested in Korea’s media and entertainment history, especially the 1950s and 1960s. Last January, I had an article in The Hollywood Reporter about how AFN Korea is supposed to be removed from Korea’s cable systems soon (actually, it was suppose to be gone already, but my cable service still is rebroadcasting it).
Anyhow, thanks to Mr. Roos, I had AFKN on my mind recently, and while doing a little research, I just stumbled across some fascinating AFKN history. It is a website called SOUNDS OF THE FAR EAST NETWORK, and it is all about US Armed Forces radio and TV in Japan. But it also has a small section (and very interesting article) about the American Forces Broadcasting in Korea.
(Not Armed Forces Network, but American Forces Network. I did not know that until I read that article).
The FEN site led me to the AFKN section of the Imjin Scout website. Imjin Scout’s AFKN page was then spun-off into its own website, AFKN Alumni, which in turn has this AFKN history page and these pics).
AFNKorea.net also has its own history page… but for some reason, I cannot access it. Not sure if the problem is my computer or my location or what. But this is the Google cache of it.
Over here, one ex-AFRTS guy has uploaded a bunch of old radio broadcasts, dating back to 1964. Including the “American Disco Network,” from 1978.
As for AFKN, now only did Roos work there when he was in the military, but so did the famous producer Garry Marshall and the famous deejay Kasey Kasem. I wonder if many more big entertainment people passed through AFRTS in Korea over the years.
Ha, almost totally unrelated but… Kasey Kasem? I had a dream in which he kidnapped me and tried to get me to tell him a friend’s secret. The dream was set in Korea. How… odd to know he’d been here once.