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Project Jenny KLIK - 1st Inf Di v Women in Vietnam RELATED-- To AFVN To Saigon To Vietnam Further Afield Index
From: Dick Ellis
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
Did anyone tell Bob Hope??????
From: Ron Turner
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
Sometime in late November of 71 there was a prohibition on Christmas music as I remember. I believe the prohibition as I heard it came from MACV and was justified by some vague idea that Christmas music would depress the troops in that they were not back home. I don't know how long it lasted but at least for a short period of time it was policy. I'm sure someone who was spinning disks would remember better than I.
Regards,
Ron
From: Tim Abney
Dated: March 1, 2015
Subject: Songs Not to Play
Before the Division took over operation of KLIK there was nothing we couldn't and didn't play.
Those Division people had their panties in a wad on several occasions and would call me when I was on the air... I just basically ignored them.
I told one colonel who called and told me he didn't like the record I was playing that I wasn't sure if I liked it either so I would play it again so we could both listen carefully. I did.
From: Ken Kalsih
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
No list, but there were lots of tracks that had been defaced. Gary and Don had links back to production and regularly “found” clean tracks to play. Anything that was on an album could be bought on the black market about a week before international release. I think the only one that was specifically forbidden when I was there (68-69) was “Ruby” (Click here).
Ken
From: Dick Ellis
Dated: February 25, 2015
Subject: Question
When I first got there they assigned me to FM for a couple of weeks....All of our songs were on large vinil discs in the record library. The night or afternoon before we had to fill out a list of the songs we intended to play on our shifts the next day. I remember the large master record with "Coming Home Soldier"....by Bobby Vinton (Click here) was not allowed and had been scratched with a pocket-knife with X's all over the track so it could not be played. Some of the songs by the Doors were also scratched....I had not been a jock for a while so I was not that familiar with the selections.
Also, on TV news...we had to say things like..."The attack, led by the Vietnamese 4th rangers was followed up by the 9th Inf. Division tanks..."
Dickie
From: Garry Brill
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
Ruby was the only song I remember too, but at times I heard there were many more.....I was in Saigon on the air from July 69
thru June 1970.
With the anniversary date of the war I have 3 talks for local civic groups scheduled and that question is often asked in my talks about radio in Vietnam
Also, d we really know the story about WHITE CHRISTMAS? It was said that we did not have the Bing Crosby version and actually played the one by Tennessee Ernie Ford ??????
GarryB
From: Frank Rogers
Dated: March 1, 2015
Subject: Songs Not to Play
FEN had what was called a "Film Review Board", but in actuality it was to allow FEN people to watch some TV shows, as FEN Tokyo did not have a TV station. The "Laugh In" shows, in addition to some jokes, had to have the gaudily dressed "General" portions deleted, to be reinserted after finishing the Japan circuit.
Frank
From: Dickie Ellis
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: No play list....
I never saw an actual list from 67 to 68.....but when you pull a large disc from the library that was provided by the AFRTS in California and one whole cut is scratched off with a pocket knife....that will give you a clue!! I did see some releases and photos that came in from the field that were stamped....NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE MILITARY. I think this was done on the local level like 25th ID Hq. Or 9th ID Hq...... I just did the weather....
Dickie
AFVN Group Conversations
From: Forrest Brandt
Dated: February 25, 2015
Subject: Song Not to Play
Drawing a blank. He played with “Electric Train" a West Coast band before getting drafted and opened for some big name rockers of the late sixties.
FB
From: Gary Brill
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
It was Kenny Rogers, and thanks for the link.
Garry B
From: Tim Abney
Dated: March 1, 2015
Subject: No Play List....
I know I've mentioned this before.
We had absolutely nothing banned at KLIK.
I played a lot of records that never would have been heard on AFVN
Like PhiOchs and The Fugs.in addition to the hits that were not played on AFVN.
I guess we were just authorized to be rebels.
From: Jim White
Dated: February 25, 2015
Subject: Song Not to Play
The only "Kelly" on the roster is "Colin Kelly, SP4, USA KLIK." Nothing indicates he was ever with AFVN unless he just "went there to do his shows."
From: Ken Kalish
Dated: March 1, 2015
Subject: No Play List....
“What Can You do With a General” was written for the musical White Christmas, around 1952.
Ken
From: Ken Kalish
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: No play list....
I once had a chat with Cal and Clem about defaced tracks. They said it was the XO, but they also said the moon was made of green cheese.
From: Ann Kelsey
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
Which Ruby? Kenny Rogers or Ray Charles?
There is an extensive discussion of White Christmas, Ford vs Crosby, on the AFVN website. Research says it was Ford's version but urban legend says Crosby. It's an interesting thread to read through. Click here.
From: Randy Kafka
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
[If You See Kay was] Not a problem at AFVN, did not release until 1982, but this was banned at many Navy stations. Click here.
Randy
From: Forrest Brandt
Dated: February 28, 2015
Subject: No Play List....
I didn’t think about this prior to your post, but Laugh In varied in length from show to show as the editors took out jokes they didn’t think the troops needed to hear. One show in early 69 lost almost five minutes during the “fickle finger of fate” awards segment. We had to endure five minutes of re-up and malaria PSAs.
Forrest
From: Joe Ciokon
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
Gerry Fry would know better than anyone.
Joe Ciokon
[NB: There is no "Gerry Fry" on the AFVN Roster. Jim White]
From: Garry Brill
Dated: February 25, 2015
Subject: Question
Is there a list of songs we were NOT allowed to play on AFVN?
From: Rick Fredericksen
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
If this is true it would be one of the biggest bird brained cases of censorship ever!
Rick
From: Ann Kelsey
Dated: February 28, 2015
Subject: No Play List....
I was always surprised that they let Laugh In broadcast at all on AFVN.
Ann
From: Ann Kelsey
Dated: February 25, 2015
Subject: Song Not to Play
Do you know the name of Kevin Kelly's band that went on the soldier show tour?
From: Frank Rogers
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Songs Not to Play
I don't know about AFVN "No Play" but FEN was older and one of the banned songs was "What Can You Do With A General"
(Click here) from WW2, regarding what kind of work could a former General be hired to do. One country song "A Hundred Years from [sic. Year] Now" had a line about "the only Jap you'll see will be in a menagerie." I found one Fibber Magee and Molly show which we then banned because of the line "He can take a hint like Hirohito took San Francisco." I can't remember but there were many other songs banned, including "Love For Sale" (Click here).
Frank
From: Forrest Brandt
Dated: February 25, 2015
Subject: Song Not to Play
Jim, I think the “Colin” is a mistake on my part in putting that list together. That may have been his name, but I’m pretty sure it was Kevin. I know that he sometimes used Colin and once told me that he was the son of Cpt. Colin P. Kelly Jr, an early hero of 1941. This is impossible as C. P. Kelly Jr. died in 1941, survived by his widow and one son Colin P. Kelly III, an Episcopal priest, unless his sperm somehow survived the crash and fire. Need I say that Kelly was quite a bullshit artist. He was very funny and talented, but no stranger to statements designed to fit any need at any time.
FB
[NB: The roster has been corrected. Jim W]
From: Robert Tucker
Dated: February 25, 2015
Subject: Question
“Bring the Boys Home” (Click here) was the only one I remember off the top of my head that we couldn’t play.
Robert Tucker
Saigon 71/72
Forbidden Songs
February 2015
From: Ron Turner
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
Yes, I thought about introducing it as a censorship issue, but for whatever reason chose not to bring it up. As I said, I don't actually know how long it lasted (maybe only a couple of days) but it was policy. I clearly remember discussing it with CWO MacDonald--we both thought it was pretty idiotic.
Regards, Ron
From: Forrest Brandt
Dated: February 25, 2015
Subject: Song Not to Play
I can’t speak for AFVN, but I do know there was an unwritten list at KLIK - Fixin; to Die Rag (Click here) headed it and,according to what the other jocks said and I experienced, was the most requested song in 68 - 69, way ahead of We Gotta Get Out of this Place (Click here). Whenever one of the guys would play Why Don’t We Do It in the Road (Click here), the chaplains would blow up and my desk would be covered with those pink “call me" slips Small Circle of Friends (Click here) and Big Muddy (Click here) by Phil Ochs was probably on the list along with almost anything from Bob Dylan’s folk era. We added a jock from the PIO office toward the final half of my tour, Kevin Kelly, who did the late night - early morning shift. Kelly was a real hit with the troops and had connections who could keep him up to date with heavy metal and psychedelic music. He was also very clever and managed to slip all kinds of anti-army, anti-war, double entendres out over the air waves. Kelly was so popular that I believe that he was brought over to AFVN and then extended so that he could take his heavy metal band on tour as a part of special services.
Forrest
From: Jim White
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Songs Not to Play
Kevin Kelly sounds like he would be a fun guy to know--just as long as he had a twinkle in his eye when he bullshitting. I'm old enough to remember the hero, Colin Kelley from my much younger days.
Jim W
From: mascot25 [Prefers to remain annonymous?]
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
When I was PD of the network in 1969, there was no list of songs we were forbidden to play, but we were only supposed to air music which had been provided to us by AFRTS in LA. Songs not supplied included the Animals, the Stones' "Satisfaction" and "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations because of the drug connection.
"Satisfaction" got played as the #1 song in a countdown of most requested tracks and, with less than a month to go before heading home, I got sent on a scenic tour of upcountry stations...
From: Tim Abney
Dated: March 1, 2015
Subject: Songs Not to Play
Before the Division took over operation of KLIK there was nothing we couldn't and didn't play.
Those Division people had their panties in a wad on several occasions and would call me when I was on the air... I just basically ignored them.
I told one colonel who called and told me he didn't like the record I was playing that I wasn't sure if I liked it either so I would play it again so we could both listen carefully. I did.
From: Doug Jennings
Dated: February 25, 2015
Subject: Question
Having been on the air for a year (70/71), first at Quang Tri, then Saigon, I never saw such a list.
Doug Jennings
From: Doug Jennings
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
What??? Three weeks of no "Hi, I'm Roger Records and I play Carrolls??????
From: Jay Lehman
Dated: March 1, 2015
Subject: No Play List....
Being away from network HQs was always like a breath of fresh air. At FEN-Kyushu in 1957, had no such list...played whatever I wanted to as long as it was on one of the 16 inch AFRTS discs. Same held true at AFKN HQ, and MunsanNi and Pusan in 1959-60. No restriction list at AFRT-Okinawa 1960-63 or 1968-71 either. And never got told what to play or not play when I was NCOIC on HonTre in the summer of 1971. In 1965-66 when assigned to IOs at 1st Infantry Division and IIFFV, there were no restrictions on where I went or what stories I covered. I had the shortest chain of command incountry....me and MG {later LTG} J O. Seaman were its only two members and if he wasn’t using his Huey then it was mine to use as I saw fit. One time at FEN Kyushu, there was a line in a British comedy that we aired that caused quite a stir among area chaplains. “when I was at my cousins I stayed for three nights, and he let me sleep in the den on the couch with a moose. Is your cousin a Moose? “No, hes an Elk.”
Jay Lehman
From: Bob Morecook
Dated: February 26, 2015
Subject: Question
At Dinfos in 71 we were told that any songs that 'glorified' drugs would be forbidden.
Bob M