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If it is not too much trouble Paul, would you please use our HOME PAGE as what it connects to regarding me?
http://www.ibiblio.org/jwsnyder/rft/rft.html
If you can, that would be great bud. I want to try and have one centralized spot for things that we are going to try and get involved with, etc.
Thanks brother... let me know If you want me to send you anything that I am working on for the 35th Anniversary show. Some of the language is a bit harsh... at 57 I don't talk like I did at 22, although the huge fan base "loves" what I did... so I have to keep it a bit rough to keep that Dave Rabbit image up. Since we are just now beginning our friendship, I don't want to assume anything and send you something that may be offensive. Let me know... I already have a couple rough cuts done.
(Salute)
Dave
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“Re-Typed from Original papers”
SYNOPSIS
The Vietnam war is known as the first conflict encountered on television, but it was also the first fought to a rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack. In Vietnam, music on the radio provided a means of escape from a frightening, dangerous world. From ‘acid rock’ to military muzak to clandestine propaganda, the radio signal was everywhere in Vietnam. Dependent on radio for news, the GI was subject to disinformation from his enemy and misinformation from his superiors. As the war grew more bitter and chaotic for those who did the fighting, the radio airwaves became an outlet for their disillusionment.
While much attention has been focused on how the civilian population in America was affected by television reports of the War, VIETNAM: RADIO FIRST TERMER examines the medium that meant the most to those in combat: radio. A 58-minute radio documentary with companion 28- and 4-minute modular style versions, it will be the first radio programming to explore the medium’s role in an overlooked area of cultural history.
In association with WGBH-FM, the program will premiere with an accompanying panel discussion and listener call-in. Throughout Massachusetts and nationally, the program will air on public and non-commercial stations. Nationally, it will be distributed by the SANE Education Fund’s “Consider the Alternatives,” which reaches two million listeners weekly. The University of Massachusetts at Boston’s William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences will be intimately involved in the project, providing support and expertise. The Joiner Center will be the beneficiary of the archives developed in the project.
Interlock Media Associates, a non-profit media arts organization, through our fiscal agent, The Public Media Foundation, is seeking $29,500 to complete and distribute VIETNAM: RADIO FIRST TERMER.
VIETNAM: RADIO FIRST TERMER – THE PROGRAM
The United States government established a network of 11 armed forces radio stations in Vietnam (AFVN). Chartered to boost morale and provide the American serviceman with news and a diverse selection of music, AFVN programming reinforced the contention that, based on our superior firepower, the war would end in a matter of months. Isolated, American military personnel counted on radio to relay an accurate notion of what was going on around them. However, the reality of protracted warfare increasingly contradicted the optimistic voice of Armed Forces Radio, and the illusion wore thin.
As the war progressed and GIs watched members of their outfits die around them, their perception of the war would go through a drastic transformation, and so would the sound of radio in Vietnam. In the midst of chaos and carnage, servicemen sought radio that met and fulfilled their needs. Illegal “pirate” transmissions spread in reaction to predictable American Forces Vietnam Network programming. Documented for the first time in VIETNAM: RADIO FIRST TERMER, underground radio was a bold attempt by Gis to establish their own voice.
Clandestine radio operations were used in Vietnam to destroy the morale of the enemy through carefully scripted propaganda and false information. Using archival recordings of World War II’s “Tokyo Rose” and “Lord Haw Haw,” VIETNAM: RADIO FIRST TERMER introduces the Vietnam era equivalents: North Vietnam’s “Hanoi Hannah,” and “Liberation Radio” of the South Vietnamese National Liberation Front.
Radio propaganda was also directed at the Vietcong. A weary soldier in silence along the Ho Chi Minh trail might discover a small “peanut” radio. A dot of red paint marked the frequency of the dial close to the one normally occupied by the Hanoi station. Eager to hear his favorite radio personalities from home, the soldier was unaware that he was actually hearing impersonators, U.S.-trained announcers recorded in Taiwan. “Radio Mimic” remained an elaborate campaign designed to broadcast inaccurate news on body counts and troop movements.
In May 1967, former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, issued a directive stating that: “Members of the Armed Forces are entitled to the same unrestricted news as other citizens…the calculated withholding of unfavorable news stories, or the censorship of news over…Armed Forces Radio is strictly prohibited.” For the most part, these guidelines were ignored.
American Forces Network announcer, Jordon St. John, was required to bring his air-ready news pieces for careful review by an artillery sergeant. “We weren’t allowed to saw anything about the anti-war demonstrations at home, nothing about Jane Fonda. The whole experience of news production in Vietnam was one of rigid control and censorship.” News reporters were handed a memo prescribing mandatory military terminology to be used over the air. Napalm was euphemistically tagged “selective ordinance,” and “search and destroy” missions had to be referred to on air as “search and clear.”
A GI returning from the field might hear AFVN’s sanitized copy without recognizing it as a description of the same bloody “firefight” he’d just been in.
The North Vietnamese Tet Offensive of January, 1968 changed the entire nature of the war. The Vietcong mounted a series of isolated attacks, which shifted the war from its rural setting to South Vietnam’s previously untouched cities. The American GI felt that he could trust no one in the street. Increasingly isolated from the world, equipped with a wider understanding of the conflict encouraged by the anti-war sentiment of new draftees, these changed moved the GI to question the programming that came out of the predictable government media. Thirsting for real news and uncensored music, GI’s put to use an abundance of communications equipment and became Vietnam’s first radio pirates.
During the Vietnam era, transmitting technologies advanced rapidly. FM radio emerged on the American scene. In the years before its commercial potential was realized, young pioneers were free to experiment with the airwaves. They pushed their first amendment rights to the fullest, originating a “free-form” radio format. Broadcasting progressive music and counter-cultural news, radical FM radio helped fuel anti-war sentiment in the United States. Ironically, the radio genre born in America’s movement against the Vietnam War made its way to the airwaves of Vietnam itself.
Radio propaganda went through a transformation as well. Programming on North Vietnam’s “Hanoi Hannah” became more personal, and insidious, naming a serviceman’s girlfriend back home and declaring that she was sleeping with someone else. She directed the increasingly alienated black and Hispanic soldiers to desert the “green machine” and instead to go fight their own battles at home. “Radio Stateside,” produced in the U.S. and aired on Radio Hanoi, featured monologues urging U.S. soldiers to reconsider their involvement in the war.
Role of the Humanities
Programs produced by Interlock Media have been aired on “All Things Considered,” “Horizons,” “Options,” and NPR’s “Journal.” Audience considerations defined additional target stations that were independently approached and reached through the Longhorn Radio Network. Less marketing intensive runs was initiated through NFCB and Pacifica, and included direct tape distribution to non-commercial CPB qualified stations. Past programs were marketed on cassette through the promotional efforts of associated organizations and package mailers. Airdates, whenever possible, were pegged to relevant commemorative days.
July 1970. A disc-jockey at the Hue radio station plays patriotic songs on the air.
“Vietnam: Radio First Termer” – Production Style
II. Overview – A Broadcast Day
Open with a brief, fast-paced montage of sounds akin to spinning the radio dial. Intercut with veterans who remember listening to the radio as part of a daily routine but in vastly different conditions. These viewpoints introduce the listener to the sources of non-tactical radio broadcasts in Vietnam:
-- State sponsored American Forced Radio (AFVN)
-- Pirate transmissions engineered by GI’s themselves
Further east. South of the DMZ, 18-year-old Martin Colson was stationed at Hue. Like any GI, he carried a few mementos from home: a ring, a necklace, and a transistor radio. At dusk, resting the radio on his chest, he would pass over the familiar sound of ‘Wolfman Jack’ and stop to listen to ‘Dave Rabbit; welcoming other first time soldiers like himself to Vietnam over “Radio First Termer.” At first Colson thought it a product of AFVN, but Rabbit quickly corrected his impression. Broadcasting over a ‘pirate’ radio station, Rabbit could say what he felt like saying. Vulgar and satirical, his vocal presence and acid rock represented a vastly different approach to morale building.
As night fell, other veterans remember attaching ground base antennas to the miles of barbed wire at their bases. Even Radio Singapore could be heard under favorable conditions.
At Dak To, in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, GI’s could not receive the AFVN signal. They got Radio Hanoi instead. At ten p.m. sharp, the 173rd Airborne Infantry Division could tune in “Hanoi Hannah.” Addressing them in English, the Vietcong’s ‘Hannah’ identified specific ground units, revealed their positions and announced incoming attacks. Along with the well-informed reporting and taunting, U.S. protest and union ballads, popular songs were also featured. As the Veterans will attest, however demeaning ‘Hannah’ could be, she still played the best music.
Musical soundtrack will include a familiar blend of the music consumed in Vietnam and released in the Vietnam era, ranging from popular to country, Vietnamese to ‘acid rock.’
While “Radio First Termer” is the name of the underground pirate broadcast featured in the program, it describes radio meant for first term or for first tour of duty draftees directly. Veterans will account what it was like to arrive in Vietnam.
Further Questions of Interviewees:
-- What was it actually like to be home one minute and in Vietnam the next?
-- What was their perception of the war at that time?
-- If changes occurred in that perception, and how long did it take for them to occur?
-- What were their first experiences listening to the radio in Vietnam?
-- Did music play through headphones to accompany actual battles?
The consolidation of the anti-war movement inside Vietnam will be further investigated. Why was it a separate genesis from the movement at home, and why did, when these anti-war veterans came home, a large majority refrain from becoming involved in that outcry? Again, how does radio relate? Did it reinforce the unpopularity of past Wars?
IV. News and Censorship at AFVN.
News could be heard over the American Forces Network every hour, on the hour. Throughout the program, we plan to use these broadcasts to chronologies historically relevant news events. They will also demonstrate the tone and content of newscasts, which originated in Vietnam.
We will juxtapose these newscasts with newscasts at a similar date, recorded at U.S. counter-cultural FM stations of the era, as well as comments from veterans about how the news, or non-news made them feel. We will get an idea of what was being reported and what wasn’t.
We have now established the susceptibility of the GI and the power to influence his perceptions and morale. We introduce the role of radio propaganda in Vietnam.
We examine the nature and development of radio propaganda dating back to Woodrow Wilson’s “fourteen points” in 1914. Soon after, “propaganda” was termed “psychological warfare” – the idea that success in war could be obtained by the destruction of the enemy’s will to resist, and according to Harold D. Lasswell, “with minimal annihilation of fighting capacity.”
We will then overview the history of organized U.S. government radio around the world dating back to 1942 when Elmer Davis established the Office of War Information (OWI). Organized mainly to counteract enemy radio propaganda, the OWI realized it also had to meet the needs of distant servicemen who desired contact and information from home. Those at Kodiak Alaska used junk signal corps equipment and started their own Armed Forces station. The government was also forced to react when it was realized that many Americans overseas could hear only Japan’s “Tokyo Rose” and her famous taunting. By the start of 1944, there were 306 radio stations in 47 countries.
Archival recordings from World War II will be used, including Nazi propagandists “Lord Haw Haw” and “Axis Sally”, as well as “Tokyo rose.” Humanist and historians will be used intermittently throughout this section, commenting on psychological implications and the effects of these early radio propagandists. We will learn of the fate of Tokyo Rose, and how wartime treason statutes established in World War II, could not be applied to the undeclared war in Vietnam.
What therefore, were the Vietnam era propaganda radio equivalents?
North Vietnamese Radio:
-- Who was “Hanoi Hannah”?
-- Describe the nature of her commentary directed at American GIs.
-- What was the difference between Hanoi Hannah and Tokyo Rose?
-- Did the North Vietnamese newscasts in English effect the GIs perception of the conflict?
-- What was it like to hear “Hanoi Hannah”?
-- Were racial overtones heard in NVA broadcasts?
-- Did these appeals contribute to racial divisiveness amongst the ranks?
-- Alleged subversive psychological warfare stations set up by the CIA.
-- Overt campaigns directed at the Vietnamese people.
Transmitting technologies advanced rapidly during the Vietnam era. The availability of radio equipment was greatly responsible for helping this experimentation.
-- What equipment did veterans have access to?
-- What did the effect of the cassette tape have on the reception of music and sending tapes around the war zone?
Radio revolt within the American Forces Vietnam Radio Network:
AFVN veterans who held anti-war feelings struck back at the system in small ways. Using double meanings, a few American Forces Radio disc jockeys made their views known to the younger servicemen, while their commentary slipped by the “lifers” or career military officers. We will talk to the host of one such show, “The Sergeant Pepper Free Radio Hour.”
Explain why the war, by its nature, produced a need for alternative media within the war zone. Why were servicemen in Vietnam motivated to create their own information network?
Veterans who made pirate radio?
Veterans who worked in Armed Forces radio?
People who made underground anti-war radio in the US?
While our nine-minute sample audio collection demonstrates the nature, texture and breadth of our material, it is still in its earliest form and should not be considered representative of the project in its final stages. Most of the audio, which will be used in the final program, remains to be collected and edited.
To help panelists follow along through this assembly, we have prepared a narrative, which describes the background and relation of each segment to the program.
SELECTION: “Radio First Termer” with Dave Rabbit, a pirate underground radio program of unknown origin produced by American GIs.
BEGINS: Fade of previous song noise…”Blood Rock II, Double Cross…, Good evening again, ladies and gentlemen, this is your host for the next three hours of hard acid rock music, Dave Rabbit…”
While one is led to believe that this recording was actually made by frustrated GIs, making use of technical equipment on their unit, there are many theories to where and how this broadcast originated. Some allege that the program was a bandit operation, which served to offer servicemen music, and information that they desired but could not receive through official channels. Others have raised the possibility that it was actually an elaborate propaganda scheme developed by the North Vietnamese to promote rebelliousness in incoming draftees. Songs like “Evil Ways,” “The Pusher,” “Them Changes” and Jim Hendrix’ “Fire” both promoted drug use and a departure from military standards.
In the eventual program, Vietnam veterans who have heard “Radio First Termer” will comment on its authenticity, possible source and what it would have been like to hear it.
SELECTION: Vietnamese music taped off the air (5 seconds)
Many soldiers who were tired of the Government radio station would often search the dial for native music. Many GIs listened to Vietnamese music as part of a daily process of bridging the gap between two such distant cultures.
It has been confirmed that many ‘bandit’ Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian stations operated in both Vietnamese and English, while “Radio Hanoi” carried a wide range of programming, both in Vietnamese and English as part of a major psychological warfare campaign.
SELECTION: The morning American Forces Disc Jockey saluting a specific unit.
BEGINS: “Well good morning and welcome back to the dawnbuster on this Saturday morning, today we salute the eighth tactical bomb squadron…”
Though most of its broadcasts sounded much like Top 40 radio stations at home, dedications to specific units were often made, highlighting battle victories and successful incursions. “To have our names mentioned over the air,” recounted one veteran, “it made us feel like heroes!”
BEGINS: “From Saigon…the beat goes on…” (4 seconds)
SELECTION: Interview with Vietnam Veteran and resident of Amherst, Massachusetts, Gerry Clark, 1985.
SELECTION: AFVN promotional message from Steffens collection.
BEGINS: Music fades in…”entertaining…informative…swinging…The American Forces Vietnam Network, four little words, but they signify over six years of broadcasting service to American servicemen in Vietnam…A-F-V-N…” Music fades…
It will be explained that this type of message would not have been heard before the pivotal Tet Offensive of 1968. A series of isolated attacks brought the war from the countryside into the streets of Saigon. Transistor radios parachuted into the jungle, were also booby-trapped with explosives.
SELCETION: American Forces Vietnam Network news broadcast.
BEGINS: “Good evening, I’m Gary W. Geers with 5 minutes of news compiled from commercial and military news agencies…”
SELECTION: Interview with Vietnam Veteran Steve Brown of San Francisco, as he discusses the change in attitude he noticed after the ‘Tet Offensive’ of 1968. Interviewed in January 1986.
BEGINS: “By the second tour in 1968, however, after the Tet Offensive, things had really seemed to have soured a lot for a lot of personnel…”
SELECTION: “Radio First Termer” and Dave Rabbitt monologue offering more ‘public service’ information.
SELECTION: Interview with Vietnam veteran Doug Wellman, San Francisco, January 1986, discussing his experience with pirate radio in Vietnam.
BEGINS: “In 1972, we were challenging each other to see what kind of pirate signals we could broadcast and my joke had to be taking a turntable up in this aircraft…”
SELECTION: Vietnamese language and music (7 seconds) recorded off the air in Vietnam.
SELECTION: Interview with Doug Wellman
Some Vietnam veterans have described what it was like to hear “Hanoi Hannah” identifying their specific unit and reading names of servicemen over the air. Wellman’s commentary describes an even more specific type of psychological warfare, called narrow casting. In the midst of an allegedly secret mission, messages would be picked up which were directed to members of the flight crew.
This uncanny ability of the North Vietnamese to know about troop movements and military maneuvers has been described by a number of veterans. This extensive intelligence network utilized the radio medium in many ways.
SELECTION: The voice of AFVN’s sultry Chris Noel, one of few women announces at the station in the midst of her show, “A Date With Chris.” Donated from Chris Noel.
Producer and Project Director Jonathan Schwartz is a seasoned radio producer versed in archival research and Southeast Asian history.
Associate Producer Alexis Muellner has five years experience in radio as a researcher, writer, reporter and disc jockey. His undergraduate thesis for Hampshire College traced the evolution of radio within Vietnam during the War.
Project Advisor Lawrence Lichty is a foremost archivist, media analyst and expert on broadcasting in Vietnam. In charge of media research for WGBH’s award winning “Vietnam: A Television History,” he was also Director of Research and Evaluation for National Public Radio. Project Advisor Roger Steffens spent two years in Vietnam in Psychological Operations and Armed Forces Radio. Steffens is a radio historian, actor, lecturer and producer. He has devoted a large collection of archival audio to the project.
Technical Director Frank Cunningham combines production expertise with digital design experience. A former WGBH-Boston staff engineer, Cunningham recorded and mixed portions of “Vietnam: A Television History.”
The William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences, The University of Massachusetts at Boston. Contact: Kevin Bowen, 617-929-7864.
The Vet Center, Boston, MA. Contact: Carlos Rivera, Sheila Spencer, 617-451-0171.
Vietnam Veterans of America – Pioneer Valley Chapter, Greenfield, MA. Contact: Barbara Ritchie, 413-773-3651.