{"id":3339,"date":"2012-04-21T10:30:35","date_gmt":"2012-04-21T14:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=3339"},"modified":"2012-09-20T16:04:42","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T20:04:42","slug":"searching-for-a-shortwave-station-with-variety-try-the-american-forces-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/searching-for-a-shortwave-station-with-variety-try-the-american-forces-network\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching for a shortwave station with variety? Try the American Forces Network!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I remember the first time, many years ago, when I first tuned to the American Forces Network (AFN) on my shortwave radio. I was scanning the bands and happened upon a fairly strong single sideband broadcast. When I tuned in the signal I heard National Public Radio<\/a> (NPR), a largely domestic public\u00a0broadcaster\u00a0here in the US. I thought, perhaps, it was some strange, temporary relay of that news broadcaster. But after hanging around on the frequency for a while, I heard other news sources, and finally the station ID: “This is the American Forces Network.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0American Forces Network (AFN), in case you’re not familiar with it, is the brand name used by the\u00a0US Armed Forces\u00a0American Forces\u00a0Radio\u00a0and\u00a0Television\u00a0Service<\/em>\u00a0(AFRTS)\u00a0for its entertainment and its command internal information networks worldwide. The primary mission of the AFN is to serve American service men and women, the Department of Defense, and other US government civilians and families stationed at bases around the world, as well as on U.S. Navy ships at sea. The AFN broadcasts a wide array of American radio and television programs from the major U.S. networks.<\/p>\n

Though the AFN doesn’t broadcast at power levels typically associated with international broadcasters, their broadcasts span the globe. How? \u00a0By broadcasting in single sideband instead of AM.<\/p>\n

What’s available over AFN radio?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wikipedia offers a nice breakdown:<\/p>\n

AFN […] offers a variety of radio programming over its various frequencies throughout the world. Not only is there local programming (with military disc jockeys), but there is satellite programming, as well. Music programming spans Classic Rock, Rhythmic R&B, Jack FM, Techno\/Trance and\u00a0country music<\/a>.\u00a0Ryan Seacrest<\/a>‘s\u00a0AT 40<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0The Rick Dees’ Weekly Top 40<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0American Country Countdown<\/a><\/em>\u00a0with\u00a0Kix Brooks<\/a>\u00a0are broadcast weekly over AFN Radio. In addition to music, AFN broadcasts\u00a0syndicated<\/a>\u00a0talk radio<\/a>\u00a0programs such as\u00a0Car Talk<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0Kidd Kraddick in the Morning<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0Kim Komando<\/a><\/em>,The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0The\u00a0Motley Fool<\/a>\u00a0Radio Show<\/em>,\u00a0A Prairie Home Companion<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0Doug Stephan<\/a><\/em>,Titillating Sports with Rick Tittle<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0Sports Overnight America<\/a><\/em>, and other programs form a variety of sources. Weekly religious programming is offered to AFN stations via closed-circuit.<\/p>\n

On December 5, 2005, liberal\/progressive\u00a0Ed Schultz<\/a>\u00a0and conservative talk show host\u00a0Sean Hannity<\/a>\u00a0were added to the radio programs provided by the AFN Broadcast Center to its affiliate stations. Liberal Alan Colmes rounds out the political talk lineup on The Voice channel.<\/p>\n

On April 24, 2006, AFN Europe launched AFN The Eagle, a virtually 24-hour-a-day radio service format initially modeled after “Jack FM<\/a>” but most recently a “Hot AC” format. This replaced ZFM, which had more of a CHR flavor. When the Eagle was launched AFN Europe took control of what local DJs could play.<\/p>\n

Altogether, AFN produces 12 general-use streams for AFN stations to use. Of these, seven are music-based, two are sports-based, and three general news\/talk channels, including The Voice, which features live play-by-play of American sports (it’s also the one heard on shortwave, if the shortwave radio has\u00a0Single sideband<\/a>\u00a0(also known as SSB) installed). How these stations use these formats is up to them. These formats are:<\/p>\n