The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas, and is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland.

[2] The original American Forces Network began on 4 July 1943 when AFRS established what is today AFN Europe in London, England with U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Charles Gurney in command.

About two months before the formal establishment of AFN, however, a station called "PCAN" began regular broadcast information service in the Panama Canal Zone, primarily for troops on jungle bivouac.

The signal was sent from London via telephone lines to five regional transmitters to reach U.S. troops in the United Kingdom as they made preparations for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.

As D-Day approached, the network joined with the BBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to develop programs especially for the Allied Expeditionary Forces.

During the period between 1943 and 1949 the AFN also broadcast programs developed through a collaboration of the Department of State's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs and the CBS network while supporting America's cultural diplomacy initiatives.

[11] Also featured were live performances of classical music and jazz by Samuel Hans Adler's Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra in support of America's cultural diplomacy initiatives in the post war period.

In particular, a whole team of reporters and technicians was sent to cover the 24-hour auto race at Le Mans, at a time when Ford was doing its best to beat the Ferraris, and finally succeeded.

AFN Poitiers, based at Aboville Caserne, Poitiers, France, home of an Army logistical command and a major Communication Zone Signal Corps agency, served Army depots and installations in Southwestern France with locally originated programs and network feeds from AFN Orléans via Frankfurt, Germany.

Children living in outlying American military installations and communities commuted to Poitiers once a week for daily classes and departed for home by bus and train.

[22] Radio 1555 closed with presenter Air Force Staff Sergeant Barry Cantor playing Roger Whittaker's "Durham Town (The Leavin')".

After a fierce fire fight that killed two soldiers and a civilian contractor, the remaining AFVN station staff at Huế was captured and spent five years as prisoners of war.

Among the notable people who were AFVN disc jockeys were Don L. "Scotty" Brink, Lee Hansen, Les Coleman and Pat Sajak, Chris Noel, John Allgood, Joe Huser, and Dennis Woytek.

It was to play Bing Crosby's version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" as a signal for Americans that the final evacuation of Saigon had begun.

In April 1970, a battle-damaged RF-4C Phantom II #65-0863 returning to Udorn from a reconnaissance mission in northwest Laos, crashed into the AFTN station, killing 9 Air Force broadcasters.

The incident was the single worst catastrophe in the history of military broadcasting killing: TSGT Jack A Hawley, Wakeman, OH; SSGT James A. Howard, Denver, CO; A1C Andrew C. McCartney, Lakewood, OH; SSGT Alfred N. Potter, Forest Grove, OR; SGT John Charles Rose, Bloomfield, NJ; TSGT Frank D. Ryan Jr., Mercer Island, WA; SSGT Edward W. Strain, Myrtle Beach, SC; TSGT Roy Walker, Albuquerque, NM and A1C Thomas L. Waterman, Roanoke, VA.[30] AFTN became the American Forces Thailand Network in the summer of 1969, and continued operations until the spring of 1976 when the remaining U.S. troops in Thailand were withdrawn at the request of the Thai government.

SCN discontinued broadcasting on 1 July 1999[31] just before the 31 December[32] turnover of the Canal Zone to the Republic of Panama when U.S. troops were removed from that country under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties.

Since 1997, all of AFN's military personnel receive primary training at the Defense Information School (DINFOS) at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland.

AFKN began TV operations on 15 September 1957 and consisted of an originating studio at Yongsan Garrison, Seoul, and six relay transmitters throughout the peninsula.

In 1999, from the termination of local production (June 30) to the shutdown of the station and return of the control of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian state (December 31), the channel was relaying the main AFN service.

[38][39][40] In 2001, following failed attempts at creating a regional educational station,[41] the Panamanian government started setting a date for the fate of the former SCN frequencies, July 10.

AFN-Kwajalein at the Reagan Missile Test Range on Kwajalein Atoll is the only civilian-run affiliate in AFN, broadcasting on U.S. channel 13 for military personnel and civilian contractor employees and their families.

These broadcasters reported to families of soldiers deployed from Europe and staffed a number of U.S. radio stations making up the Armed Forces Desert Network.

[citation needed] AFN went on the air 29 May with service at the Tirana airport in Albania with satellite decoders and large-screen televisions placed in high traffic areas.

Today AFN has several satellites and uses advanced digital compression technology to broadcast TV and radio to 177 countries and territories, as well as on board U.S. Navy vessels.

The advent of DTH service coincides with the phasing-out of AFN terrestrial TV broadcasts due to reclamation of frequencies by host nations.

While the audience tunes into AFN to watch their favorite shows or listen to the latest stateside hits, entertainment is the "candy coating" used to attract the military viewer/listener.

On 5 December 2005, liberal/progressive Ed Schultz and conservative talk show host Sean Hannity were added to the radio programs provided by the AFN Broadcast Center to its affiliate stations.

The most common PSAs shown deal with sexual harassment, public health and safety, force protection/anti-terrorism, pride in service and messages to the troops.

See: AFN Shortwave Frequencies[79] Media related to American Forces Network at Wikimedia Commons 1NHK Kitakyushu is the sub opt-out of NHK Fukuoka on TV