|
|
The Suggestive Sounds of WVUG Anchorage
by Don Purvis
|
Pfc Don Purvis spins the hits in 1948 at WVUG 1450 AM,
Fort Richardson Anchorage.
© Don Purvis Collection,
Radio Heritage Foundation. |
At WVUG we had the full supply of AFRS transcriptions, plus whatever
the mails brought us from Headquarters. Back in those days we had music
that was recorded for the military programs but never released commercially. How
I wish I had access to some of that music today!
Memories... there must hundreds, unfortunately, they are slowly
fading from memory. What I remember are the funny happenings, and some of the not so funny times we had back then.
The station was located in an old Army hospital theater. The post coffee shop was just out the back door. We would often put on a transcription then dash over to the coffee shop for coffee and conversation. The
transcriptions had a 15 minute side, meaning they had to be flipped after
they had played one side. There were times the conversations got so
intense that we would forget all about the necessity to flip whatever was
playing. Imagine being in the listening audience and hearing click click,
click click, click click, for fifteen or more minutes.
We did a live Country show every Saturday night. The announcers, put on
their best "southern accents" and pretended to be big country stars. We
even had a live audience. It was a completely unpredictable hour or
two... it was fun. You have to remember that we were all privates back
then... nothing much could happen to us.
|
WVUG staff performing on air.
(L to R) photographer [unknown], Bill Baer, Don Purvis, Chuck Robb, Willie Troutman,
© Don Purvis Collection, Radio Heritage Foundation. |
When the Berlin air lift started the station became a central meeting place
for a lot of the military dependents living in the on-post housing. Those
days and night are better left in privacy. It was a wild time.
We didn't have the niceties of recording that stations have today. We
recorded straight to vinyl... that was an experience. Trying to keep the
sound balanced while brushing the cut vinyl away from the tracks was
a project. It sometimes took hours to record one song. We did
experiment some with the recordings too. Stan Kenton had just gone to a new
style... one of his best recordings was a little thing called "The Peanut Vendor". We
re-recorded it adding a delay of a beat or two... it came out very well. Of
course it messed up the soldiers that attempted to buy THAT version
in the local record shops.
One of our famous mystery records was a recording made by Spike Jones
called "Minka". I think it featured "Doodles" Weaver on the trumpet.
By the way, this was not one of the Jones' regular style efforts. Instead,
as I remember it, it switched from the styles of Henry Busse, to Clyde
McCoy to (I forget the other band). We would play it as a mystery recording,
challenging the audience to name the recording artist. No one ever did.
|
Recording a special program commemorating the anniversary
of the Chaplain Corps, WVUG Fort Richardson.
(L to R) Willie Troutman, unknown, Don Purvis, unknown, unknown, Sgt Bloom.
© Don Purvis Collection, Radio Heritage Foundation. |
We did a special sound effects recording, with the co-operation of a
few of the female post telephone operators. They recorded brief sounds, a
soft moan, a whispering voice saying "Don't... please...", and other
suggestive sounds. We would play those on the late night show, leaving the
impression that we had somehow left a mike on while we were "entertaining". Our
main target was the local MP's. We would play a track and the MP's would
almost instantly raid the station looking for the woman. They would search
the entire station but could never find the unauthorized woman. It was
fun!
In time life caught up with us. The Information Officer somehow found out
about our shenanigans and brought in a buck sergeant to take over the
operation. Adding insult to injury, we had to train him. He was one of the
straight-arrow infantry types that never understood us. But we did have
fun... the old-timers slowly left the station for better fields. I left
for Jump school and moved on up the ladder eventually becoming the
Sergeant Major of a post information office. One of my duties, believe it or
not, was to supervise the radio section.
Such memories... .
Don Purvis served in the AFRS at WVUG Fort Richardson, Alaska
Territory in 1947-48.
We're grateful to Don for sharing his memories
and photos of those days at
"WVUG 1450 kilocycles on your dial, your
Armed Forces Radio station".
We recommend Brass Button Broadcasters for a
light hearted and informative look at AFRS history since the first
broadcasts in Alaska way back in 1941.
Google search of radioheritage.net for AFRS
Drop us a note and tell us whether you like this story add on.
^Top
|
 "Don Purvis, 1948")
 "WVUG staff performing")
 "WVUV recording")
