Sold Date: May 8, 2023
Start Date: November 7, 2022
Final Price: $26.99 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 9635
Buyer Feedback: 0

IF YOU EVER SERVED IN THE MILITARY, ESPECIALLY ON AN OVERSEAS BASE OR ON A NAVY SHIP, YOU CERTAINLY REMEMBER THE ARMED FORCES RADIO SERVICE (LATER THE ARMED FORCES RADIO AND TELEVISIION SERVICE, AND STILL LATER IN ITS EVOLUTION THE AMERICAN FORCES RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICE) 

THIS ENTITY PROVIDED THE UPLIFTING  ENTERTAINMENT OVER MANY DECADES SINCE WORLD WAR ii FOR MILLIONS OF MILITARY PERSONNEL AND THEIR FAMILIES STATIONED MANYTHOUSANDS OF MILES FROM HOME, HELPING TO BRING SOME PLEASURE IN THEIR LIVES OF DANGER WHILE AWAY FROM LOVED ONES AND HELPING KEEPING DEMOCRACY ALIVE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

IT IS HARD TO IMAGINE TODAY IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET AND STREAMING, AND IPADS OR SMART PHONES WITH THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF SONGS DOWNLOADED AND SAVED IN THE CLOUD, JUST HOW IMPORTANT THESE SHOWS WERE BACK IN THE DAY, AND NOT THAT MANY YEARS AGO.

THE ARMED FORCES LPS AND SHOWS ARE AN INVALUABLE LINK TO OUR PAST, ARE SUPER RARE  AND CAN NOW BE YOURS.

 WELCOME RADIO SHOW ENTHUSIASTS TO KEITH'S KOLLECTABLES, ONE OF THE LARGEST BUYERS AND SELLERS OF QUALITY RADIO SHOWS IN PRISTINE CONDITION AND OF EVERY GENRE.

PLEASE REMEMBER, IF YOU BUY ANY FIVE OR MORE SHOWS AT ONE TIME EBAY WILL DEDUCT 20% FROM YOUR TOTAL.  IT IS THE LEAST I CAN DO FOR FELLOW COLLECTORS WHO VALUE A GREAT DEAL AS MUCH AS I DO

AND IF YOU WANT TO SAVE EVEN MORE.....MUCH MORE, GO TO KEITH'S KOLLECTABLES HOME PAGE AND CLICK ON THE 'WEEKLY HALF AND REDUCED PRICE' TAB FOR GREAT BARGAINS, ALL IN GREAT CONDITION, AND PRICED TO HELP COLLECTORS GROW THEIR COLLECTION AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE.  ALL THE SHOWS IN THIS CATEGORY ARE THE SAME SHOWS THAT SELL REGULARLY FOR FULL PRICE BUT WE OFFER THEM TO YOU TO HELP YOU SAVE MONEY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES.

AND,  I HAVE ONLY ONE SHIPPING CHARGE FOR THE FIRST (OR HEAVIEST FOR INTERNATIONAL BUYERS) AND ALL OTHERS SHIP FOR NO EXTRA SHIPPING CHARGE.

SO HERE ARE SOME BIG QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS LP: 

 EXCTLY WHAT WERE THESE LPs THAT WERE BROADCAST SOLELY ON MILITARY RADIO STATIONS ALL OVER THE WORLD? 

 WHY COLLECT THEM? 

WHERE DO THEY COME FROM? 

Well, those are good questions, especially if you have never known of them.

  American Forces Radio and Television Service offerings (previously Armed Forces Radio and Television Service) are lps pressed by the military under license from record companies for use only on military facilities around the world.  

AND, thus, these lps are in extremely limited quantity. 

 They were pressed just for military stations on board ships such as aircraft carriers (that's where I first came across them), and military facilities all over the world and there just were never that many, of course, perhaps a hundred or less.

The military radio stations used the music in their programming much as state side radio stations did for their listeners and each of these albums had tracks used in the programming depending on the main orientation of the station.

Unlike today when we listen to stations that play the kind of music we want to hear, back then there would only be one station, or later on possibly an FM add on to the primary AM so there had to be a little something for every taste in music while the primary focus was either pop or country.

So, it would be rare that every track in an album would be played on a regular basis and often, many were never played.  That is one of the reasons why most of these records are in such great condition after all these years after their release.

They served an invaluable service to our fighting men and women who, when away from home, wanted to connect with the music they loved.

It was before the days of internet so these records were one of the only ways our military men and women could keep in touch with the music and programming from home, listening to their AFRTS station.

You would not believe how many collectors from across both ponds who were not in the military but listened religiously to Armed Forces programming and now treasure these shows and would pay far more than our prices for them.

They were played on military run radio stations on bases or ships, and lovingly cared for because they represented home for everyone who heard them.

 There were just a few in circulation. One lp for each military facility around the world.

 AND for that reason,  they are increasingly hard to find, especially since as military bases were closed and Navy ships decommissioned, remaining lp discs were lost or destroyed. 

This show was called America's Popular Music.  It came on one lp with two half hour shows on each lp. Each show was a tribute to the era of pop music and also contained an artist tribute on each show.

Each show was hosted by legendary dj Andy Mansfield.

On the other side is an extremely rare episode of The Ira Cook Show

Composer, actor and Hollywood disc jockey, educated at Stanford University. Ira Cook's  Los Angeles broadcasting career spanned 26 years, sixteen of which were at KMPC. He served in the US Army during World War II, and broadcast over the Armed Forces Radio Service from 1961. He joined ASCAP in 1958, and collaborated musically with Mort Greene and Ray Gilbert. His popular-song compositions include "Pony Tail", "Sunday Barbeque", and "Your Theme".

Even more than the music, being a disc jockey as about personality.  DJ shows are pretty easy to produce, which is why they became so popular after the networks began cutting back on their radio presence. The Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS, previously AFRS) was a lot more accepting of DJs than the commercial networks. The commercial networks thought it playing recorded music on the air was a sign of lesser quality programming, while AFRS and AFRTS outlets regularly played prerecorded programming, An AFRTS DJ show was a prerecorded show featuring prerecorded music. As long as it made the boys serving overseas happy, it was good programming.

One of the AFRTS most popular DJs was Ira Cook. Cook's personality comes shining through in every one of his recorded broadcasts; he is a white collared, narrow tie-wearing square, but he had an appreciation for popular music (but probably not so much for rock 'n' roll), a decent, if understated, sense of humor. It is also obvious that he had a great deal of affection for the servicemen who made up his audience at a time (during and immediately after the Vietnam War) when servicemen were not universally popular in the public eye.

Cook had worn his country's uniform and had some appreciation for the sacrifices men stationed overseas were making during the Cold War era. Born Ira Leigh Cook in Duluth, Minnesota, 1916, Cook would serve in WWIIand see action in Europe during the Battle of the Bulge. Ira attended Duluth Central High School where he had been part of the cross-country, golf, and tennis teams. After graduation, he attended Stanford University where he began studying medicine, graduating in 1938. About that time, his parents relocated to California. Rather than continue in his medical training, Ira landed a job as an announcer and record librarian at a Los Angeles radio station.

After the war,  Cook became an on-air personality for KMPC Los Angeles. He was given a morning show and gained some notoriety for playing Hawaiian music during his sets.  He co-wrote a few songs and appeared in a few movies, including The Stars Are Singing (1953), Geisha Boy (1958), and The Five Pennies (1959). He began recording his daily transcribed show for AFRTS in 1961, featuring recordings by Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, the Ray Conniff Singers, Johnny Mathis, the Tijuana Brass, Johnnie Ray, Sammy Davis Jr., and other popular acts.

Ira Cook passed away in California on May 15, 2007.

These shows were #935 and #1060 and featured the famous Gene Krupa

These lps become rarer and rarer every day because the people who buy them hold on to them.  The shows that you get now and hold on to will never decrease in value and only increase. 

 I have prided myself since the start to provide the best and fairest cost with a no holds barred guarantee that you will be happy or I refund your money.  I sell them for near what I bought them for.  I give volume discounts and discount postage always.  As the postal service increases their rates, my shipping rates over the years has decreased. 

 And, I have one of the biggest libraries in the world consisting of over fifteen thousand shows, so many that I don't even know all that I have and am sometimes amazed when I go to look for one show and find another that I did not realize I had.  

Finally, it is Americana at its best.

  Whether the show be from the 60's or 2000's, rock, countdown, oldies, country, classical, religious, jazz or big band, it is unique and home grown. 

 And you just can't find them anywhere.  Even record stores that still exist will rarely have any and many do not even know what they are .   

 And every  one you buy is  an original, not a copy, not a remake - all limited editions, perhaps one hundred or two hundred in total.    

SO WHY SHOULD YOU WANT ONE?

FIRST OF ALL THEY ARE RARE AND WILL INCREASE IN VALUE.

SECONDLY, IT IS A WAY TO HAVE A UNIQUE PRESENTATION BY YOUR FAVORITE ARTIST IN A LP FORM THAT IS NOW UNAVAILABLE AND HAS BEEN SINCE AROUND 1990.

AND ALSO, IF YOU ARE FORTUNATE ENOUGH, YOU CAN FIND WHOLE SHOWS THAT WERE RECORDED IN THE UNITED STATES SPECIFICALLY FOR PLAY OVERSEAS ON MILITARY FACILITIES.  THESE SHOWS WERE HOSTED BY THE BEST PERSONALITIES IN RADIO.

THE CONTENTS OF THE LP CAN BE SEEN ON THE LISTING PICTURE.

OWNING THIS RARE PRESENTATION IN THIS FORMAT WILL BE A VALUED ADDITION TO YOUR COLLECTION

These shows are true Americana 

I am pleased to offer these great  and rare lps to you.

 It is not only the music but a piece of Americana that most people do not even know about.  It is a piece of radio history you are getting with these shows.  You just aren't going to find these lps anymore.  Think of what they will be worth in a few years!  (IF you wanted to sell.)  I am selling to share with other music lovers what I was able to get at a reasonable price.         

 Remember that these lps are disappearing from the market because they are no longer available.  

The lp shows have not been made since around 1990, much earlier for some shows,  and they have the truest fidelity as you know if you are an audiophile.  The CD shows are now also unavailable as shows are now only in digital downloads.  So, the days of unique shows not copied from the soundboard of a station and sold as such are gone.  This is all there is and will be. 

 It is said that collecting and selling radio shows is a vanishing hobby as the shows quickly disappear.  Well, I still sell Betamax machines and they sell quickly whenever I list them so that is not true, but it is true that they will become rarer and harder to find so grab them now while the prices are still reasonable.      

As always, I charge only shipping on the first show you buy for U.S. buyers and  for my international friends pay shipping for the heaviest show and all others ship for no extra charge except for multi lp sets which add only $10 a show to the shipping cost, still a huge savings,  so the more you buy the more money you will save. 

Good Luck and God Bless You.