On January 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy became the first
U.S. president to hold a live televised news conference.

From a podium in the State Department auditorium, Kennedy read
a prepared statement regarding the famine in the Congo, the
release of two American aviators from Russian custody and
impending negotiations for an atomic test ban treaty.

He then opened the floor for questions from reporters, answering
queries on a variety of topics including relations with Cuba,
voting rights and food aid to impoverished Americans.

The American Forces Network can trace its origins to 26 May 1942,
when the War Department established the Armed Forces Radio
Service (AFRS). A television service was first introduced in 1954
with a pilot station at Limestone Air Force Base, Maine. In 1954,
the television mission of AFRS was officially recognized and
AFRS (Armed Forces Radio Service) became AFRTS (Armed
Forces Radio and Television Service).        

AFN-Japan’s radio services today consist of AM and FM stereo operations at Yokota Air Base (810 AM & cable FM), MCAS
Iwakuni (1575 AM), FLTACTS Sasebo (1575 AM), Okinawa
(648 AM & 89.1 FM) and Misawa Air Base (1575 AM).      

AFN-Okinawa ceased over-the-air analog TV operations along
with all other Japanese TV stations on July 24, 2011.      

All music was recorded on LP discs.

1960

AFRTS Okinawa Record library (1950s)

AFRTS Okinawa TV Master Control booth in 1964.

Pat Sajak, the host of TVs Wheel of Fortune
served in the U.S. Army as a disc jockey
during the Vietnam War for American
Forces Vietnam Network. He hosted the
same Dawn Buster radio show that Adrian
Cronauer had, and for 14 months, followed
Cronauer’s tradition of signing on with
"Good Morning Vietnam!"

On October 5, 1947, President Harry S Truman (1884-1972)
made the first-ever televised presidential address from the
White House, asking Americans to cut back on their use of
grain in order to help starving Europeans.

At the time of Truman’s food-conservation speech, Europe
was still recovering from World War II and suffering from
famine.

On September 26, 1960, for the first time in U.S. history, a
debate between major party presidential candidates was
broadcast on live television. The presidential hopefuls,
John F. Kennedy, a Democratic senator of Massachusetts,
and Richard M. Nixon, the vice president of the United States,
met in a Chicago studio to discuss U.S. domestic matters.

Kennedy emerged the apparent winner from this first of
four televised debates.

John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon

A 5 year-old “Mikey” was portrayed by John Gilchrist along
with his two real-life brothers, Tom and Mike in 1971.

The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American
food conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. As Quaker Mill
Company, the company was founded in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio.

In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and launched a
national advertising campaign for Quaker Oats.

In 1983, Quaker acquired Stokely-Van Camp, Inc., the maker
of Van Camp’s and Gatorade. In 2001, PepsiCo bought Quaker
Oats for $14 billion, primarily to acquire the Gatorade brand.

Henry Parsons Crowell (1855–1944)