Posted on 08/05/2005 2:38:16 PM PDT by Libloather
Famous DJ Cronauer now works to bring POWs home
By EARL WATT
Southwest Daily Times
In 1979, Adrian Cronauer had an idea.
"MASH" was the No. 1 television sitcom, and "WKRP" was extremely popular as well. Cronauer, an Armed Forces disc jockey during the Vietnam conflict, thought that combining the MASH and WKRP formats, and centering them around Vietnam, would be entertaining.
"The problem was, in 1979, no one thought you could do a comedy about Vietnam," Cronauer said while visiting Liberal for the USO show, Command Performance," at the Mid-America Air Museum slated to begin at 7 tonight.
His idea was eventually passed on to Robin Williams who changed the concept into a movie, and "Good Morning, Vietnam" was born.
"They went through five different versions," Cronauer said. "Each time, I'd make some suggestions. Some they accepted, some they ignored. When it was over and I was sitting in the screening room, I said, 'Son of a gun, they actually made a movie out of that.'"
Although Cronauer said that he was never as entertaining as Williams (otherwise Cronauer would be the one in Hollywood saying things like "na-noo, na-noo" and making a million dollars he quipped), he did say there was some truth to the attempt at bringing stateside radio to the Asian delta that was entangled in the first unconventional war in modern history.
"We were there for the morale of the troops," Cronauer said. "If you spoke English in Vietnam, we were it as far as radio goes. So we did block programming instead of a station with only one kind of music. We had a Top 40 program, a country program, soul program, things like that."
He had worked in commercial broadcasting prior to his military experience, and one of the big differences was the absence of commercials.
So Cronauer made some up.
"We did have public service announcements," he said. "Things like, 'Don't forget your malaria pills,' or 'Mail your Christmas packages by Oct. 1.'
"The movie begins with a boring announcement, and that's how they really were. So I said, 'Let's script them out, put in sound effects, and make them sound like real commercials.'"
When he visited the troops out in the field, they responded positively to the change because they felt it was more like radio back home.
Although some of Cronauer's experiences were depicted accurately in the film, others were pure Hollywood.
"In the film, it shows them forcing us to play Lawrence Welk," he said. "That never happened. There was no music censorship, within the context of your programming. You could pull whatever record you wanted."
Cronauer added that there were not two censors (he referred to them as Frick and Frack) limiting news broadcasts, either.
"There were only two news items we couldn't broadcast," he said. "Anything to do with Vietnam, and anything to do with the military."
The popularity Cronauer received from the movie allowed him to become the special assistant to the director of the Prisoners of War/Missing in Action office.
"We are responsible for policy oversight in trying to account for missing Americans from any of our wars," Cronauer said. "And the total missing is about 88,000. Of those 78,000 are missing from World War II, 8,100 from the Korean War, 1,800 from Vietnam, 120 from the Cold War, and one each from the first and second Gulf wars."
Most of the work requires forensic-style evidence gathering with a staff of about 500 around the world. From detectives to archaeologists, the special detail scours the earth to keep a promise.
"When I went through basic training," Cronauer explained, "One of the teachers said, 'You are now a member of the United States Air Force, and the military takes care of its own. If you ever become isolated behind enemy lines, we will do everything we can to get to you before the enemy gets to you. And if you perish in enemy hands, we will never cease to return your remains.' That's a promise."
One of the new techniques in identifying missing Americans is DNA matching, and although not a perfect science, it has aided in the identification process. Matching DNA to an existing strand from a maternal relative has been the most effective.
"If any women in the area are missing someone, we would be happy to collect a check swab to have the DNA necessary to make a match," Cronauer said.
Today, the military collects DNA samples from its soldiers, and the five-story refrigeration unit is reaching 5 million specimens.
In a way, Cronauer has continued to do for the military what he did as a disc jockey in Vietnam -- provide support for the troops. And although the movie that portrayed his role with a flair that only Robin Williams could add, he appreciated the way the movie brought honor to the troops who had received such a negative welcome home.
"I take a lot of pride in the fact that vets say it showed Americans in Vietnam the way it really was as opposed to baby killers and dope addicts," Cronauer said. "I never quite realized how much Armed Forces Radio really meant. It's happened about a dozen times that a man will shake my hand and say, 'Thank you for helping me get through 'Nam.'"
"There were only two news items we couldn't broadcast," he said. "Anything to do with Vietnam, and anything to do with the military."
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Well, that certainly would take care of any censorship complaints...
What is the radio situation for the boys in baghdad, anyone?
Ping
Sounds like a question for Allegra! I'd be interested in what the radio situation is there, too!
Nice story. I know he reads for recorded books, too - I've seen his name on the credits.
Adrian could be my twin - scary.
mc
I listened to AFVN in 1968, but I believe I missed this guy.
he's a great guy,, met him at a dinner in Charleston to help Ollie North pay his legal bills in the late 80's and Adrian is a great guy,, he talked to me for an hour as we sipped on a couple cocktails at the back of the room,, class act!
Bump/ping.
Thanks for the inside info on Adrian.
I tried to help Ollie out with some of his debt too.
Showed the wife the picture and see said WHOA...that's you in twenty years. Bless her heart.
mc
She played a campy dumb blonde character that explained
everything. Sort of a Mother Goose for the military. Pretty
trite but still cute in a way!
Thanks for the ping!
Well Dang, what's stopping them from setting up a station right in the Green Zone? Considering the monstrous all-round logistical effort there is no substitute for having a station in-country.
My boss told me the feller that replaced Mr Cronauer in Vietnam was none other than Pat Sajak - can anyone confirm?
I'm sorry I wasn't specific enough in that, they do have stuff in the bigger towns/bases.
The guys out working the gravel in the boonies are the ones doing without.
They (all branchs) do bust A to get them 'dish' TV even at the smallest post, so overall, good on 'em.
There are four American stations in Baghdad. One is the Armed Forces Network, one is Freedom Radio and I can't think of what the other two are called.
They play American music and pretty much do all the things stations back home do. They do joke traffic reports (very tongue in cheek), they do safety statements and of course, we do get Rush Limbaugh in the evenings for an hour and we get live sporting events. They'll sometimes replay the big sporting events at a later time too so that we get it during our daytime.
They give the news, too and they don't seem to hold back.
P.S. There are "girls" in Baghdad, too.
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