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“Good morning, Kalimera, Souda Bay! I am MC2 Mario Soto a.k.a. Mr. Nice Guy and you’re listening to the AFN morning show on 107.3 AFN The Eagle.”
At 6 a.m. on this day a radio tower on Crete’s Akrotiri peninsula broadcasts this friendly greeting over the airways and across the internet to those who are tuning in. American Forces Network Souda Bay broadcasts two daily radio programs, a
morning show from 6 to 9 a.m. hosted by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Mario Soto, known as DJ Mr. Nice Guy, and an evening show from 3 to 6 p.m., hosted by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Bounome Chanphouang, known as DJ J.P.
Soto and Chanphouang both said that in preparation for their radio show they search for relatable news on the specific topic of the day, which ranges from motivation, travel, mental health, technology, fitness, pop culture and movies.
“I’ll just go online and research stuff that relates to those themes and then also tie it to some command related events,” said Soto. “So if there’s volleyball coming up soon I’ll maybe try to find some volleyball-related fitness information. Or if there’s traveling events being done by MWR I’ll tie it in with my travel segment as well.”
Soto, who has hosted the morning show since 2017, said knowing what Sailors are interested in doing influences what he talks about on his show because it ensures he includes information they want to hear.
“Trying to figure out how to budget, how to navigate through life in the military, relationships – it’s stuff that everybody goes through so I listen to what people are talking about,” said Soto. “Whether I'm at the Liberty Center or with my own friends from this command, I relay what we talk about to what I’ll be talking about on my radio show.”
Chanphouang said some topics, such as the meaning behind traditional Navy tattoos, will lead him to a subtopic that he knows will help Sailors be informed.
“I could talk about traditional tattoos but next time I’m going to talk about (tattoo) safety,” said Chanphouang. “I’m going to talk about things that people naturally talk about and do here so that nobody gets in trouble.”
Mass Communications Specialist Seaman Timothy Ruple, recently reporting to AFN Souda Bay from “A” school at the Defense Information School, Fort Meade, Md., said he will be taking over the afternoon show once he has some experience on the air with the other DJs.
“I’m JP’s sponge right now, just trying to learn everything he’s got to put out,” said Ruple.
Ruple said he is excited to be starting out in broadcasting, but he was surprised when he got
the assignment because broadcasting is not taught during the 6-month Mass Communications Specialist course, which focuses on journalism, photography, videography and graphic design.
“I had some volunteer hours in as a section leader which I think really helped me out in getting what I wanted,” said Ruple. “My first place was Greece that I wanted to go and my first platform was (Defense Media Activity), and I got DMA Souda Bay.” The Defense Media Activity is the Department of Defense media organization that oversees AFN, which broadcasts command information to U.S. Armed Forces serving overseas.
Chief Mass Communications Specialist Benjamin Farone, AFN Souda Bay station manager, said the station is an AFN affiliate with the express purpose of communicating any force protection or command information from the commanding officer specifically to the local NSA Souda Bay audience – the active duty military members, the DoD civilians, the family members and the host nation partners.
“Our mission here is to distribute localized information that is relevant to the community,” said
Farone, noting that a broadcast feed from Naples, Italy, or another base in Europe would just not have the same feel because their command information comes from NSA Souda Bay’s commanding officer, not another command within AFN or AFN Europe.
The radio program allows command leadership and subject matter experts to speak on the air about topics specific to Souda Bay, such as safe driving in Crete and upcoming installation events. This supports the command in maintaining readiness and morale by giving their messages the widest possible reach, according to AFN Europe's mission statement.
Chanphouang said the AFN Souda Bay DJs would love for more people to be guests on their radio programs to talk not just about their jobs, but any life experience that might help someone during their time in Greece. Topics could range from lessons learned from getting tattoos to an experience dealing with suicide.
“People don’t realize we would love for everybody to come do interviews, but I think people are really shy,” said Chanphouang. “But there’s nothing to be shy about because we can pre-record you.”
Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class Michael Wright, operations manager and leading petty officer, said the MCs want to highlight junior service members by explaining what they do and why their jobs are important, but they need participation from the base to be able to do their jobs.
“It would be great if we could get everybody from the base in here and not be afraid to get on the radio,” said Wright. “It’s just that little bit of information, that little bit of spark (of) interest, that may be able to give someone else that information that they didn’t have and to be able to help somebody else.”
In addition to radio programs, the MCs also produce other material to communicate their messages. They create daily newscasts that are played at every bottom of the hour, or 30 minutes past the beginning of the hour, and “blue pages”, which are advertisements of upcoming events on the installation that are broadcasted on AFN Europe television channels.
Broadcasting the radio programs over-the-air and over-the-internet requires several pieces of electronic equipment in server rooms around the world. It also requires a technician to maintain it and troubleshoot problems as they arise.
Interior Communications Specialist 2nd Class Elvira Salinas said her job is to maintain the server room equipment and make sure the signals are getting where they need to go. This sometimes requires going out to the radio tower to troubleshoot if the signal is having problems.
When a DJ speaks into the microphone in the AFN Souda Bay studio the output is sent from AFN’s server room over the internet to a broadcast center in Riverside, Ca., where it is monitored and sent back, creating a few second delay. A satellite link connects the AFN Souda Bay server room to a nearby radio tower that broadcasts the feed over the 107.3 FM radio frequency. The same radio feed is simultaneously sent to AFN Europe in Sembach, Germany, where it is converted for the AFN 360 Internet Radio stream. The radio tower’s signal can be heard across much of the western part of Crete, but anyone can listen to the broadcast by streaming online with a web browser or the AFN Europe mobile app.
“We appreciate everybody tuning in and listening,” said Farone. “If folks don’t know, we are 107.3 on the radio dial, but I think that leans more towards the older folks like myself. AFN Europe – you can download the free app to AFN Souda Bay plus any of the other AFN channels that are available from your phone … it’s free and you can listen to the same broadcast that we’re pumping out of our station here every single day.”
If you are interested in getting your message on AFN Souda Bay, visit the team upstairs in building 2 or give them a call at extension 1427.
| Date Taken: | 03.02.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 07.08.2020 06:26 |
| Story ID: | 373516 |
| Location: | GR |
| Web Views: | 99 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, A Day in the Life of American Forces Network Souda Bay, by Joel Diller, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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