The White Falcon - 29.11.1991, Side 5

size of equipment has changed tremendously.”
ICFN Keith Dinapoli, who has been sta-
tioned at NBS for more than a year admits that,
“I leant something new everyday - either how
to fix something or how to work on something
It’s a real challenge here and I like it.”
^^Bjnsson estimated that the Icelandic techni-
here have seen more than 600 Air Force
ana Navy broadcasters and technicians come
and go at the detachment. “We offer them our
experience and cultural familiarization. We
don’t try to change them, we try to inform
them, kind of like what their mission here is to
others.”
For military broadcasters NBS Detachment,
Keflavik offers all the aspects of the job for
which they are trained. Many military person-
nel have used their experience here as a step-
ping stone to better civilian jobs, others have
continued their military careers and still others
have come back to NBS Det. Keflavik for
another tour of duty because of the continued
job challenge and uniqueness of duty in Ice-
land.
Bob Kingsley, the announcer of “American
Country Countdown” (which can be heard
every Sunday from 1-5 p.m. on NBS radio
AM 1485) started his broadcasting career in
1957-8 while stationed here with the Air Force.
“I can still see the quonset hut in my mind’s
eye. I owe the Air Force, AFRS and Keflavik,
Iceland, everything. I was not quite 18 when I
joined the service and like so many others I was
looking for a way to find something to do with
life. The military experience meant
^^^Hyling to me. I first worked in the motor
and one day as I was sitting in the mess
^Tall I heard that an announcer was needed at the
radio sation. Ijumped in thejeep and rushed to
the station. How I got the job I’ll never know
- but it decidedly changed my life. It didn’t
take long for me to decide that broadcasting
was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
I was put on the over-night shift and was told
to shut my mouth and just play the records. It’s
been a good, wonderful career.”
CW04 Thomas E. Jones, Officer in Charge,
NBS Det., Keflavik, was stationed here from
July 1980 - 82 as the station manager. He also
is a recipient of the Thomas Lewis award for
broadcast excellence. “It’s fun to be back and
to be in charge,” he said. “We have advanced
in technology and in training. The difference
between then and now is that we have the
capability to provide more. Because of tech-
nical changes we have made things more
immediate as we were among the first stations
to receive satellite. This event truly brought
news and events to our audience in Iceland im-
mediately and they no longer had to wait a
week before specials and sport events to be
mailed here before airing. While we can never
have all of the same programming as in the
U.S. we will try to make it like home.” He
added, “we could not have expanded our pro-
^^fcunming without the superb support from the
leadership.”
though the programming has increased,
by way of the number of channel selections on
the cable system, NBS does not have any
control of the European satellite programming
which is shown on the base cable system. They
are only responsible for the operation the
AFRTS radio and television channels, which
are radio AM 1485, and television channels 4,
5 and 6. Materials incorporated by NBS, as at
all U. S. military broadcast stations, are pro-
vided by AFRTS Los Angeles. The local sched-
ules for both radio and television are patterned
after stateside programming and surveys.
“We are here to serve
those who serve”
PHl(AW) Frank Pratt
News Director
Others who have previously served the
community and continue to service in the Navy
are: JOCS Paul Waldrop, a former anchor on
“Navy News This Week” who now can be
heard on Armed Forces Digest, served in Ice-
land from July 1977-79. “When I think of my
time with Det. 8, as it was called then, it was the
best job in the Navy as a broadcast journalist.
I worked as the radio program director, had the
‘live’ morning radio show and produced the
television weather. I gained a wealth of expe-
rience by working with a little bit of all of the
overall operation. It was the days before satel-
lite radio and television feeds, we were ‘it’ for
the latest news.
“Keflavik has always been a great operation
and has only gotten better over the years.
Comparing what we did to that of today’s
operation would be like driving a horse and
buggy compared to driving a Porsche.”
J02QuinnLyton, currently assigned toNavy
Broadcasting Service headquarters, is an an-
chor on “Navy News This Week” and served in
Iceland in 1984-85. He also enjoyed his time
in Keflavik, “It was a small base with a good
sense of community spirit. It was the people
who made it the best place to be. I made many
friends who I still see and talk to. We had a
good staff, good equipment and a good sys-
tem. We were given support by our broadcast
headquarters to have an educational environ-
ment, while meeting the needs of the commu-
nity and our community responded well to
what we did.”
Mr. Dick Hiner, Director, Navy Broadcast-
ing Service, has been associated with AFRTS
since 1965, serving as an officer in the U. S. Air
Force at AFRTS outlets in Thailand and Japan,
said, “The amazing thing about this organiza-
tion has been and will continue to be it’s
people. The job gets in your blood. You like
going to work with what becomes your family.
There is nothing more gratifying than when a
sailor or airman stops you in the commissary
and says ‘hey thanks, I really liked that TV
show or the music you played for the shop on
radio.’ It really makes you feel good about
going to work and providing a needed service
to the people you serve.”
About NBS Det., Keflavik, Hiner stated,
“The quality and quantity of programming and
news and information is of extremely high
quality. Siggi is one of the icons of the AFRTS
system - in that he is such a great human being
and because he is probably the longest tenured
civilian engineer in the business. He and
Teitur have been great international ambassa-
dors and the continuity factor they have pro-
vided over the years have made NBS Det.,
Keflavik not only the showcase within NBS
but within the entire world-wide operation of
AFRTS.”
He added, “As far as CW04 Tom Jones
goes, he hates being behind a desk at headquar-
ters, but put him in the field with the people,
equipment and an audience to serve, ‘he is the
best. ’ He pushes the system to provide the best
possible service to the audience, he is creative.
The work that all the people in Keflavik have
done is fantastic and hold up the tradition of
outstanding people and service.”
SigurdurJdnsson (left) and Teitur Albertsson have worked togetherfor more than 30 years fine-tuning
equipment and training military technicians the art of broadcasting. (File photo)
November 29,1991
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