Mail Call

The Joe Hehn Memorial Collection

Mail Call was a production of the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) created to raise the spirits of World War 2 service personnel and their families stationed around the world. Originally created to keep them informed of events back home with some lighter news and audio clips of movies and such, the program was revised to be similar to the highly regarded Command Performance . The program had music, comedic bits, and other entertainment, from Hollywood’s biggest stars who worked gratis . Some of the Hollywood stars who were in the service at the time would appear on the program. These AFRS programs were broadcast over the AFRS stations (even many Navy ships had their own stations) and were never heard back in the USA. These unique programs did have audiences where US personnel were stationed, however. Many Brits and others within the signal of the BBC network heard these programs through the BBC in cooperation with AFRS, spreading American entertainment around the globe. * * * These recordings are part of the Joe Hehn Memorial Collection. Mr. Hehn (1931-2020) was a pioneering collector of radio recordings when the hobby emerged in the 1960s. Digitizing his collection of reel tapes and discs is the effort of a wide range of North American volunteers, and includes assistance of some international collectors. The groups supporting this effort with their funds, time, technology and skills are the Old Time Radio Researchers and a small group of transcription disc preservationists who refer to themselves as the "The Knights of the Turning Table."

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.

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