Radio at War

At our Oct. 18 meeting, the club heard from two voices of Richmond radio speak about "radio at war" and their experiences broadcasting overseas during times of conflict.
WRVA's Paul Bottoms and 107.3-FM's Tony Booth, who both broadcast for the Armed Forces Radio Network during their time in the military, talked about the censorship they encountered during their broadcasts and also the "pirate radio" station that would pop up on frequencies supposedly reserved for emergency communications.

For example, they could never say they "napalm", but could refer to it as an "incendiary device."  Bottoms said they couldn't mention the invasions of Laos and Cambodia or drug use among troops and had to refer to South Vietnam as the Republic of Vietnam.   Some of Paul Harvey's broadcasts would have to be edited before going out over the air.  The two also said their edited reports added to confusion for soldiers as they would also receive newspapers from home telling different sides of the story.
They also mentioned some of the songs that they would either have to edit before play or not allowed to be played at all such as Bob Dylan's "Lady Lady Lady" and Peter, Paul and Mary's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone."
The censorship and the inability to play music that pleased everyone caused pirate radio stations to pop up throughout the time, they said.
Booth and Bottoms also played public service announcements that played during the time in place of commercials that reminded troops to not use drugs and other helpful reminders.