AFRS Japan

When Japan formally surrendered in 1945, several mobile units of the AFRS were reportedly already on Kyushu. These were the same mobile units that had previously broadcast throughout the island hopping campaign from as far south as the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, had then served in the Philippines, and were now on mainland Japan.

Within a day or two of the surrender, Radio Tokyo’s undamaged studios were broadcasting WVTR programs over the former JOAK transmitter, and other WVT callsigns could be heard around Japan over the next few weeks as AFRS stations took over major NHK studio and transmitter facilities.

Callsigns were largely regularized to the WLK series by 1946, the same year in which the ‘Far Eastern Network’ ID was first heard. By 1950, WVTR and the other individual station callsigns were gone, replaced by Far East Network, or FEN.

In the 1950’s, FEN stations came, went, and sometimes came again, as US forces contracted, expanded during the Korean War, then contracted again.

We’ve carefully researched AFRS stations in Japan from various sources, including FEN materials, but we’re still not completely certain we’ve got them all in our listing!

If you or your relatives have ever been involved with any of them, or you have memorabilia, photos, images, recordings or any other items relating to them, please contact us and help us tell the stories of these long forgotten stations that graced the airwaves some 50 – 60 years ago.

AFRS stations soon became popular with Japanese civilians as well, and FEN continues to broadcast today from various locations as AFN.

Ref	Location	Call Sign	On Air	Frequency [AM]
1	Ashiya	FEN Kyushu	1958-61	1570
2	Beppu	WLKI	1946-57	–
3	Beppu	FEN Kyushu	1949-56	1570
4	Camp Schimmelpfennig	FEN Sendai	1953-58	–
5	Chitose	FEN Sapporo	1953-58	1570
6	Chitose	FEN Chitose	1958	1570
7	Fukuoka	WLKI	1946-49	1360
8	Fukuoka	FEN Kyushu	1949	1380
9	Hachinohe	WVTH	1945-46	1200
10	Hachinohe	FEN Hachinohe	1950-56	–
11	Hachinohe	FEN Hachinohe	1956-56	–
12	Hiroshima	WLKH	1945	1440
13	Itazuke	FEN Kyushu	1953	1550
14	Iwakuni	FEN Iwakuni	1952	1590
15	Iwo Jima	WVTX	1945-48	620/1500
16	Iwo Jima	FEN Iwo Jima	1949-53	–
17	Iwo Jima	FEN Iwo Jima	1953-62	–
18	Kanoya	WLKA	1945-47	1490
19	Kokura	WLKH	1946-47	1520
20	Kokura	AKAX	1947-48	–
21	Kokura	AKAS	1948-49	–
22	Kokura	FEN Kyushu	1949-53	–
23	Kokura	FEN Itazuke	1953-57	–
24	Koshien-Kobe	FEN Osaka-Nagoya	1953-57	1530
25	Kumamoto	WLKF	1945-47	1400
26	Kumamoto	FEN Kyushu	1950-56	–
27	Kure	WLKH	1946	1500
28	Kure	WVTV	1946	1470
29	Kure	WLKH	1945	1440
30	Kure	WLKI	1945	930
31	Kure	WLKS	1946	1470
32	Kure	WLKS	1946	6085
33	Kure	WLKS	1946	6105
34	Kure	WVTW	1946	–
35	Kure	WLKT	1946	–
36	Kure	WVTX	1946	–
37	Kure	WLKU	1946	–
38	Kure	WVTY	1946	–
39	Kure	WLKV	1946	–
40	Kure	WVTZ	1946	–
41	Kure	WLKW	1946	–
42	Kyushu [Northern]	WVTR	1945	1420
43	Kyushu [Northern]	WVTO	1945	–
44	Kyushu [Northern]	WVTH	1945	1480
45	Kyushu [Northern]	WVTP	1945	1480
46	Kyushu [Northern]	WVTQ	1945	1450
47	Matsuyama	–	1945-46	750
48	Miho	FEN Hachinohe	1952-58	–
49	Misawa	FEN Misawa	1953-58	1510
50	Nagoya	WVTC	1946-46	1340
51	Nagoya	WVTQ	1946-49	1340
52	Nagoya	FEN Osaka	1949-53	1270
53	Nagoya	FEN Osaka-Nagoya	1953	1270
54	Nara	FEN Osaka-Nagoya	1953-58	–
55	Niigata	WLKB	1945-46	1430
56	Niigata	FEN Niigata	1954-56	–
57	Niigata	FEN Tokyo	1956-58	–
58	Okayama	WLKH	1946-46	1480/1520
59	Okinawa	WXLH	1945-46	680/810/1060
60	Okinawa	WKLH	1946-49	1000
61	Okinawa	FEN Okinawa	1949	–
62	Omura	WVTO	1945	1450
63	Osaka	WVTQ	1945-49	1310
64	Osaka	FEN Osaka	1949	1390
65	Otsu	FEN Osaka-Nagoya	1953-57	1540
66	Saga	WLKH	1946	–
67	Saga	FEN Kyushu	1949-50	–
68	Sapporo	WLKD	1945-46	1420
69	Sapporo	WLKJ	1946-49	1320
70	Sapporo	WLKJ	1946	1500
71	Sapporo	FEN Sapporo	1949-58	–
72	Sasebo	WVTO	1945-46	–
73	Sasebo	WLKH	1946	–
74	Sasebo	FEN Kyushu	1950	1540
75	Sendai	WLKE	1945-49	1370
76	Sendai	FEN Sendai	1949	1450
77	Tokyo	WVTR	1945	590
78	Tokyo	–	1945	990
79	Tokyo	WVTR	1945	3015
80	Tokyo	WVTR	1945	6075
81	Tokyo	WVTR	1945	7550
82	Tokyo	WVTR	1945	9605
83	Tokyo	WVTR	1945	15100
84	Tokyo	FEN Tokyo	1949	590/810
85	Tsuruga	WVTQ	1945	1180
86	Wakkanai	FEN Wakkanai	1958	–
87	Yamaguchi	JKL	–	4860
88	Yamaguchi	JKL2	–	9605

‘This is Armed Forces Radio broadcasting from downtown Tokyo’

According to the September 15 1945 issue of the ‘Far Eastern Network News’, ‘Captain Melville Bartell, O/C, WVTR was the first American to speak officially over Radio Tokyo since Pearl Harbor’.

Stephen writes ‘I often think about the impact that my father’s statement must have had to all the troops stationed across the Pacific Theater, especially after listening to Tokyo Rose’s poison for all those years. It must stand as one of the most exceptional moments in broadcast history.’

We’re grateful to Stephen for sharing this special information with us, and with much gratitude to him and in memory of Captain Melville Bartell, we will feature more original WVTR Tokyo broadcasting heritage as part of our AFRS Armed Forces Radio Memories Collection.

Read these AFRS Japan stories already online:

WVTR Tokyo Xmas 1945

WVTR Memories

WVTR’s Sea Monster