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A Historical Timeline of AFN Europe |
| 1943 |
July 4 - The American Forces Network Europe (AFN-E) provides its first broadcast to U.S. troops from BBC Studios in London. The broadcast includes five hours of recorded shows and BBC News and sportscasts. The signal is sent via telephone lines to five regional transmitters to the troops in the United Kingdom.
October 25 - 5th Army Mobile Expeditionary Radio Service began broadcasting in Naples, Italy. |
| 1944 |
November – AFN administrative Headquarters remains in London but operations move to newly liberated Paris. As Allied forces continue to push German Soldiers back into Germany, AFN moves east as well. Following the liberation of Belgium, Luxembourg, France and the Netherlands, more than 60 AFN stations spring up along the Allied front. |
| 1945 |
June 10- AFN Munich signs on the air. AFN Bremen and AFN Berlin sign on the air later that year.
August - 5,000 troops in Austria served by the Blue Danube Network (BDN) from a mobile radio station on the back of two, two-and-a-half ton trucks.
August 15 – AFN Frankfurt signs on the air from a mobile radio studio on the back of a truck parked outside General Dwight Eisenhower's Frankfurt Headquarters.
December 31- AFN London signs off the air. |
| 1946 |
AFN Europe Network Headquarters was in the Hoechst Castle on the Main River near Frankfurt. |
| 1948 |
March 17- AFN Stuttgart signs on the air. AFN closes all stations in France. |
| 1949 |
AFN Bremen moves north and becomes AFN Bremerhaven. During the late 40s, AFN reporters cover world events such as the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials, the Soviet Blockade of Berlin and the Berlin Airlift. |
| 1950 |
July - AFN Nuremburg signs on the air at the Grand Hotel in Downtown Nuremberg. |
| 1953 |
December 14 – AFN Kaiserslautern provides radio service from a mobile van to serve those West of the Rhein. |
| 1954 |
October 21 - AFN Kaiserslautern signs on the air at Vogelweh, Air Base. |
| 1955 |
October – U.S. Forces relocate from Austria to Italy and the Blue Danube Network also moves south of the Alps and changes its name to the Southern European Network (SEN). |
| 1956 |
Southern European Network Headquarters moves from Livorno to Verona. |
| 1958 |
May 23 - AFN returns to France with a station in Orleans |
| 1959 |
July 15 – After being one of the 11 original transmitter sites in Europe, AFN Heidelberg becomes its own station and signs on the air. |
| 1962 |
March 20 – AFN Berlin becomes the first station to provide 24 hour operations. |
| 1966 |
AFN Europe Network Headquarters moves from the castle to downtown Frankfurt in a building provided by German Hessen state radio, Hessischer Rundfunk. |
| 1967 |
AFN Orleans shuts down as France withdraws from NATO and asks U.S. troops to leave. The station moves to Belgium and sets up at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) as AFN SHAPE.
Southern European Network Headquarters moves from Verona, to Vicenza, Italy. |
| 1970s |
Air Force Television at Ramstein provides TV to the troops in Central Europe until the early 70's when AFN Europe assumes the mission. |
| 1974 |
February 5 - AFN SHAPE becomes a full service station. |
| 1976 |
October 28 – AFN broadcasts the first color television signal from the Frankfurt studio.
Southern European Network changes its name to Southern European Broadcasting (SEB) when Italy approves the request to broadcast a television services.
AFN Soesterberg, the Netherlands signs on the air. |
| 1980 |
May 01 - AFN Wuerzburg signs on the air. |
| 1989 |
November 11 – AFN Europe reports live on the collapse of the Berlin Wall. |
| 1990 |
April 26 - AFN Nuremberg moves from the Bavarian American Hotel to William O'Darby Kaserne in Fuerth, Germany and offers local TV command information to its audience. |
| 1991 |
January – AFN Europe sends troops to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in support of Operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield.
February 14 - AFN Munich signs off the air.
Following the Gulf War as the U.S. military begins its drawdown in Europe, a leading German politician says, "The U.S. Military can leave Europe, but AFN must stay.” |
| 1993 |
March 31 - AFN Bremerhaven signs off the air.
April 16 – AFN Heidelberg signs on the air after moving from Stuttgart.
May 1-2 AFN Berlin broadcasts live from a former Eastern Bloc nation with a radio remote from the city square of Neu Brandenburg.
October - Southern European Broadcasting (SEB) becomes AFN South. (AFNS)
June 20 - AFN Somalia signs on the air. |
| 1994 |
March 8 – AFN Somalia signs off the air.
July 15 - AFN Berlin signs off the air.
August 15 – AFN Soesterberg signs off the air. |
| 1995 |
September 4 – The station formerly known as AFN Nuremberg signs signs on the air with a 24-hour radio marathon party from its new location on Rose Barracks, Vilseck.
December – AFN mobile radio station deploys to support troops serving in the Balkans on a NATO peacekeeping mission. |
| 2001 |
August 7 – AFRTS BC launches two new TV Channels; AFN News and AFN Sports.
September 11 – AFN provides round the clock TV and Radio coverage of the terrorist attacks and round-the-clock coverage of closures, delays and European-theater force protection messages. |
| 2003 |
AFN Europe starts to send military journalists and engineers to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
May 28 - AFN Frankfurt changes its name from to AFN Hessen. |
| 2004 |
AFN-BC begins satellite feed of the Pentagon Channel worldwide.
September 03 - AFRTS-BC launches two new TV channels, AFN Family and AFN Movie, and expands AFN Spectrum from an 8-hour to a 24-hour schedule.
May 24 – AFN Hessen begins broadcasting from the studios at Wiesbaden Army Air Field.
October 29 - AFN Europe Network Headquarters broadcasts its first live radio broadcast from the network's new Headquarters building on Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, Germany. |
| 2006 |
February 27 - AFN BC launches a new TV channel; AFN|xtra, a unique channel targeted at 18-24 year olds
March – AFN Europe debuts AFN The Eagle, a researched, pre-approved family-friendly mix of adult contemporary and oldies music. Commissaries and other public places start playing AFN radio again.
AFN Europe's Eagle Radio goes on the air in the former Warsaw Pact nation of Bulgaria.
December 1 – AFN SHAPE becomes AFN Benelux at the request of the garrison commander, who wants the station name to be more inclusive (the station broadcasts to Chievres Air Base, as well as locations in the Netherlands and Germany, not just SHAPE Headquarters). |
| 2007 |
AFN Wuerzburg changes its name to AFN Franconia at the request of local commanders who want the station's name to be more inclusive of communities served (the station serves Wuerzburg, Schweinfurt, Bamberg and Ansbach). |
| 2008 |
AFN Europe changes its AFN Eagle radio service positioning statement from "Music Worth Fighting For" to "Serving America's Best." |
| 2008 |
February 1 - The last DJ show from AFN Franconia. The station formerly known as AFN Wuerzburg closes. AFN Bavaria picks up the mission for providing command information and entertainment in the region. |
| 2009 |
November 7 - AFN Europe simulcasts live the 2009 DoDDS Super Six Football Championships over TV and the Internet. The streaming Internet broadcast was viewed over 3400 times in 10 different countries. |
| 2010 |
February 27 - AFN Europe simulcasts live the 2010 DoDDS European High School Basketball Championships over TV and the Internet. The streaming Internet broadcast was viewed by over 5000 people in 19 different countries.
April 7 - AFN Europe streams the AFN OpenLine call-in show live over the Internet. |