Can you hear us now? AFN Aviano updates processes

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Austin Harvill
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  In 1965, Airman 2nd Class Adrian Cronauer, Armed Forces Radio Saigon DJ, created the famous, “Gooooood morning, Vietnam!” slogan for his radio broadcasts. During a 1988 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Cronauer said, “The crowning achievement for me was when I heard from some guys [who] tuned into [my radio show] for the first time [and] assumed they had picked up radio station from the states.”

American Forces Network Aviano’s mission hasn’t changed since Cronauer’s time—they still provide information and entertainment to the local community. However, the world has changed in the half-century since Cronauer’s final broadcast.

As the media landscape changes, Senior Airman Stephen Jarman, AFN Aviano broadcast journalist journeyman, hopes he and the rest of the AFN team can keep up with the times.

“People don’t turn to AFN very often for news or other information,” said Jarman. “I knew that when I came here and I wasn’t alone. So, our team came together to find a better way to communicate our commander’s priorities to the community.”

To execute their vision, something fundamental had to change.

“We reevaluated lessons learned from technical training, on-the-job training and anything else that touched on our job,” said Staff Sgt. Corey Schuler, AFN Aviano video department NCO in charge. “Then we turned our attention to shows and videos people were watching. We deconstructed those products, looked at what we could use, and began to rebuild.”

The team concluded they needed to tackle previously individualized products together and focus on video planning from start to finish—what to film for products, when to release them and where they should go.

“Before, one person would cover an event or film a public service announcement, edit the video and post it wherever we could,” said Schuler. “Now, a two-to-four person team spends hours creating storyboards, determining release dates, finding the right place for our products and really just thinking two or three videos into the future so we have consistency.”

The first product of their new process was “A2,” an Internet and social media video series that used skit comedies to share the commander’s messages. AFN Aviano “aired” episode one of A2 during the spring of 2015 across their social media and web platforms.

By May 2015, after three seasons of A2, the videos have accrued more than 4 million views—a 25,000% increase in views from the 2014 AFN Aviano production viewership of 15,000.

“We’re very happy with what we’ve seen from this series,” said Jarman. “I think this is a step in the right direction, and I hope we receive feedback from our viewers so we can make the product better.”

According to Jarman, views on a Facebook or YouTube page are not the real measure of success.

“We’re excited to make fun videos, but producing entertaining products is only half the battle,” said Jarman. “Our big focus is where, when and how to share our products so they can make a real difference.”

Jarman hopes tailoring their videos to different audiences will make them more enjoyable. He said those products could make a bigger impact on the audience and better share the commander’s messages.

Unfortunately, the team is slated to lose 50% of its production team by summer 2017.

“We don’t know what will happen to our team concept, because we may only have two people in the video section,” said Schuler. “Hopefully, we can streamline our processes to accommodate the staff change.”

Regardless of what the future may hold, the current team is focused on setting up their successors for excellence.

“I’m leaving soon, so a lot of these changes won’t directly impact me,” said Jarman. “However, that doesn’t mean we can’t make an impact today. I have complete faith in my co-workers to push hard every day, and I plan to keep trying until I’m gone. If we keep that up, I know we can define ourselves as a valuable part of the Aviano team and the Air Force as a whole.”