AFN Spangdahlem best in Europe

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Natasha Stannard
  • 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
American Forces Network Spangdahlem won the 2011 AFN Europe's station of the year award Feb. 8.

AFN Spangdahlem competed against 16 other AFNE stations and was recognized for overall excellence in engineering, operations and military readiness.

"The AFN Spangdahlem team is serving [the audience] with high quality, effective broadcast products and entertainment," said U.S. Army Col. Bill Bigelow, AFNE commander.

Bigelow said this station's excellence was exemplified in all areas when they moved their entire shop from Bitburg Annex to Spangdahlem AB with no loss of service in just five weeks -- a task the station chief estimated would take nine weeks.

This move included breaking down, transporting, reestablishing and individually rewiring all radio, TV, computer and satellite systems and equipment in their new building, which houses a TV studio, radio automation room, video production room, on-air and production radio studios and a master control room. In addition to that, engineers also built two satellite systems from the ground up.

As the engineers moved and re-wired, the station's mission to deliver reliable and timely news couldn't stop, so the engineers also set up a remote station from where broadcasters could broadcast news and command information.

"We had an eight-man team working approximately 12 hour shifts," said Staff Sgt. Modesto Alcala, Detachment 9 AFN Spangdahlem broadcast maintenance supervisor. "I hooked up about 2,500 wires - that's just what I did, and I only did the audio and part of the on-and-off air control rooms."

These systems and programs give broadcasters the capability to funnel timely local news and command information to the base through radio, TV and commercial services, which now reach a larger audience thanks to this AFN team's move from the smaller-populated annex to the more-populated base.

With this quick move also came other big changes as AFN Spangdahlem volunteered to adopt the Eagle radio format, becoming the first in the AFN team's region to provide the music-based service that delivers local information 24/7.

Before moving to Spangdahlem and switching to the AFN Eagle format, viewers and listeners here could only receive local commercials and news from AFN Atlantic and they could only receive local information on 8 AFN channels at Bitburg Annex. With the move and programming, the news team now reaches a larger audience and delivers more-timely information through live radio spots, live broadcasts, news spots and commercials to Spangdahlem.

The changes also increased the amount of  channels the station provides local commercials and news on Spangdahlem from two to 10.

"We went from one base where we had our local support on one channel to here were we have it on 10 [channels] to include the Commander's Access Channel, which funnels command information," said Chief Master Sgt. Brian Boone, Detachment 9 AFN Spangdahlem station manager.

"[By] bringing in the Eagle format, we're able to deliver 16 hours of command information llive by local and regional broadcasters for our audience," he added of the eight additional hours of information fom ANFE they now provide to listeners.

To switch to the Eagle format, the AFN team here had to gather more news information to provide to the base, switch to new music and computer programs, and conduct specialized training.

Moving and training improved the station's workflow. Broadcasters can now cover news on the spot rather than having to commute from one base to another to get the story. This also makes things easier for interviewees from Spangdhalem visiting the station as they don't have to travel from base to base, Boone said.

"When the front gate closed over the weekend [in October], we went out there on Friday and got it on the news that night," Boone explained. "Before the move, it would have taken much longer than a day."

They also increased the number of on location shoots they produce per year. When location shoots are broadcast live, like they were at the Combined Federal Campaign dodgeball match, broadcaster have the potential to draw more people to events, Boone said.

Along with sending out information through traditional broadcasting avenues, this station also incorporates new forms of communication such as social networks and webpages.

"We created a Facebook page because we need to know our audiences wants and needs," Boone said. "Let's say the wing is having an emergency and needs to get information out quick, the Facebook page is a way to get that out instantly along with our radio disk jockeys and webpage. Our goal is to reach as many people as possible, and we're still building."

This station not only keeps up with building its own audience and programs, but others as well.

AFN Spangdahlem helped bring AFN United Kingdom's TV automation system on-line by sending Airmen specialized in commercial automation and engineering systems to give hands-on training to the other station's engineers. This training gave AFN UK the ability to provide AFN broadcast support to 30,000 Americans, Bigelow said.

"The United States is a plugged in nation," Bigelow said of America's thirst for news now. "We thrive on knowing what's going on that affects us, our family and our nation. It's critical Americans serving overseas get critical information in real time, in English. AFN Spandahlem does that, with real time announcements on school bus closures and delays, direct from the command group messages in their own words, and English language tips on where to go off base for trips and cultural events."