Hometown News kicks off Holiday Greetings Program

Published Aug. 14, 2008
By Christine June
U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- The Army and Air Force Hometown News Service from San Antonio will again have a camera team in Spangdahlem Aug. 28 and 29 recording holiday greetings for broadcast on local stateside television and radio stations in all 50 states and U.S. territories.

Both days, the news team will be at the post office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Those eligible are active duty, government civilians, retirees, Department of Defense Dependent School teachers and family members stationed in these areas, who will be in Germany during the holidays.

Last year, the news team recorded 2,677 greetings in Europe, said Kris Grogan, the Hometown News Broadcast chief.

"We have a confirmed audience of 39,490,287 for television and 55,041,000 for radio," said Mr. Grogan, who was last year's and will be this year's European team chief. "Our greets aired in almost 100 million homes across America and U.S. Territories last year alone."

Family members getting to see their loved ones living overseas on their television sets is what the Holiday Greetings Program is all about, said Mr. Grogan.

"I don't know how many phone calls I get from crying parents saying 'thank you' because I haven't been able to see my son or daughter in the past year or two years," he said. "It means a lot to them."

Such was the case with the Gary family who has been in Germany since 2004 and did greetings last year for their families in New York, Florida and Jamaica.

"Our family doesn't get to see us much," said Sgt. 1st Class Allah Gary, with the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, explaining why he and his wife, Sherla and their 4-year-old daughter, Jayllah, were doing the greetings last year. "When I have been home on leave, I've seen the commercials with service members saying 'hello' to their families, and I thought, 'wow, it would be nice if I could do that too'--now, it's my chance."

Chances of these greetings airing are great for the Gary family and others who participate in the Holiday Greetings Program.

"We are the only ones who (tape holiday greetings from military members) in the United States. We shoot anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 greets a year and 95 percent of those get on the air," said Mr. Grogan. "Out of 10,000, you are getting 9,500 of those on the air. With an air rate of more than 100 million a year, your chances of getting on the air are almost 99 percent."

Grogan offers the following tips on how to make the most of the holiday greetings taping:
What to wear?

Active-duty members must be in uniform. "If (the holiday tapings) are at an event like a bazaar, (service members) can just bring a Gortex or top to put on right before they get in front of the camera -- (the shot) is just from the top pockets up." However, Grogan added, "We prefer them to be in uniforms -- to take pride in their uniforms and wear it out there because they are representing the United States on TV back home."

Civilians should be in appropriate attire. "If you're in Germany sending a holiday greeting back home, I wouldn't be in shorts and tank tops because you want it to look like it's almost fall here," said Mr. Grogan. "But if you want to wear something that screams your location or you are from Green Bay and want to wear your cheese hat -- go for it."

What to bring?

"All they really need is (their families') city, state and phone number -- area code being the most important," said Mr. Grogan. He added that the hometown news service can get it on the air with just giving the city and state, but if participants have the phone number it gives the TV and radio stations an opportunity to contact family members to let them know when the greetings are going to be on the air. "About 95 percent of the time, the station will contact family members even in large markets like Detroit or New York," said Mr. Grogan, who did four holiday greetings when he was in the Army and deployed downrange for his family in Detroit. "They got called (from the TV station) and saw me every time."

What to say?

Participants need to say five things within the greeting: Who they are, where they are, who the greeting is going to, where they are and some sort of holiday message. There is not a maximum or minimum time length on greetings. However, the best greetings are about 15 seconds long, said Mr. Grogan.

Family members must be accompanied by their sponsors, unless he or she is deployed. A civilian family member, a husband or wife, can make a greeting if the military family member is deployed, TDY or in the hospital, but they have to mention the deployment of the active-duty member. Family members can also make a greeting to their military relative while on deployment, provided they are going to be there during the holidays.

How many?

There is not a limit on how many greetings one family can send to the states as long as family members live more than 75 to 100 miles apart and receive different TV stations. However, greetings must be sent to relatives. By the hometown news definition, a relative is by law and by blood. Fiancés are not relatives.

Pets?

"You can bring your pet for the tapings as long as I'm not going to get bit," said Mr. Grogan, who added he's taped a lot of families with their pets.

The process.

When customers come to do the tapings, they will fill out a form for every greeting they plan to do. A member of the hometown news crew looks over the information on the forms and gives them a small briefing.

Super easy is how Kaiserslautern High School teachers Steve and Marcy Bond described their experiences when they participated in the Hometown News Holiday Greeting Program here for the first time last year.

"So easy -- will do it every year now," said Marcy, a mother of four children under the age of five when they did the greetings.

When it's time, one of the crewmembers will escort participants to the camera, give them another brief and place microphones on them. The camera operator lines them up and records the greeting in "5, 4, 3, 2 ...."