WACI Radio (125th ATC) went on the air in September 1965 at Tent City B on the Tan Son Nhut Airbase (above). At that time, the power of the station was only 10 watts, but it did a good job of covering the base.
After a couple of months, our section of the 125th ATC moved to a villa in Gia Dinh. The picture below was taken there. A large center fed V antenna was used to try to get the 10 watt signal to our regular listeners on the airbase. The signal was weak, but our diehard fans continued to listen. The villa was really not that far from the airbase, but the area that we needed to cover was at the opposite end of the airbase. There were quite a few officers’ quarters in Gia Dinh, so it didn’t take them long to discover the station. We were only at the villa for about 5 weeks, just long enough to get it into fine shape for a high ranking officer to claim it for himself.
Then, it was back to the airbase where the 125th had it’s own compound. In fact, it had two. WACI and I were at the main compound, which was quite large. We had our own mess and all those good things. It took only a couple of weeks to build a 50 watt AM transmitter from parts borrowed from the Nav-aids shop. A center fed longwire was strung across the compound. It was about 100 feet long. The center feed was only about 30 feet long and 20 feet in the air. It was feared that a good signal would be hard to obtain with such a short vertical center feed, but darn if that sucker didn’t work just fine. The base was saturated with a good strong signal. The station could even be heard in Saigon. More equipment was added and tapes and records arrived from friends and radio stations back in the US.
● WACI Radio, 125th ATC, VietNam show archives are available HERE ●
WACI VIET-NAM FUN GUYS
Big Lee Baby (Hollihan)
125th ATC - 1965-1966
Big Lee was from Gibsonia, PA, a suberb of Pittsburgh. He was drafted into the Army and was sent, kicking and screaming, to VietNam. It was there in the 125th ATC that he buit WACI out of parts borrowed from Nav-Aids.
Rich Bradley
1st Log Command - 1965-1966
I don't know much about Rich. I beleive his real name was Bruce Boyles. I just don't remember. He was from another company, and like the rest of us, he wanted to be a famous D.J..
Don Hall (Halley)
125th ATC - 1965-1966
Don was from the windy city of Chigago. He joined the Army to see the world, but ended up in VietNam with the 125th ATC. It was there that he became a famous D.J. on WACI.
Richey (The Red Head) Williams
Air Force - 1966
Richey left (California) to join the Air Force. He was soon sent to VietNam. He showed up at the125th ATC one day asking where the radio station was. I showed him the setup in the back of the hootch. It didn't take long for him to ask if we needed any D.J.s. He did his first show on WACI that day.
Wee Willie (Bill Wilkens)
125th ATC - 1965-1966
Wee Willie jokes that he was from Bug Tussle, Texas. He was from Texas and really liked Motown. Bill was a 'Lifer' in the Army who worked in munitions. He was also one of our Huey Door Gunners. Bill helped construct the station and did quite a few shows.