Major facelift underway for AFN-Kaiserslautern

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  • By AFN-Kaiserslautern
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany --  American Forces Network-Kaiserslautern is about to have a huge facelift. The building which houses the AFN radio and TV studios in Vogelweh is slated for a major renovation project.

When the renovation is finished, the AFN-K staff will serve the community from a newly refurbished facility that will include two brand-new radio studios and a new reception lobby, as well as handicap access.

The new public area will allow the station to host tour groups and to interact with the community. The project includes new office spaces and a total revamp of the building's technical infrastructure, ensuring the station is well-equipped to serve the Kaiserslautern Military Community and Baumholder well into the 21st century.

"It's a huge project for us," said Master Sgt. Elizabeth Carty, AFN-K station manager. "There was an addition to the building in the late 1990s to add some office space, modern bathrooms and a TV studio, but the heart of the building is still the original structure built in 1954."

The $2.4-million renovation project also includes a new layout for offices and video and audio production suites.

"This project is something we've been moving toward for several years now," said AFN-K Operations Manager Jerry Cormier. "The renovation has been planned to eliminate a lot of clumsy, small rooms and improve the flow of the workspace."

Mr. Cormier said the renovation won't have any effect on the service AFN provides to the community.

"Demarrio Spence will still be there with The Eagle Morning Show to get your day started, our producers will still be out with their cameras to tell the DoD worldwide audience what's happening in the Kaiserslautern Military Community, so this move should be somewhat transparent for our audience," he said.

According to Sergeant Carty, the renovation will also make the station better-suited to tour groups. For now, though, the community tour program is suspended until the renovation is complete and the AFN-K staff moves back to the 5th Avenue location.

The station serves an estimated audience of 64,000 in the Kaiserslautern Military Community which includes Ramstein and Landstuhl, as well as the Baumholder community.

Local radio shows on AFN The Eagle should continue without interruption on FM 100.2. Clients can still submit announcements for their events by going to the station's Web page (http://kaiserslautern.afneurope.net/) and clicking on the "Publicity Requests" link at the top of page.

AFN-Kaiserslautern has called 5th Avenue on Vogelweh home since October 1954. The station signed on the air in December 1953 from Kleber Kaserne, broadcasting from a mobile radio studio mounted on a truck while waiting for the 5th Avenue studio to be built.

In April 2010, that bit of history will be re-created when the station staff packs up their microphones, CDs, cameras and laptops and moves to a temporary facility just down the road at the Einsiedlerhof Civil Engineering compound, where they'll broadcast from a mobile radio studio mounted on a truck while the Vogelweh station is completely renovated.

The project is scheduled to take nine months.