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Creation: January 1971

General Note: One CD containing a recording of an unidentified broadcast of Radio First Termer, a pirate radio station which operated in January 1971 in Saigon during the Vietnam War. The station was hosted by U.S. Air Force Sergeant Clyde David DeLay (August 15, 1948 – January 20, 2012), better known by his DJ alter-ego Dave Rabbit. The two other members of the crew were known as Pete Sadler and Nguyen.

After three tours in Vietnam, Dave Rabbit and his friends launched Radio First Termer from a secret studio in a Saigon brothel. The station broadcast for 63 hours over 21 nights between January 1-21, 1971.

The station played "hard acid rock" such as Steppenwolf, Bloodrock, Three Dog Night, Led Zeppelin, Sugarloaf, the James Gang, and Iron Butterfly, bands which were popular among the troops, but largely ignored by the American Forces Vietnam Network. The music was mixed with antiwar commentary; skits poking fun at the U.S. Air Force, President Lyndon Johnson, and President Richard Nixon; and raunchy sex and drug oriented jokes.
music - mass media - pirate radio - Sgt Clyde David DeLay - Dave Rabbit - Radio-69 - underground radio - Happy Valley - culture: U.S. - acid rock - Radio First-Termer

Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive