The American Forces Network is achieving the long-sought goal of bringing FM radio to Sasebo, Japan. The new FM AFN broadcast capability will be a major addition to U.S. forces in Japan and local communities at Sasebo. AFN Sasebo FM 93.1 is officially sanctioned at 1600, June 4, Japan Standard Time.
"Standing up a new FM frequency had not been done before by AFN-Pacific anywhere in the Pacific region," said AFN-Pacific's deputy director, Scott Williams. "Getting a new FM frequency established has been the culmination of over 10 years of planning, coordination, and tremendous team effort."
No small achievement, the new FM frequency, 93.1 FM, will be the first in Japan in over 70 years for AFN. The new frequency will allow AFN to provide local audiences in southern Japan with popular music, news, command information, and critical alerts on typhoons and other local safety issues.
The effort to establish an FM frequency began in 2014 when the local AFN AM tower began experiencing severe maintenance issues. In 2017 AFN dismantled the local AM tower.
"Our AFN station in Sasebo has a long history of service in that community and has always been one of our most popular stations," said Williams. "Since losing their AM tower, the AFN Sasebo station had to rely on AFN's streaming radio service, AFN Go, to keep its audiences informed. We began asking ourselves, 'How can we get back on the air?' We decided to get creative."
As part of that creative endeavor the AFN-Pacific team located mobile AM Radio kits in the USA. Williams said AFN-Pacific began by placing 1.5-watt mini-antennas all around the U.S. base in Sasebo. They didn't work as planned; the base structures tended to block the signal.
"It's been a long, arduous journey as we figured out all the requirements to get a new FM Signal broadcasting on the air at AFN Sasebo," said Williams. "Of course, the real heroes in this effort have been AFN-Pacific's terrific Technical Services team, the Sasebo base, USFJ, and the Japan of Ministry of Internal Communications.
Everyone worked tirelessly to make this happen, Williams added.
Kenneth Burton, who leads AFN-Pacific's technical services, said the Japanese government has been very supportive of AFN and U.S. Forces Japan.
"Working with the Japanese government on getting this frequency has been a unique experience," said Burton. "Nothing like this has been done in the past 70 years." The only other place AFN broadcasting in Japan on FM is AFN Okinawa, which added FM capability after the war ended.
Burton went on to say that his AFN Pacific team had challenges and were sending technicians to go through monthly inspections with the Japanese Ministry of Internal Communications, who were very helpful during the process.
Ken Burton notes that Japan's mountainous terrain created challenges for AFN's broadcast technicians at AFN Sasebo. "Every step of the way required thorough planning and testing," said Burton. "We drove all over the area while testing and despite the mountainous terrain were able to establish a clear signal with a new FM transmitter. We started at 50 watts. Then over many months worked incrementally up to 300 watts of power, which we successfully achieved this past March."
Williams noted that the Sasebo community has been excited about receiving the new FM channel. "AFN is incredibly popular with the community in Sasebo," said Williams. "The city appreciates AFN, and we get a lot of queries about the new FM station. Someone in the city of Fukuoka, far to the north, heard we were testing the new frequency and drove nearly 100 kilometers to Sasebo just to listen to the AFN FM American broadcasts."
Williams continued, "We have a huge shadow audience of local Japanese listeners at each of our stations. The Japanese people really value AFN and love listening to our local broadcasts."
"Here in Sasebo the base commander has been tremendously supportive," said Williams. "The command team considers AFN an important part of their community and is assisting in building a new tower for the AFN Sasebo station. Sasebo's leadership has been providing support, every time and wherever possible."
Williams said, "AFN Station management would brief weekly at base meetings, our local station manager Chief Petty Officer Liaghat stated he was getting support and even some rounds of applause from the Sasebo leaders in the meetings. The commanders, leaders, and staff were excited to get news of the FM's Frequency progress and testing phases going smoothly."
"AFN programming has long been an important source of news, entertainment, and emergency information for listeners both on and off the base," said Capt. Michael Fontaine, commander, Fleet Activities Sasebo. "To be able to listen to it now in higher fidelity FM broadcast is a very welcome enhancement for the entire Sasebo community. The ability to reach the entire Sasebo area during an emergency will improve our readiness and response capability. In addition, our families are excited to be able to hear American music wherever they live in the area."
The finalized certificate permitting the new AFN frequency, 93.1 FM, to officially broadcast in Japan and on FM, is June 4, 2025. Williams said the AFN-Pacific team is thrilled by their decade-long achievement and is planning an FM Frequency Launch event on this day, the day it becomes official.
"Our work is not ending here in Sasebo," said Williams. "We are looking to bring this great FM broadcast capability to other bases in Japan, and we've begun scouting sites at MCAS Iwakuni and Misawa Air Base."
Williams added that his AFN team in the Pacific region is committed to AFN's legacy of serving U.S. military audiences worldwide and living up to the military network's motto, "We Bring You Home."
AFN Public Affairs, AFN Broadcast Center
