On June 9, 1994—28 years ago this week—the Exchange Satellite Radio Network debuted at the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Exchange in Goldsboro, North Carolina.
This wasn’t satellite radio as it’s thought of today, but ore like the kind of “radio” people are familiar with from retail and grocery stores, restaurants and other establishments that play music while customers shop or dine.
Exchange stores had used outside music services before 1994, but the Exchange-exclusive network meant that the organization didn’t have to pay for those services and could better control content.
The Satellite Radio Network rolled out to 40 CONUS Exchanges during the summer of 1994, then expanded to Europe in the fall and the Pacific in early 1995. It featured a custom music mix with professional announcements and advertisements. Programming ran 24/7. There was a minimum of 48 minutes of music every hour, with a maximum of 12 minutes of announcements/advertisements. No song repeated in a 24-hour period.
The music was all on compact disc—played on 20 six-CD changers.
The music was a mix of adult contemporary, oldies and country. One of the most popular songs in the summer of 1994 covered a couple of those bases: “I Swear,” which was a huge hit for All-4-One (11 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100), and had been a big country hit for John Michael Montgomery in late 1993/early 1994. (Want to know what else was big in June 1994? Click here.)
The network was known as the AAFES Radio Network until the Exchange rebranding in 2010, when it became known as the Exchange Radio Network. Rock, pop and country stars occasionally stopped by for interviews, including Sammy Hagar, Sara Evans, “Weird” Al Yankovic and Janelle Monae.
Today, the radio network still sends music to more than 600 main stores, Expresses and other Exchange facilities. The music remains eclectic. But the CDs are gone: These days, everything is done digitally.
Sources: Exchange Post archives, Billboard.com
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