The run
- Network
- AFRS
- Years active
- 1945–1946
- Surviving broadcasts
- 349
- Genre
- music
G.I. Jive was a short daily record programme produced by the Armed Forces Radio Service and presented by Martha Wilkerson as “GI Jill”, written to answer the propaganda broadcasts aimed at American troops. Each episode ran roughly fifteen minutes of requests, current hits and direct address to servicemen overseas. The transcription discs are US Government work and in the public domain, digitised at the Internet Archive as “AfrsG.i.Jive”.
Source collection
Internet Archive audio collections
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
5 dated broadcasts across 27 years on the air, with 25 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1920, in original transmission order.
- 1. Jill's All Time Juke Box 0101 4xxxxx 1st Song - Caravan (Bunny Berigan) · 1 Jan 1920
- 2. Jill's All Time Juke Box 0102 4xxxxx 1st Song - Down South Camp Meeting (Benny Goodman) · 2 Jan 1920
- 3. Jill's All Time Juke Box 0103 4xxxxx 1st Song - A Study In Brown (Bunny Berigan) · 3 Jan 1920
- 01
Jill's All Time Juke Box 0101 4xxxxx 1st Song - Caravan (Bunny Berigan)
1 Jan 1920 · 29 min
American Armed Forces Radio No 34 Jill’s Jukebox. While Martha Wilkinson was doing the GI Jive she also did another show called Jill’s jukebox. As G.I. Jill, Wilkerson became an Allied counterpart of the infamous Tokyo Rose. Wrote one sergeant serving in the Pacific: “Your cheerful voice does wonders to our morale. Tokyo Rose is also on the air. It’s as if two women of enemy countries were battling for men’s minds. I’m glad you’re winning, Jill.” The patter on G.I. Jive was more “girl next door” personal than Pin-up girl glamorous, and it touched a chord with the troops. It was obvious that Ji
- 02
Jill's All Time Juke Box 0102 4xxxxx 1st Song - Down South Camp Meeting (Benny Goodman)
2 Jan 1920 · 30 min
American Armed Forces Radio No 34 Jill’s Jukebox. While Martha Wilkinson was doing the GI Jive she also did another show called Jill’s jukebox. As G.I. Jill, Wilkerson became an Allied counterpart of the infamous Tokyo Rose. Wrote one sergeant serving in the Pacific: “Your cheerful voice does wonders to our morale. Tokyo Rose is also on the air. It’s as if two women of enemy countries were battling for men’s minds. I’m glad you’re winning, Jill.” The patter on G.I. Jive was more “girl next door” personal than Pin-up girl glamorous, and it touched a chord with the troops. It was obvious that Ji
- 03
Jill's All Time Juke Box 0103 4xxxxx 1st Song - A Study In Brown (Bunny Berigan)
3 Jan 1920 · 30 min
American Armed Forces Radio No 34 Jill’s Jukebox. While Martha Wilkinson was doing the GI Jive she also did another show called Jill’s jukebox. As G.I. Jill, Wilkerson became an Allied counterpart of the infamous Tokyo Rose. Wrote one sergeant serving in the Pacific: “Your cheerful voice does wonders to our morale. Tokyo Rose is also on the air. It’s as if two women of enemy countries were battling for men’s minds. I’m glad you’re winning, Jill.” The patter on G.I. Jive was more “girl next door” personal than Pin-up girl glamorous, and it touched a chord with the troops. It was obvious that Ji
- 04
Jill's All Time Juke Box 0104 4xxxxx 1st Song - I Got Rhythm (Benny Goodman)
4 Jan 1920 · 30 min
American Armed Forces Radio No 34 Jill’s Jukebox. While Martha Wilkinson was doing the GI Jive she also did another show called Jill’s jukebox. As G.I. Jill, Wilkerson became an Allied counterpart of the infamous Tokyo Rose. Wrote one sergeant serving in the Pacific: “Your cheerful voice does wonders to our morale. Tokyo Rose is also on the air. It’s as if two women of enemy countries were battling for men’s minds. I’m glad you’re winning, Jill.” The patter on G.I. Jive was more “girl next door” personal than Pin-up girl glamorous, and it touched a chord with the troops. It was obvious that Ji
- 05
Jill's All Time Juke Box 0107 4xxxxx 1st Song - Muskrat Ramble (Henry Levine & His Barefoot Dixieland Philharmonic)
7 Jan 1920 · 30 min
American Armed Forces Radio No 34 Jill’s Jukebox. While Martha Wilkinson was doing the GI Jive she also did another show called Jill’s jukebox. As G.I. Jill, Wilkerson became an Allied counterpart of the infamous Tokyo Rose. Wrote one sergeant serving in the Pacific: “Your cheerful voice does wonders to our morale. Tokyo Rose is also on the air. It’s as if two women of enemy countries were battling for men’s minds. I’m glad you’re winning, Jill.” The patter on G.I. Jive was more “girl next door” personal than Pin-up girl glamorous, and it touched a chord with the troops. It was obvious that Ji
- 06
GI Jive 0711 xxxxxx 1st Song - 'Song Of India' Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra {AFRS}
11 Jul 1920 · 15 min
American Armed Forces Radio No 33 NOTE: there is possibly a few double ups in this archive. GI JIVE Part 4 GI Jive was a 15-minute radio program transmitted by the Armed Forces Radio Service for entertainment of soldiers in World War II. Its initial frequency of five days per week later increased to six days per week. It was included in the group of "programs proposed for production on the AFRS's initial schedule". GI Jive differed from AFRS programs like Command Performance and Mail Call in that it used a disc jockey format, with someone playing popular recordings of the day. In contrast, Com
- 07
GI Jive 0712 xxxxxx 1st Song - 'Basie Boogie' Count Basie and His Orchestra {AFRS}
12 Jul 1920 · 15 min
American Armed Forces Radio No 33 NOTE: there is possibly a few double ups in this archive. GI JIVE Part 4 GI Jive was a 15-minute radio program transmitted by the Armed Forces Radio Service for entertainment of soldiers in World War II. Its initial frequency of five days per week later increased to six days per week. It was included in the group of "programs proposed for production on the AFRS's initial schedule". GI Jive differed from AFRS programs like Command Performance and Mail Call in that it used a disc jockey format, with someone playing popular recordings of the day. In contrast, Com
- 08
GI Jive 0819 xxxxxx 1st Song - The Donkey Serenade
19 Aug 1920 · 15 min
American Armed Forces Radio No 33 NOTE: there is possibly a few double ups in this archive. GI JIVE Part 4 GI Jive was a 15-minute radio program transmitted by the Armed Forces Radio Service for entertainment of soldiers in World War II. Its initial frequency of five days per week later increased to six days per week. It was included in the group of "programs proposed for production on the AFRS's initial schedule". GI Jive differed from AFRS programs like Command Performance and Mail Call in that it used a disc jockey format, with someone playing popular recordings of the day. In contrast, Com
Also on AFRS
AFRS in 1945–1946
Other series the network carried while G.I. Jive was on the air.
Same seasons
music on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The show sent to the troops
Stars recording for an audience they could not see, on discs shipped to wherever the war was. Command Performance and Mail Call built entertainment as a service.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of G.I. Jive
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
