European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 11, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Request show Rolls with Rock at lunchtime by Rob Staggenborg Slaff writer the Call came in just like most of the other 312 phone Calls that particular Day during the persian Gulf War. Cpl. Dave Reidmuller was nestled in studio e of the an Headquarters building in Frankfurt Germany Fielding music requests for an radios All request show when a woman beeped his studio phone. She gave her request. Reidmuller logged it and was just about to hang up. That a when Romance set in. A then she says a you be got a great voice a a Reidmuller recalls his unseen often heard smile stretching across his face. A then she says a what do you look like a a a the mystery of radio a Biz where intricate circuitry i Inch speakers and an electrical source hide the faces attached to the voices that Rock the rafters or serenade a supper. A i told her to Lake Tom cruises hair Tom Sellack a a face and Pul them together. A you with Nic a i asked her. A then give that person the brain of an  a the woman perked Reidmuller recalls. A a a you look like that Quot a a a no. I look like a Little fat jewish doctor. She was  Reidmuller one of Afna a resident heartbreaker a and the network music director smiled at his joke. He a happily married thank you to spec. Jan Reidmuller who is Host of Gas Wauson an to but the Call is logged into his personal Calls of Fame. When it comes to his classic hot lunch midday show on Afna Sam band the san Diegan is As serious about Rock v Roll As the listeners who Jam his phone lines with requests for the 12 10 to 1 . Show. A a oldies arc my life a he says and his playlist reflects that. On one Friday such obscure hits As snoopy is. The red Baron and Pina Colada Are listed As is the doors riders on the storm a a mainstay among classic Rock requests. A there s a definite resurgence of classic Rock programming a said Reidmuller. A even the kids today arc asking for Zeppelin the Slones. When we first started the show we had a tour of High school kids come through Here. They weren tasking for new kids or , Hammer. They wanted Black Sabbath stones  occasionally a Straggler seeps into the phone system. Like one particular Friday. Reidmuller picks up the phone and his heart sinks within seconds. Quot no this is a classic Rock show a he tells a Young caller who wants to hear poisons Nuskin by Bop a a 1990 release. Quot think old Guy and Call me  almost in contempt Reidmuller punches a Hung up Button peels his Headset from his head and leans Back. A this is an oldies show Isnit it a he asks himself. A qua Vij my Bop. Come  Quot you can always Tell when schools out around Here. Those Are the Days i get requests for . Hammer new kids on the Block and Vanilla  the classic hot lunch s unofficial cutoff Date. Sis nov Didio Cpl. Dave Reidmuller left shows the studio console to staff sgt. Dave Schmidt new to an. Is 1985. Any song released before 1985 is eligible for the playlist. Anything after a forget it. That was a flip of the Coin Date a says Reidmuller. Quot if we really want to push the envelope Well go up to 1985. Personally i did no to want anything past 1980.�?� classic hot lunch is one of the Many changes floating around on the an airwaves. The am programming crams As much news in As possible. The pm band includes morning zaniness programs midday features plus requests requests requests and More requests. The change to add More song requests came from the huge office on the second floor of the an building in Frankfurt. Col Zachary Fowler who oversees an operations As the network commander sits in that office. The persian Gulf War spawned a demand for requests with lonely families sending out songs to deployed husbands wives boyfriends and girlfriends. When the cease fire order was issued and troops started coming Home Fowler decided to keep the request lines open. Thus acid Muller s show was born and disc jockeys Are open to requests throughout the Day. Reidmuller recalls one fateful afternoon at the height of the ground War when the requests lines got so overloaded the phone system shut Down. A you can Only answer one Call at a time so As the Calls kept coming in a backlog formed a he says. A it completely shut Down the whole phone system in the entire building. One of the Guys had to go across the Street and Call the phone company from a Public  a aside from technical catastrophes  Romance requests come in from everywhere a Munich Berlin Stuttgart Etc. A because the show is part of a network that feeds All of the an Europe bureaus. And the requests come often. Reidmuller answers a Call about once every three minutes Dur ing the first 30 minutes of his show. And they come in All forms. A we get people who Call up and they done to know the name of the song or the group so they sing it a he says. A they actually sing the words. A of it starts out like Dada Dum a that cracks me up. You know ill play Back those requests even if i done to have the song. A i wonder what some of these people do for a living a he asks referring to one requester who had prepared a list of 22 songs he wanted played on Reidmuller Shourong show. A another Guy called with 15. Do these people have jobs a few requests Are handled live. Reidmuller asks the requester to Call in after a show for the next Days show or Call the morning of his show. That gives the staff time to sift through the request tapes Wade through the extensive music Library and make up a playlist. Most of the requested songs need to be on compact disc but not always. A computer system is inside the studio where the disc jockey can punch in the title or the group and have it automatically added to the playlist for that Days shows. A normally we done to take requests for Vinyl los from the studio because we done to have anyone to run the album up to us a says Reidmuller. If you a Jill in ahead of time Well do our Best to get it on for  less than five minutes until news at the top of the hour Reidmuller takes the last classic hot lunch request of the week. A yeah us you got no matter what by bad Finger a the caller asks. With the push of a Bright red Button a one of Many buttons he has pushed this Day a the request is answered by the songs Intro. After shouting his daily Farewell into the microphone Reidmuller leans Back and takes it All in. He Peers up at a speaker mounted High in the Corner of the room and flashes a smile that would make any classic Rock Freak proud Quot Good song Aye a Page 6 a sunday August 11, 1991