MASH fans often wonder why Radar O’Reilly didn’t make all the PA announcements on the show. He was the only company clerk, and he also manned the radios and phone. He often used the PA system to make announcements, and his workstation was near the PA system. Yet, the show used another voice for the frequent PA announcements that could be heard throughout the camp. This was an unseen character who used the familiar phrase “Attention, All Personnel!” He would often add a touch of sarcastic humor to the announcements he gave. Who was the voice of the MASH PA system, and why wasn’t it Radar?
A Simple Creative Choice
The simple answer to why Radar didn’t make all the announcements is that it was a creative choice made early on. After all, the MASH film featured an official PA announcer, voiced by David Arkin, who played Major Vollmer in the movie.
However, this played much differently in the movie than in the series. In the series, many scenes take place in the clerk’s office. Even though Radar worked near the PA system, there were even times when another voice could be heard making announcements while Radar was right in the vicinity and could have done it himself. Oddly, we must imagine another person working quite frequently in the clerk’s office, even though we never see anyone but Radar and, later, Klinger. A Reddit user pointed out something that always bugged me about this:
If there’s one thing that’s bothered me throughout the episodes is the fact that the PA announcer is never there. While this worked in the movie version, in the TV show, the radio/PA equipment is in Radar’s office. When scenes happen there, or in the compound and then move on to Radar’s office or from Post-OP, immediately before or after an announcement, it’s jarring to me because there couldn’t have possibly be anyone in there to make it. — stanleyipkiss
A Dedicated PA Announcer in MASH Was Accurate
The explanation for this is that MASH was a mishmash of plausible and correct details and implausible or incorrect ones. In a real MASH unit, there would have been a separate radio room, part of the command center, housed in a separate tent. PA announcements would have needed to correspond to news of incoming casualties, so those manning the radios would have been able to inform personnel of when patients were inbound. I’ve already pointed out that, in my article about Klinger having his own tent, that, unlike in the show, radios would have been manned 24 hours, in shifts.
The PA Announcers Worked In Another Tent, Not in the Clerk’s Office?
You will notice on the show that PA announcements about incoming casualties often came as Radar was outside in the compound, hearing the choppers coming and telling the others about them. Therefore, we must assume that this announcer was indeed being informed of incoming choppers and could therefore know about them at the same time as Radar, who always “sensed” them coming. So, instead of imagining this unseen PA announcer as being seated next to Radar and sharing his space, we are to imagine that he worked in one of the dozens of other invisible tents, like those most of the personnel lived in, but we never see.
The Mysterious, Unseen Character
It was useful to the showrunners to have the PA announcer have his own voice and be like another character, while not having to actually film scenes involving the character. It’s also true that Gary Burghoff was less suited to the sardonic style they were obviously going for. This was even more apparent as the character of Radar evolved, during the early seasons, into a more innocent, naive person. Not putting the PA announcer character on camera added to his mystique, and a little mystery never hurts a television show.
What Was the Name of the MASH PA Announcer?
The PA announcer’s name is only used once during the entire 11 seasons of MASH. In Season 3, Episode 12, titled A Full Rich Day. His name was Tony (assuming there is supposed to be only one).
In this episode, Klinger brings in an ambulance of wounded (no, this makes no sense, just go with it), and while he and the doctors are looking over the patients, Klinger remarks that one of the patients, who was missing his dog tags, may be a wounded lieutenant from Luxembourg. Frank is left in charge of triage, which probably explains what happens later.
Later, the commander of the Luxembourg forces in Korea, Colonel Blanche, comes to see Henry Blake. He is looking for one of his men, Lieutenant Henri Batiste LeClerq. Radar tells them that LeClerq is dead. Blanche is upset but understands that this happens in war. However, he is not so understanding when he asks to receive the body for a traditional Luxembourg ceremony and military honors and is told by Radar that the body is missing. Henry orders Radar to find the body and tells Blanche not to worry, “this happens all the time.”
The body is never found, so Henry suggests to Colonel Blanche that they should have a ceremony in the camp to honor him. Blanche agrees, and the whole camp gathers for the event. It is at this time that we hear the PA announcer’s name used for the first and only time. Henry tells the PA announcer (who is apparently within earshot) to begin playing the national anthem of Luxembourg, saying, “Tony… Hit it!“
LeClerq, it turns out, is barely mobile but very much alive and has been in Post-Op this whole time. When he hears the national anthem, his patriotism moves him to stagger outside, where he wanders up next to Blanche. He salutes, as it is appropriate, even though his entire right arm is in a cast. He has no idea he is attending his own funeral.
The name of the announcer is never used again, but if we are to assume that there was only ever one announcer (not a good assumption), then now we know his name, Tony! While there may or may not have been more than one announcer (it’s never discussed), there was certainly more than one voice actor playing the role. In fact, three different actors played the role of the PA announcer on MASH.
