Adrian Cronauer, the disc jockey whose story provided the rough outline for the character played by Robin Williams in the 1987 movie “Good Morning, Vietnam,” died on Wednesday in Troutville, Va. He was 79.

His death was announced by the Oakey’s funeral service. The notice did not give a cause.

Mr. Cronauer was in the Air Force in 1965 when he was sent to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). His first job was as news director for Armed Forces Radio there, but when the morning host’s slot became vacant shortly after his arrival, he settled in behind the microphone. The show was called “Dawn Buster,” and he began it with the drawn-out greeting immortalized in the movie’s title.

He had actually developed the sign-on thousands of miles away, while stationed on the island of Crete, where he had also had a radio show.

“I said, ‘Good morning, Iraklion,’ because it was Iraklion Air Station,” an Air Force facility near the capital, he told CNN in 1995.