NBC chimes (Jan 1953-Dec 1954)

Big NBC Ad Campaign Now Underway in Top Magazines Freschi; Bud Hollibaugh, also a technical director with the TV crew; stagehand Dick Bernico; former NBC Chicago engineer Al Scarlett (now with NBC Hollywood), and "outsider" Ernie Foote, were the crew signed on with the Bonny Lou. Frank Schnepper, skipper of the Bonny Lou, has sailed his craft for the past five years, and as a seasoned fresh water mariner has traversed the Great Lakes while pursuing his maritime hobby. This year was the second time he has entered the Mackinac race. With his NBC crew, he sails Lake Michigan waters three or four times a month during the yachting season — NBC Chicago TV schedules permitting, of course. The Bonny Lou. This year's race marked the start of an annual vacation for Frank, for Cass and for Al Scarlett. While John Freschi had to fly back to Chicago to pick up his duties ( because of the unusually slow pace of the race) and others of the crew also returned. Frank's wife. Virginia, Cass's wife, Jean, and Al's son, Ted, met the boat at Mackinac. The group sailed on into Georgian Bay and then back to Chicago for a 10-dav waterborne vacation. The Bonny Lou, which is fitted to sleep five, has a fully equipped galley and ice box. While the group insists that there was no food shortage or problem during the race, in spite of the undue amount of time spent motionless, John Freschi chuckles ruefully as he explains that "we sure didn't run out of beans!" The National Advertising and Promotion Department of NBC right now7 is in the middle of an advertising schedule unlike anything done before by the company. A double-barreled, intensive campaign is running in two of America's greatest consumer magazines, the Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies' Home Journal. This is the first time that NBC has conducted a regular and continuing campaign of such scope in this type of magazine. Again pointing out its industry leadership, NBC is calling the attention of the nine million devoted readers of the Saturday Evening Post and the While Ernie Foote turned out to be the best chef on the craft, everybody else, including the Skipper, took turns at nautical kitchen police duties. Generally, the Bonny Lous chow schedule was: bacon and eggs or pancakes in the morning, sandwiches for lunch, and a "big" meal in the evening, preceded of course by cocktails. Frank, explaining operational procedure on his ship, says that the crew members take turns standing watch during normal sailing, with "everybody up and at 'em" when a wind comes up and the sails must be changed. During the long period when the Bonny Lou was becalmed, every one was as quiet as possible. "You just can't move," Frank points out, "for any motion that might rock the boat loses whatever little wind you may have in the sails. "At night," he continues, "you listen for talk from other boats, and try to figure out what sails they are using." Before picking up the weather that took them on a spinnaker run up to Manitou. and then, w ith a quick change in wind direction, had them "running sails up and down like window7 shades." the group spent one tense period in fog while crossing the Lake Michigan steamer lanes. "We heard horns, but never saw anything," says Cass. The Bonny Lou is equipped with all modern navigational devices for her inland lake use: radio, direction finder (guided by signal beams from Coast Guard stations) plus celestial navigation equipment. Kidding his skipper. John Freschi says that "we knew what lake we were in at all times!" Ladies Home Journal to our networks and to our top shows. In the former are two double spreads each month, occasionally in four colors; in the Journal they are one-page versions of the same ads in black and white. The campaign was prepared by NBC's agency, the Grey Advertising Agency, Inc., in conjunction with our National Advertising and Promotion Department. The first two spreads were seen in October issues of the Saturday Evening Post, promoting the Tuesday night radio lineup and the Max Liebman color extravaganza on TV. Those same ads were reproduced in one-page black and white in the November issue of the Ladies' Home Journal. In Satevepost in November the AM Wednesday night and the TV Monday night lineups were covered ; the Journal ran the other version of them in December. This month in the Post the radio afternoon lineup and the color TV production of "Amahl and the Night Visitors" are being featured. The January Journal will have just the AM ad. One spread in a January issue of the Saturday Evening Post will stress NBC's radio program leadership: the television ad will call attention to NBC's participation Programs — "Today," "Home" and "Tonight." The Februarv Ladies' Home Journal will repeat them in one-page black and white. Even though we speak here of the "December Post" and "January Journal" running the same ads, they actuallv are hitting the newsstands at approximately the same time, since the Post, a weekly, is dated just a week in advance, while the Journal, a monthlv. comes out a full month before its date. Very likely by now. most NBC employees have seen one or more of tbese advertisements in either the Saturday Evening Post or the Ladies' Home Journal, but just in case anyone has missed them, full-size reproductions of them are being displaced on all bulletin boards throughout the New York office of the company. "RCA PIONEERED AND DEVELOPED COMPATIBLE COLOR TELEVISION." NBC Chimes 7