Photo Ingo Markmann

Stories abound about "The Cowboy and the Lady"...the romantic Western legend of Eastern ladies mixing it up out West with handsome cowboys. Most of these romances don't last. However, some do, and Bill and Sandra McGee are surely an example of a successful, modern-day cowboy-lady duo.

William L. "Bill" McGee was born on a ranch in Montana. At 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the Pacific Theater from 1942 to 1946. Following World War II, he spent several years cowboying in the West before making a successful transition into broadcasting.

During his 35-year career in broadcasting, Bill McGee held sales and management positions with NBC Radio, Peters Griffin Woodward (PGW), Independent Television Corporation (ITC) and Kaiser Broadcasting. At ITC, he sold popular TV programs including "Lassie," "Fury" and "Our Miss Brooks" to ad sponsors and TV stations nationwide. In 1971, he founded Broadcast Marketing Company (BMC) which thrust him into the forefront of the industry as a leader and innovator in retail and co-op advertising.

Bill is the recipient of numerous broadcasting awards and is one of six charter members of the Cooperative Advertising Hall of Fame. He has conducted hundreds of workshops and seminars from coast-to-coast, and has been a guest speaker at national broadcasting conventions.

Bill McGee is the author of nine books on broadcast advertising. He has garnered critical recognition as a military historian for his autobiographical "Bluejacket Odyssey" and two-volume series, "The Amphibians Are Coming!" and "The Solomons Campaigns." He is a member of Broadcast Legends and Western Writers of America.

Click here for William L. McGee's complete bio

Sandra McGee grew up in Southern California and pursued studies in ballet and classical music. She is a veteran publicist for performing arts groups. As marketing director for BMC Publications, she handles advertising, promotion, and publicity.  

Bill and Sandra McGee recently co-authored "The Divorce Seekers," a Nevada history documenting the origins of America's no-fault divorce and the legendary dude-divorce ranches that sprang up around Reno to accommodate the rich and famous who flocked to Nevada for a six-week divorce. The book combines Nevada history with Bill's personal memories from the late 1940s working on an exclusive dude ranch twenty miles south of Reno that catered to wealthy Easterners and Hollywood celebrities.

The McGee's share a love of history and writing, and own small press BMC Publications located in Tiburon, California. They are frequent guest lecturers for historical societies, military groups, Western organizations, and on cruise ships. They have appeared on numerous radio and TV programs. They are working on a film treatment of their latest book.

For a list of Special Interest Lecture Topics, please visit the Press Room.

To contact Bill and Sandra McGee, call 415 435-1883 or email BMCpublications@aol.com.