William
L. “Bill” McGee
PDF Version OF Biography
Montana Years (1925-1941)
Bill McGee was born September 30, 1925 in Livingston, Montana. He grew up
on ranches in Park and Phillips counties in Montana, and cowboyed throughout
the West.
Bluejacket Years (1942-1946)
In
October 1942, at the age of 17, and like so many eager and patriotic
youths, McGee enlisted in the regular Navy, agreeing to serve until
he was 21. These minority enlistments were called “kid’s cruises.” He
attended boot camp in Farragut, Idaho; took gunnery training in San
Diego, California; and was assigned to the Naval Armed Guard, the branch
of the U.S. Navy that protected merchant marine ships and their valuable
cargo and crews from enemy attacks and sabotage.
Between 18 March 1943 and 28 November 1945, McGee served in the Pacific Theater in three Liberty ships (Nathaniel Currier, David Belasco and Thomas Nelson) and one Victory ship (Yugoslavia Victory). He participated in the Pacific campaigns to take back the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and the Marshall, Mariana and Philippine Islands. After the war, he served in the USS Fall River (CA-131) while she was the Target Fleet flagship for Operation CROSSROADS, the Bikini atomic bomb tests in the Marshall Islands.
On 20 August 1946, McGee was discharged from the Separation Center in Shoemaker, California, with the rank of Gunner's Mate Second Class. He earned medals for Asiatic Pacific Area Campaign (5 stars), American Area, Victory, and Philippine Liberation, and the Chief Bureau of Naval Personnel Commendation for Enemy Air Action off Guadalcanal on 16 June 1943.
Cowboyin’ Years (1946-1950)
After
the war,
McGee enrolled at Montana State College on the G. I. Bill with thoughts
of becoming a veterinarian. However, wanderlust was still with him
and, after a year, he left college to take a job as a horse wrangler
in Yellowstone National Park. There he had a flare-up of the malaria
he’d contracted in the South
Pacific during the war. He hitchhiked to Reno and checked into the
new Veterans Hospital for treatment. Released from the hospital,
he started looking for work. In summer of 1947, he hired on at Lake
Tahoe as a trail and deer hunting guide. In fall of ’47, a chance
conversation at Reno’s Round Up Bar, the unofficial hiring hall
for cowboys, landed him the job of head dude wrangler on the Flying
M E, an exclusive dude ranch 21 miles south of Reno that catered to
wealthy divorce seekers—mostly Eastern socialites and Hollywood
celebrities. To a young and good-looking cowboy, surrounded by so many
wealthy and attractive women at the ranch, McGee thought he’d “died
and gone to heaven.”
First
Taste For Radio
After the war, McGee was helping a neighboring
rancher round up his straying cattle. In the deep snow, McGee’s
horse somersaulted on him. McGee suffered a serious back injury and
was ordered to recuperate in Reno where the doctor could check him
daily. Several weeks later, and wearing a back brace, McGee took a
job driving for Star Taxi. One of his fares, an insurance company executive,
liked McGee’s deep voice and asked him to audition for the company’s
commercials on Reno’s KOH-AM radio. McGee was hired and became “John
Friendly.” He spun records, announced the births of new babies,
and did the insurance company’s commercials. After the show, “John
Friendly” delivered free baby books to the new mothers.
When he returned to work on the Flying M E, McGee met many ranch guests from Hollywood and New York who worked in the entertainment field, including the new medium of television. Most of them encouraged the young cowboy to try his luck in the new field. However, radio actor/later TV director, Norman Tokar, commented, “Bill, why would you ever want to leave here? Most men would give their right arm to have your job!”
Fraternizing with the ranch guests was frowned upon by Emmy Wood, the ranch’s owner. However, when Joan Allison arrived from the East for a divorce, things changed. Joan and Bill fell in love and were married in the spring of ’49 in Fallon, NV.
Automobile Years (1950-1951)
In December 1949, realizing that being a dude wrangler
wasn’t the
best job for a married man, Bill McGee left the Flying M E – and
cowboyin’ – with his new wife, Joan. They headed for Joan’s
hometown, Englewood, New Jersey. McGee got a job selling Rocket Engine
Oldsmobiles and found he had a talent for sales. The McGee’s first
daughter, Lucy, was born in Englewood.
Restaurant Years (1952-1953)
The McGees returned to the West and settled
in Marin County, California. The family grew with the births of
Elizabeth (“Betsy”), William Allison (“Billy”),
and Katherine. McGee owned and operated the popular Ranch House
restaurant in San Anselmo, a short-term investment while he looked
for something more permanent.
World Trade Years (1953-1957)
McGee entered the world trade business in San
Francisco where he developed a new import division for Thomas D.
Stevenson & Sons.
Later, he founded Ferrostaal Pacific Corporation which he sold
to his German partners in order to enter the broadcasting business,
his targeted career choice since his Flying M E days.
In 1957, McGee made a successful transition into broadcasting and enjoyed a 32-year career during which he held various sales and management positions:
Independent Television Corporation (“ITC”),
Los Angeles, Calif., division manager, 1958-62
NBC Radio, New York City, New York, spot sales representative, 1960
Peters Griffin Woodward (“PGW”), San Francisco, Calif.,
branch manager, 1962-67
KBHK-TV, Kaiser Broadcasting, San Francisco, Calif., general sales
manager, 1967-69
KEMO-TV, U.S. Communications, San Francisco, Calif., general sales
manager, 1969-1970
WATL-TV, U.S. Communications, Atlanta, GA, general manager, 1970-1971
He helped pioneer major-market UHF independent TV with Kaiser Broadcasting and U.S. Communications.
In 1971, McGee founded Broadcast Marketing Company (“BMC”) to provide affordable sales support and training services to radio and TV stations and, later, for cable systems. He would soon be regarded as a leader and innovator in retail sales and co-op advertising.
In 1975, he created and produced the first nationally syndicated, monthly co-op advertising information service, Broadcast CO-OPPORTUNITIES.
In 1976, McGee pioneered the use of the film medium to sell radio advertising with “Get It On! Get It On Radio Now!!” The film was licensed in 137 markets within one year.
In 1976, McGee wrote his first of nine books on broadcast advertising, retail advertising, broadcast advertising sales, and the new electronic media:-
Retail Sales Training & Development
Program
- Vol. 1, The Professional's Guide To Consultant Selling
- Vol. 2, A Marketing Approach to Building Store Traffic With Broadcast Advertising
- Vol. 3, A What, When and How Guide To Broadcast Co-op: The Untapped Goldmine
- Vol. 4, 1001 Creative Sales Ideas
- Vol. 5, A Primer on Broadcasting and the New Electronic Media
- Vol. 6, Management Guides & Sales Training Manual
- The Definitive Guide to Broadcast Co-op: STILL The Untapped Goldmine
- Changes, Challenges and Opportunities in THE NEW ELECTRONIC MEDIA
- Electronic Media Glossary
In 1980, McGee produced “How To Make Effective Low-Cost Television
Commercials,” the first retail advertising seminar video presentation
specifically designed to show retailers how to be more comfortable with
commercial production. Specifically, the presentation addresses the local
advertiser’s biggest concern: commercial copywriting and production.
It is crammed with proven “how-to” information from the experts;
includes brief excerpts from 50 award-winning retail commercials; demonstrates
effective copy approaches, commercial formats, inexpensive production
techniques; and, most important, how to maximize their television investments
for increased store traffic, sales and profits. The presentation is
currently available on DVD and video cassette.
In 1984, McGee signed an agreement with Jefferson-Pilot Communications, Charlotte, NC, for the sale of BMC’s CO-OPPORTUNITIES service (shown at left with John Edgerton of "JPC"). McGee then “retired” for the first time to Incline Village, Nevada, on Lake Tahoe.
During his broadcasting career, McGee received numerous awards and honors including PGW’s “Television Colonel of 1964” and Broadcast Pioneer’s “Pioneer Award” in 1982. In 1986, he was honored by the Builders of Broadcasting for “vision, dedication and achievement in the field of broadcasting.” He is one of six charter members of the Cooperative Advertising Hall of Fame.Historian Years (1990-present)
In his retirement years, McGee turned his interest to research
and writing, producing books that have garnered critical praise from
reviewers and readers.
The Library Journal praised McGee’s Pacific war trilogy for “…a thoroughgoing historical record and analysis that historians and scholars will find invaluable.” The Marine Corps League declared, “Enough gripping drama, heroism, and heartbreak in McGee’s almost encyclopedic ‘The Solomons Campaigns’ to supply Hollywood with material for a century.”
McGee and his present wife, Sandra, formed a writing collaboration which includes the celebrated The Divorce Seekers: A Photo Memoir of a Nevada Dude Wrangler, a collection of Bill’s stories from the Flying M E years mixed with Nevada history of the era. The Nevada Historical Society praised The Divorce Seekers as “the best book yet about Nevada’s dude-divorce ranch business.”
Bill and Sandra McGee have appeared on numerous radio and TV shows, guest lectured before historical and military groups, and presented enrichment programs aboard cruise ships.
Bill is a member of Broadcast Legends and Western Writers of America. He is currently working on a screenplay based on The Divorce Seekers and an autobiography.
Titles in print by William L.McGee include:
-
Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in
World War II, a Pacific war trilogy
- Vol. I, The Amphibians Are Coming! Emergence of the ’Gator Navy and its Revolutionary Land Craft (2000)
- Vol. II, The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville, Pacific War Turning Point (2002)
- Vol. III, Pacific Express: The Critical Role of Military Logistics in World War II, Editor with Sandra McGee, (2009)
- Bluejacket Odyssey, 1942-1946: Guadalcanal to Bikini, Naval Armed Guard in the Pacific (1997, 2000)
- The Divorce Seekers: A Photo Memoir of a Nevada Dude Wrangler, with Sandra McGee (2004)
- Learning to Cope with Sight Loss: Six Weeks at a VA Blind Rehabilitation Center, with Sandra McGee (2010)
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