15 Minutes with Bing Crosby for radio as for recording, he's a cinch for ether popularity." The nationwide shows continued daily (except Sundays) on a sustaining basis until October 31, 1931 from station WABC in New York. Harry Von Zell was the announcer. Freddie Rich led the orchestra after the first week. Russ Columbo was broadcasting for NBC at 11:30 p.m. each night as competition for Bing with "Variety" noting "Scrap between NBC & CBS over Russ Columbo and Bing Crosby is getting warm." Crosby's popularity soon attracted a sponsor - the American Tobacco Company - and rather than Lucky Strike cigarettes, the company's president,
This Is Bing Crosby 1956 and Crosby bought the first 100 shares for a total of $1,900 and then donated them to his alma mater Gonzaga University for its library appeal. He was described in press publicity as president of the Bing Crosby–Minute Maid Corporation which acts as distributor of Minute Maid products on the West Coast. Starting in 1967, Crosby began to act as a product spokesman for Minute Maid and he and his family were seen in many televised commercials in subsequent years. This Is Bing Crosby This Is Bing Crosby was a fifteen-minute five times a week daytime radio program featuring