Airborne Advertising

[FilioScotia]

Back in the 50s there was this guy who flew a small plane around Houston broadcasting announcements of various kinds on a loud speaker. Local businesses hired him to fly around advertising their sales and special events.

He'd fly around in big circles very slow at about a thousand feet, and he had that amplifier cranked up so loud you could hear him a mile away. The one I remember most from that period was about Frizzell Pontiac, 69th and Harrisburg, where you get A WHALE OF A DEAL. He also did occasional short announcements for the Pasadena Citizen newspaper.

He was an audio version of one of those flying billboards that trailed behind the plane. And isn't it "lovely" to see those monstrosities are making a comeback? What's next? Sky writing? It just proves there's no such thing as a "new" idea.

[Urban Commando]

Back in the 50s there was this guy who flew a small plane around Houston broadcasting announcements of various kinds on a loud speaker. Local businesses hired him to fly around advertising their sales and special events.

He'd fly around in big circles very slow at about a thousand feet, and he had that amplifier cranked up so loud you could hear him a mile away. The one I remember most from that period was about Frizzell Pontiac, 69th and Harrisburg, where you get A WHALE OF A DEAL. He also did occasional short announcements for the Pasadena Citizen newspaper.

He was an audio version of one of those flying billboards that trailed behind the plane. And isn't it "lovely" to see those monstrosities are making a comeback? What's next? Sky writing? It just proves there's no such thing as a "new" idea.

I find those cropdusters with the signs annoying. They sound rather rickity as is. For a long time, though, all of these disappeared when the Goodyear Blimp was stationed here and pretty much had the corner on aerial advertising.

Now days, everyone has a blimp and the flying banners have taken over the sky.

[brucesw]

That's a completely new one on me but I didn't grow up in Houston. Hopefully these days there'd be a law against such.

In my small hometown, however, the local radio station (KBRZ) had a sound truck which was a '53 or '54 Ford station wagon with a rack on top to which could be attached two large megaphone type speakers. This was available to civic groups, etc., to use in publicizing community events. My Mother and another lady made use of it one time to publicize something, I think it was a cake sale at the school or something like that. We rode around, fortunately only for about 20 minutes, repeating the message over the loudspeakers, calling out people's names if we recognized them on the street. It was sort of a 1950s version of a town crier, I guess. I don't know if there was a charge for using the vehicle or if it was a community service.

Every time I see the original Back to the Future I am reminded of that by the sound truck being used to advertise a political candidate. I don't think the radio station loaned out it's vehicle for that purpose, though.

[lockmat]

That's a completely new one on me but I didn't grow up in Houston. Hopefully these days there'd be a law against such.

In my small hometown, however, the local radio station (KBRZ) had a sound truck which was a '53 or '54 Ford station wagon with a rack on top to which could be attached two large megaphone type speakers. This was available to civic groups, etc., to use in publicizing community events. My Mother and another lady made use of it one time to publicize something, I think it was a cake sale at the school or something like that. We rode around, fortunately only for about 20 minutes, repeating the message over the loudspeakers, calling out people's names if we recognized them on the street. It was sort of a 1950s version of a town crier, I guess. I don't know if there was a charge for using the vehicle or if it was a community service.

Every time I see the original Back to the Future I am reminded of that by the sound truck being used to advertise a political candidate. I don't think the radio station loaned out it's vehicle for that purpose, though.

Did you or your mother think yall were annoying people at the time or did yall think nothing of it? Times have changed and it may not have been a big deal. People annoyed by airplanes high in the sky might go postal if something like that happened today

[FilioScotia]

That's a completely new one on me but I didn't grow up in Houston. Hopefully these days there'd be a law against such.

Airborne advertising with trailing banners doesn't appear to be violating any law I know about. There are altitude requirements though.

FAA regulations require pilots to maintain an altitude that's at least 1000 feet above the tallest obstacle in the general vicinity. That means the minimum legal and safe altitude for flying around Houston would be about 2000 feet.

Back in the 70s, I did airborne traffic reporting as KPRC Radio's original Sky Spy. We leased a Cessna 172 and a pilot from Cruse Aviation at Hobby, and flew around Houston at 2000 feet. My pilot said flying any lower than that would be dangerous for people on the ground and for us.

Not all pilots are as scrupulous and conscientious as that one. It's common to see small planes buzzing around the city just a few hundred feet off the deck. Those planes pulling the banners appear to be at about 1000 feet, give or take.

[brucesw]

Did you or your mother think yall were annoying people at the time or did yall think nothing of it? Times have changed and it may not have been a big deal. People annoyed by airplanes high in the sky might go postal if something like that happened today

As a kid, no, although I got bored rather quickly. I can't speak for my Mother or the other woman who I'm sure was the driving force behind the idea. They never did it again but the car was used by others and I doubt if it was the only radio station to offer something like that. As depicted in Back to the Future, that sort of advertising was somewhat common.

It was a different time; for one thing, most houses not to mention cars were not air conditioned, windows were open, doors frequently were left unlocked 24/7, we knew everybody in town and everybody knew us, etc., (only a slight exaggeration), kids were always out in the yard playing. I think it would be fair to say you interacted with your neighbors more easily and more often than you might now.

Yes, I think if a sound truck came down my street today I'd be on the phone to the neighborhood association right away and maybe the city to complain of noise pollution and violation of the sound ordinance unless it was an emergency and the city was having to do that to get the message out because of a power failure, or something. The closing up of houses and cars for air conditioning probably made such advertising far less effective.

[brucesw]

Airborne advertising with trailing banners doesn't appear to be violating any law I know about. There are altitude requirements though.

FAA regulations require pilots to maintain an altitude that's at least 1000 feet above the tallest obstacle in the general vicinity. That means the minimum legal and safe altitude for flying around Houston would be about 2000 feet.

Back in the 70s, I did airborne traffic reporting as KPRC Radio's original Sky Spy. We leased a Cessna 172 and a pilot from Cruse Aviation at Hobby, and flew around Houston at 2000 feet. My pilot said flying any lower than that would be dangerous for people on the ground and for us.

Not all pilots are as scrupulous and conscientious as that one. It's common to see small planes buzzing around the city just a few hundred feet off the deck. Those planes pulling the banners appear to be at about 1000 feet, give or take.

I was sure there were altitude requirements. Sometimes when I see those today they're so high up I can't make out the message.

We hired one of those banner planes the weekend in September '71 when we flipped KAUM to 'The Air Corps." Had the pilot dress up like a barnstorming ace as the pilots in our graphics were dressed and tow the banner mostly over Montrose and the Heights which is where it was assumed most hippies, er, our target audience, lived. The phones rang off the wall at the station all weekend long, as we say in the radio biz, with people calling in to comment. All the calls were positive, so far as I know - people thought it was cool and, thank goodness, loved the new format and the stunting we were doing, playing nothing but Beatles and Stones all weekend long.

[editor]

In my small hometown, however, the local radio station (KBRZ) had a sound truck which was a '53 or '54 Ford station wagon with a rack on top to which could be attached two large megaphone type speakers. This was available to civic groups, etc., to use in publicizing community events.

"...and it's Ladies Night at the Palace Hotel Ballroom up north on Lake Wazupumani..."

[editor]

Yes, I think if a sound truck came down my street today I'd be on the phone to the neighborhood association right away and maybe the city to complain of noise pollution and violation of the sound ordinance unless it was an emergency and the city was having to do that to get the message out because of a power failure, or something.

I'm not sure you'd get very far, in large part because of federal free speech rights. I remember a lawsuit a few years back where a homeowners association tried to get an ice cream truck to turn off its jingle. The truck owners won.

Perhaps a little closer to your example, though, I've seen in Chicago, Seattle, and Los Angeles there's an organization of (for lack of a better term) aggressive militant Jews who drive around in Winnebagos plastered with posters and shouting slogans through giant megaphones on the roof.

I'm not really sure what they're about, since outside of New York Jews tend to keep a low profile. They come up to me all the time and eagerly ask, "You're Jewish aren't you?!?" I'm not sure what it is about my physical appearance that makes them think I'm Jewish. But when I tell them "no," I don't get a pamphlet. It seems that their goal is possibly to turn moderate Jews into less moderate Jews. But I'm not sure because since I'm not the target audience I don't get to read their stuff.

[TheNiche]

Airborne advertising with trailing banners doesn't appear to be violating any law I know about. There are altitude requirements though.

FAA regulations require pilots to maintain an altitude that's at least 1000 feet above the tallest obstacle in the general vicinity. That means the minimum legal and safe altitude for flying around Houston would be about 2000 feet.

In "congested areas", the FAA requires pilots to fly 1,000 feet above the tallest obstacle within a 2,000-foot radius. That's pretty easy to pull off in most of the city, even very close to downtown.

In "uncongested areas", the minimum is 500 feet. And in "sparsely populated" areas or over open water, there is no minimum except to be 500 feet away from any person, vehicle, or structure. One can legally fly just a few feet above Lake Conroe on a calm day.

[FilioScotia]

In "congested areas", the FAA requires pilots to fly 1,000 feet above the tallest obstacle within a 2,000-foot radius. That's pretty easy to pull off in most of the city, even very close to downtown. In "uncongested areas", the minimum is 500 feet. And in "sparsely populated" areas or over open water, there is no minimum except to be 500 feet away from any person, vehicle, or structure. One can legally fly just a few feet above Lake Conroe on a calm day.

I think you'll agree that it is unbelievably stupid to fly at such low altitudes, especially in a small plane. Any pilot who would fly below a thousand feet is risking his life. A small plane that loses power, for whatever reason, can be glided to a safe landing, IF, and ONLY IF, he has enough altitude to find a place close enough to put it down. And I speak from personal experience.

My Sky Spy plane lost power several miles from Hobby Airport one morning. We were going there anyway, and still at up around 2000 feet when the motor shut down. My ace pilot said "no sweat", and very skillfully glided it down for a perfect no-power emergency landing at Hobby. The crash trucks were standing by, because it's SOP anytime a plane has to make an emergency landing. If we had been down around 500 feet or less when that happened we probably would have crashed. That's why pilots who fly low are just stupid and don't deserve to have a pilot's license.

[TheNiche]

I think you'll agree that it is unbelievably stupid to fly at such low altitudes, especially in a small plane. Any pilot who would fly below a thousand feet is risking his life.

I'll pass that along to my flight instructors, but most aerobatics occur under 2,000 feet. You're talking about straight-and-level flight, which is much safer.

[4PROP]

I'll pass that along to my flight instructors, but most aerobatics occur under 2,000 feet. You're talking about straight-and-level flight, which is much safer.

I recall at least one calm evening over Bellaire around 1955-57 when a low flying DC3 (maybe C47) dumped advertising fliers out its side door. The line of fliers must have stretched for a couple miles and took at least 30 minutes to spread out and settle down to the ground. All the nieghborhood kids were scrambling competively to grab as many as they could. It seemed to have the same appeal as a "candy drop". Can any of you recall these "drops" and share details. Imagine that being done nowadays!

[FilioScotia]

I recall at least one calm evening over Bellaire around 1955-57 when a low flying DC3 (maybe C47) dumped advertising fliers out its side door. The line of fliers must have stretched for a couple miles and took at least 30 minutes to spread out and settle down to the ground. All the nieghborhood kids were scrambling competively to grab as many as they could. It seemed to have the same appeal as a "candy drop". Can any of you recall these "drops" and share details. Imagine that being done nowadays!

That plane was a DC-3 AND a C-47. The DC-3 was the civilian model. The C-47 Gooney Bird was the same plane Douglas modified for military use as a cargo plane. It had no passenger windows.

I'm guessing the one you saw was the military version because the Pentagon sold off a lot of those old planes as surplus after WWII and Korea.

I can't imagine anybody dumping advertising fliers out of a low flying plane today. Homeland Security would keel haul their ass-es and the pilots would never fly again.

[Bill Lins]

There's nothing more useless than altitude above you.