 Through the night to the morning of September 22 , Eisenhower and Nixon aides arranged the speech . The RNC worked to raise the $ 75 @,@ 000 needed to buy the half hour of television time , while the Eisenhower staff secured sixty NBC stations to telecast the speech , with radio coverage from CBS and Mutual . The Nixon staff initially advocated a half hour that evening , Monday , September 22 , to follow the immensely popular I Love Lucy show , but when the candidate indicated he could not be ready that soon , settled for 6 : 30 pm Tuesday night , 9 : 30 pm in the East , following the almost equally popular Texaco Star Theater , starring Milton Berle . The campaign arranged to use the El Capitan Theatre , in Hollywood , where several variety shows were then filmed , since its lighting was superior to that of NBC Studios . Nixon told the press that he would be addressing the nation on television , but refused to take any questions about what he might say . 
