“Maybe just in the big cities?”
It was certainly a thing in my neck of the woods in Virginia. There was a morning guy on TV, Irving Sharpe I think his name was. Every winter morning he would extoll the virtues of Hot Dr Pepper. My family usually bought Pepsi when we had carbonated beverages, except in winter when we switched over to Hot Dr Pepper.
Good times.
Ahhh...
The morning show was “Top of the Morning” with Irv Sharp on WDBJ-7 out of Roanoke, Virginia.