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Do not adjust your sets: Early radio, TV history are intertwinedJun 17, 2009 (The Lima News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Radio fever. It's hard to imagine now, but Allen County was stricken in the 1920s. According to the 1976 History of Allen County, "Lima had many prominent pioneers and can boast of numerous 'firsts' in the field of radio." Amateurs helped work out the bugs. Charles R. Allison Jr. operated a ham radio station under the call letters W8BCF. He reportedly made his own equipment when he was a student at Central High School. He invented a process that helped reduce station fading but he didn't patent it. Robert Stolzenbach also made his own equipment. "The crashing blasts from his rotary spark gap could be heard all over the neighborhood," the history book reports, explaining his early transmitter. W.B. West's claim to fame was designing the transmitting and receiving equipment used on a polar expedition. "The charming (and often irascible) West operated the Northwestern Radio and Instrument Company in the 100 block of West Spring Street. He helped many a local boy to construct radios," the history book reports. Radio quickly became more than just something for the hobbyist. The possibilities were exciting. "Smaller cities, towns and even villages of Allen County are following in the path of the metropolitan centers and installing the miracle sets for every conceivable purpose," a story from the May 14, 1922, Republican Gazette reported. It was big news. The papers reported radio was going to be installed at the tuberculosis hospital and at St. Rita's Hospital for the benefit of the patients. A tower was installed on the roof of the Argonne Hotel, making it the second highest tower in the state (at 180 feet). A feature story was written on the Rev. R.C. Crosby, pastor at First United Brethren Church at Spring and Union streets, about his hobby of making radios. Vaudeville performers were flocking to the airwaves, eager to use their talents on a new medium. And, yes, there was worry that newspapers would be outdone by the invention. The county's first station was licensed Oct. 24, 1922, to Harry P. Maus out of 404 N. Main St. He was president of Page Organ Co., and commercials for his business were in heavy rotation. His programming consisted of playing phonograph records. The license was canceled a short time later. At about the same time, an idea sprung up from George Quatman and Lima Telephone Co. Called a "wiredwire-less," the station was called HRES, or Home Radio Equipment Service. Programs were sent into homes via telephone lines. All the resident needed was a loudspeaker on his end, and the piped-in music and interviews could be heard. "Naturally, such athletic clashes as the Ohio State-Michigan football games were rebroadcast by HRES. Also the monumental South-Central High School football skirmishes were 'aired' live from the sidelines with Ed Ward and Gary Brentlinger handling the microphone," the history book reported. It was apparently popular, being piped into 3,000 homes for about $2 per month. Musicians like Ron Dearth and his Hawaiian guitar and Joel Hersh and his musical saw were featured. HRES was even approached by a magician who wanted to do card tricks on the air. (He was turned away.) HRES expanded into Ada, Delphos, Van Wert and Defiance before losing steam and going off the air in 1936. Then there was Herbert Lee Bly, who came to Lima from Maryland. While out East, Bly was president of two stations. His WBLY was the first Lima station to attempt news reporting and selling ads. The station aired interviews with boys who were to compete in the Soap Box Derby, for instance. His original studios were at the Lima Club at Rice and Woodlawn avenues. "Lima's radio station is the only one in the United States to be named after its owner. Operated by Herbert Lee Bly, the station was designated WBLY on the request of Bly. He was able to secure this designation, he said, simply because it did not conflict with any other stations," an article from April 14, 1937, reported. Bly's station was licensed to Fort Industry Co. of Toledo and Detroit on Oct. 24, 1938. The call sign was changed a few months later to WLOK. Studios were set up in the Lima Trust Building on the square, where a young Hugh Downs first interviewed and received a job as an announcer. He started May 18, 1939, making $7.50 a week. "(Downs) first became known as a radio personality for his man on the street interview and within a year was named program director," the history book reports. Northwestern Ohio Broadcasting Corp., formed by George E. Hamilton, Robert Mack and William Rickman, started WIMA. The station went live at 11:50 a.m. on a Sunday in 1948, operating out of studios upstairs of Feldman's/Blattner's store at 223 N. Main St. An ad boasted the coverage to be "the station of sports/the station of stars." A featured show was "Easter's Parade," by Easter Straker. Straker, assisted by DJ Cliff Willis, had the 10 to 11 a.m. time slot for 23 years. FM hit town, allowing musical programming in stereo. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, TV was on the scene. The first TV signal arrived at Murphy Electric Inc., 304 S. Main., in April 1948, a story reported. It was described as lucky that Lima could even pick up the signal considering the topography, and Murphy Electric caught it using a 925-foot tower. The race was on. WIMATV announced plans for its Channel 35, and WLOK-TV announced plans for its Channel 73. Both were to begin in early 1954. WLOK set to building a 300-foot tower at Rice Avenue. A Zenith television advertisement of the time had a bit of explaining to do: "Yes! You can tune both UHF and VHF stations with one knob! No need to pay for dozens of channels you'll never use!" The fine print directs the reader to a Zenith dealership, but no store is listed on the ad. WLOK's inaugural program started at 8 p.m. April 17, 1953, featuring an invocation led by Dr. J. Ira Jones of Trinity Methodist Church, the Rev. William J. McKeown of St. Rose Catholic Church and Rabbi Myron B. Movsky of Temple Beth Israel-Shaare Zedek. Former Congressman Robert F. Jones gave a "dedicatory address." (His services were later put to use on WIMA's inaugural program as well.) And then the musical chairs begin. Northwestern Ohio Broadcasting Corp. (WIMA) bought out WLOK. The company shuttered WLOK-radio in 1954. WLOK-TV shortly thereafter became WIMA-TV, Channel 35. WIMA-radio was bought by Lima Broadcasting in 1971. Its offices in the 600 block of West Market Street were built in 1975. The Lima Communications Corp. (parent company, The Toledo Blade) bought out WIMA-TV in 1972 and changed its call letters to WLIO-TV. In 1997, Jacor Communications Inc. purchased WIMA/WIMT, and Clear Channel Communications Inc. entered the picture in short order. What a long way we've come since the inception of radio, where the following novel idea was published May 7, 1922, in the Republican Gazette: "Lima radio operators favor a plan by which each broadcasting station of national note may be permitted to send on its own wavelength so that receivers can adjust their sets to whichever entertainment they prefer to hear." You can comment on this story at www.limaohio.com. To see more of The Lima News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.limanews.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Lima News, Ohio Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 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