Historic WLIO TV

09/24/2023

Talk about bringing the HITS to Lima! Here's some swag from the past. A WIMA flyswatter. Behold the sleek mid-century styling. When WCIT signed on in 1964, they were a daytime only station, while WIMA was licensed for 24-hour operation. The emphasis on "Night and Day" and "Full Time," along with the modern styling, leads me to believe these were given out in the mid-sixties or so. "Hey, gang! Come on out to our live broadcast and get your free WIMA flyswatter!" Don't laugh. Before whole house air conditioning became more common in during the seventies and eighties, you needed these things.

07/29/2023

Time to dig into the old mailbag. Here's a question: Why did you guys shorten your tower?

Some years ago, American television stations moved from analog to digital transmission. With that change, and the mandated move to new channels, we needed new antennas that wouldn't safely install on our 500 foot tower at Rice and Woodlawn. We built a new tower just north of Lima that stands 600ft* and accommodates the new antennas safely and at a better height. The old tower was then lowered to its present height of 360ft for safety, and because we just don't need a tall tower at the studios anymore.

Stay tuned for more educational fun. But now, it's time for a word from our sponsor.
*Tower heights are approximate.

Ipana Toothpaste commercial, transferred from an original 16mm print from my personal collection.

06/06/2023

Hey gang. To answer a question I've been getting lately, yeah, our broadcast signal has been sketchy lately. It's an atmospheric phenomenon scientifically known as Troposphere Ducting. Put another way, the upper atmosphere is causing TV and radio signals to bounce around and land hundreds of miles from where they should, interfering with local reception. Like the haze from the wildfires in Canada, there's nothing we can do about it. But feel free to try tuning in stations from as far away as Chicago, Cleveland, or anywhere else.

05/18/2023

OK. Here it is. The 70th Anniversary Special. Enjoy.

Hometown Stations is the region's leader for local news, weather, and sports and we cover the stories you want to see all around West Central Ohio. Have a st...

05/09/2023

In Frank Miller's novel "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" a narrative device used throughout the book is seeing the story told through television news coverage. As the story unfolds, we can see how the 24-hour news cycle - a prediction of Miller's based on the advent of CNN, CNN Headline News, and as I recall a third channel (Fox is not yet a reality) - immediately creates a divisive drama over Batman. In a blink-and-you-miss-it panel, another cause of the over abundance of non-stop news coverage is revealed when a news reporter tells us the television writers strike is now in its fourth year, but this won't affect programming according to network president James Olsen.

While I support the Writers Guild of America in their cause, I can't help but notice the disruption to our business a strike creates. The late night shows, not exactly celebrating a heyday in an era when 15 minutes of Robot Chicken can clobber Fallon, are already in reruns. Stale Trump jokes will not age like fine wine.

A common misconception is that the writers strike of 2008 caused the surge in reality TV. Not so. American Idol was already a beast, and while some shows received an expanded episode run (Great Race) for others it was business as usual. The most notable victims of the '08 strike were The Office and Big Bang Theory, who despite suffering a shortened season that year, are now doing barnburner biz in syndication.

With this strike, I predict a similar effect. Most shows are already finished for the season. It's the scheduling for next season that will take a hit, and to solve that problem you'll see more of what networks are already doing: placing a greater reliance on news. Days of Our Lives was replaced by news earlier this season. Look for that trend to continue over all the networks. News is cheap, flexible, and with mass shootings on a weekly basis wrecking the schedule, why even bother producing General Hospital?

05/04/2023

The 70th Anniversary Show is scheduled for Saturday May 13 at 7PM, on NBC Lima.

04/20/2023

As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of television in Lima, I can't help but point out a coincidence. Shortly after we began broadcasting, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was celebrated on 2 June, 1953. As we celebrate 70 years on the air, we are preparing to broadcast the coronation of King Charles.

04/16/2023

OK, we're going to pick up the pace here on the history page. We have new subscribers and a 70th Anniversary show coming. Keep watching Your Hometown Stations for details. Also, we a YouTube channel, just search "Hometown Stations" in You Tube, subscribe and ring the bell to catch the latest posts.

To help get you there, here's a link to the 1994 Star Spangled Spectacular interview. Jed Metzger reminds us how hot it was that year. Hey, Jed, nice hair. Although I shouldn't joke. I wish I still had my 1994 hair.

Mike Carpenter from Your Hometown Stations interviews Then Red Cross Director Jed Metzger at Lima's first Star Spangled Spectacular in July 1994Hometown Stat...

10/14/2021

We say farewell to our friend George Dunster. His obituary tells the story.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/limaohio/name/george-dunster-obituary?pid=200383548&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=obitsharebeta&fbclid=IwAR3VtmSLCtDS8VkXxrOE01CpJORQqt-d4YCPniKv44NYufPj5oVOk4BvwMA

View George Dunster's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

08/09/2021

We celebrate the 50th Anniversary of WLIO Television!

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Wait a minute, you say. There’s been a TV station in Lima a lot longer than 50 years, you say. Yes. The TV station first began broadcasting in 1953. The first station was licensed as WLOK. In 1955, new ownership took over, and the station became part of the WIMA group of stations. If you’re thinking back to the 50’s and 60’s, you’re thinking of WIMA-TV. This is the 50th Anniversary of WLIO. So, why did the call letters change?

From 1955 through the sixties, WIMA AM, FM, and TV, had been one big happy family. But nothing lasts forever – especially in broadcasting. In 1971, Northwestern Ohio Broadcasting’s president George Hamilton turned 68 years old. A veteran of World War Two where he served as a Major in the Air Force, Hamilton was now retired as chairman of the board of the First National Bank of Lima. And now the time had come to retire from broadcasting.

FCC rules had changed over the years. In television’s infancy, in most cases only other media – newspapers and radio stations – had the financial and technical resources to take the gamble on TV. And it only made sense for radio to forge ahead into the new medium. Radio hosts became TV hosts. Radio engineers had the knowledge base to step into the technical wizardry of television. It was only logical. But as television advanced, concerns were raised about the news media falling under the control of only a privileged few companies. As a result, the Federal Communications Commission was now encouraging diversification of radio and television ownership.

Locally, this meant Hamilton couldn’t just sell the entire AM, FM, TV group to one company. (The rules allowed for an AM/FM combo of radio stations to remain together, but separate programming of these stations was strongly encouraged.) So, in order for the sale of WIMA-TV to proceed, we had to divest ourselves of the radio stations, whether we wanted to or not.

On August 1, 1971, the breakup was official, with a new company - Lima Broadcasting, with James Meredith as the president – now running the radio stations. By August 10, 1971, Les Rau is named the new manager of WIMA Radio.

For the television station, still legally named WLOK Incorporated, a new corporation was chartered in June of 1971 named Lima Communications Corporation. A newspaper, the Toledo Blade, would be the next owner. The FCC allowed this “cross ownership” as long as the two media were in their own separate media markets: Toledo and Lima. Thus, WLIO’s broadcast signal was restricted to not extend into the Toledo TV region.

The eventual disclosed sale price is one-point-five million. In today’s dollars, that’s about what just one of our transmitters costs.

On Sunday August 29, 1971, George E. Hamilton died at the age of 68. The following Wednesday, September 1, WIMA-TV officially became WLIO.