By Marjorie Waterfield
The story of early radio in Toledo is historic but most of us recall a different era of local radio station WSPD. Everyday life in Toledo in the 1940s was a far different lifestyle from today. Nearly every home had a radio in the 1940s but there were only a handful of stations available – and only two local stations – WSPD and WTOL. The heart of Toledo radio was the station located on Jefferson Avenue called WSPD – 1370 on your dial! The building was around the corner from the Western Union Office and had a beautiful Art Deco Front.
The world, national and local news came to citizens either by the newspaper or the radio. The nationally broadcast network soap operas in the daytime and comedies or dramas in the evening were not the only bill of fare. WSPD radio always offered many local programs.
In the early 1940s WSPD had a program for local ladies in which to participate. Women’s groups signed up for tickets to attend the broadcast. PTA groups, bridge clubs and other organizations were excited when their big day arrived. The large studio at the end of the long hall in the studio had chairs set up for the ladies who arrived in their best dresses, hats, gloves and high heels. There were no jeans or sandals worn by women downtown in those days. The program included some local music and interviews but primarily ladies from the studio audience participated in fun quizzes and games in hopes of winning a small prize to take home. The station program also had a daily program with cooking demonstrations and offered the recipes by mail if you sent in a request.
If you switched on your radio as you ate your breakfast you were likely to hear a local program of what would now be called country western music by “Lola and the Smith Tennesseans.” That was the same Lola Smith who was also the organist at WSPD for many years. On this “hillbilly” music program Lola played the guitar and her husband and others accompanied her as they sang songs from their Tennessee roots – Grand Old Opera style.
At 8 a.m. a full fifteen minute newscast was bought to you by none other than Jim Uebelhart – the mainstay newscaster for many years at WSPD. He ended each newscast with his famous sign off line, “This is Jim Uebelhart filing Gas Company newscast #342”. Uebelhart also did a newscast at noon and at six o’clock!
If you were at the station it was exciting to see the teletype machine churning out the latest news of the world or of emergency events as they happened. Just before air time the newscaster would rip the paper from the machine and head to the control booth – where he would quickly prepare his broadcast.
Friday afternoons offered young school children an open door to the studio to take part in “The Ginny Wood Story Hour”. Being in fourth grade we took the Western Avenue bus downtown after school and walked a few short blocks to WSPD. Once inside we were seated in the large studio at the end of the hall.
Before the program began some children were chosen to take part in that week’s episode. It was always a well-known, scripted children’s story.
Some children were picked to play the character parts and others were to do the sound effects. This was the most exciting – as the sound effects over the radio sounded so real. Once there you found out the sound of horses running were really two pieces of wood clapped swiftly together or the sound of a person walking up and down stairs was created by a person clapping their hands loudly. Doors slammed shut and stairs creaked…and you felt you were in on the secret. In the background of the story line was the ever present music that added to the drama. It was played on the organ by Lola Smith. A short rehearsal was run through and the program began.
When the episode was completed we left the studio and walked around the corner to the bus stop on the corner by the Commodore Perry Hotel. Inside Shapiro’s Drug Store, we had a Coke at the soda fountain while we waited for the Western Avenue bus to take us home. All this time we were on our own – not an adult in sight or anyone checking to see when we would arrive or leave. What a different world it was!
The unique feature of this program was the fact it was ‘transcribed’ [an early version of prerecorded]. Saturday mornings on WSPD there were several national network children’s programs: “Let’s Pretend”, “A Date with Judy” and others; but, the most exciting was the local “The Ginny Wood Story Hour”. You could listen on your own home radio to the program you had attended or took part in the day before. It was a real thrill.
WSPD’s “Kiddie Karnival” with Uncle Jewels also spotlighted musically talented young people in the Toledo area for many years. It was sponsored by Kuhlman’s Potato Chips, a local commodity. Many talented youngsters got their start on “Kiddie Karnival”. Can you believe we actually cheered and clapped while listening to children ‘tap dance’ over the radio? Not only that – we fought to see who could sit closest to the big old floor model Zenith radio!
Toledo Gospel Tabernacle broadcast on WSPD every Sunday morning for many years from the sanctuary on Monroe Street. A sermon by the Reverend Louis H. Ziemer and lovely Christian music could be enjoyed by those who were shut ins or could not make it to their favorite church for some reason.
Gospel music was also enjoyed on Sunday mornings played by “Two Henrys, Gene and Paul” on the steel guitars. Their theme song was “Beyond the Sunset”. Lovely, sentimental poetry was read as they played their music in the background. One such poem was titled, “If You Go First and I Remain”. Fittingly the program was sponsored by the Abele Funeral Home on Cherry Street.
Mitch Woodbury was the local version of Walter Winchell in New York City. His fifteen minute broadcast at 7:30 p. m. on WSPD told listeners what was happening on the Toledo social scene, what celebrities might be appearing in town or what movies were worth seeing.
Not all programming was done within the walls of the studio. Once in a while a remote program was done, sometimes outdoor weather reports were given and often “Sidewalk Interviews” were broadcast from downtown locations. At local events such as the “Home and Sports Show” held at the Civic Auditorium, WSPD usually had a reporter on hand to talk to folks on the scene.
As a new media competitor called “television” loomed in the near future, WSPD capitalized on it and actually set up their first television demonstration on March 21, 1948. No one thought television would ever become a reality, however. My father kept his certificate from that event as one of the first persons in Northwestern Ohio to have been televised by radio Station WSPD!
Late Friday and Saturday nights WSPD had a program called “Midnight Express” for many years. It was a disk jockey type program which played the popular music records of the day. Listeners sent in their requests or called them into the station. The music was all played on the old 78 r. p. m. records. If you were having a pajama party or a house full of guests – what a thrill it was to have them announce “And now we will play ‘Slow Boat to China’ for all of those at the pajama party of Susan Smith” or ‘”Good Night Sweetheart’ for John and Mary Goodwin who were just married yesterday!”
Yes, radio today still has its local programming and loyal followers but with cable and the Internet it will never have the ambience in everyone’s home it had in the 1940s!