Logo of Block/Blade Communications

Block Communications Inc. (also known as Blade Communications) is an American privately held holding company of various assets, mainly in the print and broadcast media, based in Toledo, Ohio. The company was founded in 1900 in New York City when Paul Block, a German-Jewish immigrant who came to the United States fifteen years prior, formed an ad representation firm for newspapers. The Block empire grew to encompass many newspapers on the east coast of the US, however with the Great Depression in the 1930s came the loss of all but three properties: the ad representation firm, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the Toledo Blade (where Block eventually settled the company upon its purchase in 1927). After Block's death in 1941, his children took over the company. They eventually passed it on to their grandchildren, who continue to operate it to this day.

Company holdings

Newspapers

Television

Broadcast

Louisville, Kentucky

Lima/Findlay, Ohio

(*) – Serve as translators for WOHL to expand its coverage across the West Ohio TV market

Other markets

Cable

Online

  • Buckeye Access (Dial up Internet)[6]
  • MaxxSouth Broadband
  • TeleSystem (formerly Buckeye Telesystem) [7]
  • Line Systems[8] (Acquired July 2014 and now a division of Telesystem) [9]

Non-Media

  • Metro Fiber & Cable Construction Company (a Toledo-based contractor of fiber optic installation)

Former properties

References

  1. "Phipps flips Lima low-power cluster". Television Business Report. November 29, 2008. Archived from the original on June 1, 2009. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
  2. Sowinski, Greg (December 2, 2008). "WLIO owner buys Fox affiliate, other stations for $2.4 million". The Lima News. Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
  3. About us – Hometown Stations.com
  4. Buckeye Cable
  5. Buckeye Express
  6. Buckeye Access
  7. TeleSystem
  8. Line Systems
  9. Block acquires Line Systems - TeleSystem.us
  10. Archived January 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
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