Welcome to episode four of the anchors podcast. Today we're going to be doing the final installment on Wheeling, West Virginia by talking about the company and radio station, WWVA. WWVA had an over 70 year run Wheeling and became one of the most influential country radio stations in the country.

It transcended three very different owners over that period of time, which we're going to talk about today, adapted through a lot of technological and cultural change, and yet somehow stayed very authentically Wheeling.

This is the story of a company that was part commercial, part civic, part cultural, and 100 percent Wheeling.

Background (1:33)

Chapter 1: John Stroebel, Jr. (20:00)

How a radio wunderkind from Wheeling ended up founding WWVA

Chapter 2: George Storer, Jr. (40:55)

How an observant entrepreneur from Toledo took WWVA to the next level

Chapter 3: Emil Mogul (1:07:20)

How a Madison Avenue ad exec helped WWVA transition into the modern era

Wrap-Up & Takeaways (1:25:30)

Select photos, newspaper clippings, illustrations, etc.:

Hosts: Dustin Mix, Maria Gibbs

Edited and Produced by: Dustin Mix

Podcast Music: Mirrorland Hotel by Benjamin Esterlis

Resources

Background

* Thunderstruck, Erik Larson

* The Antique Wireless Association Review, Volume 21 2008

* The History of the Radio Industry in the United States to 1940

* The Development of Radio, PBS

* History of Commercial Radio, FCC

* About Sarnoff, PBS

* Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America, Wikipedia

* David Sarnoff, Wikipedia

* The immigrant who forever changed news and entertainment., izzit.org

* RCA, Wikipedia

* NBC, Wikipedia

* Big business and radio / by Gleason L. Archer, LL. D, President of Suffolk University

* Measurement in radio

* Broadcast Advertising - The Fourth Dimension, Frank Arnold

* Radio and Broadcast Advertising, Library of Congress

* History of advertising: No 160: The first radio commercials

* The History of Radio Advertisements

* A Brief History of the Radio

* How the Earlier Media Achieved Critical Mass: Radio; From Dots and Dashes To Rock and Larry King, NYTimes

* The history of radio advertising and the state of audio today

* The Economic History of the Radio Industry

* Business Studies: Broadcasting and Its History

* History of Radio to 1926, Gleason Archer

* What Was the First U. S. Radio Station?

* Early Radio Sponsors Few, Far Between

* Notre Dame celebrates 125 years of wireless innovation and education

Chapter 1

* John Charles Stroebel Jr *1894-1957* 8ZW

* Historical records found for John Stroebel, Family Search

* WWVA 50th Anniversary Booklet

* WWVA Flickr

* WWVA 20th Anniversary Booklet

* Radio service bulletin / Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce, January 1928

* Radio service bulletin / Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce no.69-92 (1923-24)

* Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, 1929 Convention

* U.S. Special Land Stations: 1913-1921 Recap, Thomas H. White -- October 7, 2000

* ANTENNA – Uma História – Capítulo I

* Stroebel, working for Westinghouse, setting up first radio station in Brazil

* The Antenna, John C. Stroebel, QST, May 1921

* “American Radio Relay League - A national non-commercial organization of radio amateurs bonded for the more effective relaying of friendly messages between their stations, for legislative protection, and for scientific growth”

Chapter 2

* Heinl Radio Business Letter - Oct. 27, 1930

* Heinl Radio Business Letter - Dec. 18, 1930

* Heinl Radio Business Letter - All of 1930

* WJBK-TV Studios Building

* Storer's WSPD wins Pioneers' `Mike'

* Our Respects to George Butler Storer

* Annual Report of the Secretary of State to the Governor and General Assembly of the State of Ohio, 1928

* Pg 135 shows dissolution date for Standard Steel Tube Company

* The Iron Age

* Pg 1548 - George Storer Sr. acquiring Standard Steel Tube Company

* Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, 1623-1923

* Pg 235 - George Storer Sr. history of moving to Toledo

* A Great Concern: The Shelby Mill Co.'s Plant Whose Capacity is 1000 lbs. a Day And Aggregates $1,500,00 a Year.

* Storer Story Nov-Dec 1962

* Our Respects to: George Butler Storer

* Commercial and Financial Chronicle : July 21, 1928, Vol. 127, No. 3291

* An echo of the gasoline "price war" was noted in Toledo, 0., when the Fort Industry Oil Co., an independent, reduced the price of retail gasoline to 17c. per gallon, with 3c. tax paid, and to 15c. on Saturdays and Sundays. Other companies are holding firm at the 19c. level

* GEORGE B. STORER, BROADCASTER, 75, NYTimes

* Take Me Home, Country Roads

* Wheeling Jamboree, Wikipedia

* Wheeling Jamboree Timeline

* Wheeling Jamboree

Chapter 3

* Billboard Apr 6, 1968

* Emil & WWVA

* How Emil Mogul tests media weekly for Rayco (pg 36)

* Why go for broke on television shows when tape trial runs can cut the risk? (pg 109)

* Copy Chief Promoted at Mogul

* Radio Daily, September 1943

* THE EMIL MOGUL COMPANY has been appointed to place the advertising for The Graham Co., packers of mixed nuts and over 20 varieties of dried vegetables, under the"Redbow" brand name. An extensive campaign, employing radio, will be launched shortly in principal cities covering the Eastern half of the country. Plans are now being formulated for eventual national distribution.

* Agency personnel policies irk Mogul

* Noting the current shortage of agency applicants, Mr. Mogul said four new jobs "go begging" for every qualified college graduate. His advice to students interested in an advertising career: Spend the first two years after graduation at a retail store in a relatively small city -the first, as a salesman behind the coun- ter and the second in the advertising department. 

* The WIGO Story - Atlanta; Emil Mogul

* Mountaineer Jamboree: Country Music in West Virginia 

* Jamboree In The Hills" Expected To Attract 40,000

* Capitol Theatre Collection of WWVA and Jamboree USA Memorabilia, Ohio County Public Library

* A 'New Breed' of Country Music Station Emerging, Billboard Sep. 4, 1965

* WWVA Officially Opens New Home

* WWVA Jamboree 40th Anniversary 1973

* Disk Dollar - American Radio History

* Emil Mogul / WWVA acquisition by Columbia Pictures

* Columbia-Basic merger trimmed to 3 stations 

* Emil Mogul Dies at 92; Founder of Ad Agency, NYTimes

Select Articles from the Wheeling Register:

* The Wheeling Register, August 1, 1910

* Includes cartoon at bottom of front page, alluding to wireless telegraphy as being “The Messenger Boy of the Sea”:

* Feb 11, 1913 - First mention found of J. Strobel & wireless

* Mar 4, 1913 - Wheeling Wireless Association formed by Stroebel

* Dec 26, 1913 - Stroebel gets wireless messages about snow from Canton

* Feb. 6, 1915 - Stroebel’s station designated official to receive gov’t messages

* Sep. 21, 1915 - Stroebel leaves to NYC for job @ National Electric Signaling Co. of Brooklyn

* Feb 22, 1916 - Stroebel is part of gov’t message relay test

* June 1, 1917 - Stroebel promoted by Dept of War as radio inspector of NY

* Dec 29, 1921 - Stroebel moves back home; working for Westinghouse

* Feb 26, 1922 - Stroebel revives Wheeling Wireless Assoc.

* June 13, 1922 - Stroebel tapped to install radio station in Brazil (first in South Amer.)

* July 19, 1923 - Stroebel returns from Brazil

* Nov 8, 1925 - Profile on Stroebel

* Mentions he installed his first set in 1910, the same year as the Dr. Crippen capture

* Dec 13, 1926 - WWVA Licensed

* Dec 14, 1926 - Recap of first WWVA broadcast

* Dec 21, 1926 - Recap of second WWVA broadcast

* Dec 26, 1926 - Preview of third WWVA broadcast

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smallcitysegment.substack.com

Welcome to episode three on Wheeling, West Virginia, where we're going to talk about Block Brothers tobacco. We have a fascinating story of a business that started as a dry goods grocery store and ended up as one of, if not the, leading brand of chewing tobacco in the country. They became famous in the Midwest, and really across the country, for one of the most effective marketing campaigns ever, and also had the exact opposite approach to labor relations as the steel industry in the same exact town.

We are excited to talk about this company, less because of what they actually made - like tobacco is what tobacco is - but because this may bethe epitome of what we're talking about when we talk about anchors and how companies interact with cities and employees and how it gets passed from generation to generation.

Block Brothers still exists in Wheeling today under the ownership of Swisher International, making it now almost 140 years old.

Background (1:28)

Chapter 1: Rivers & Randomness (12:35)

How a random series of events led to Bloch Brothers Tobacco being born

Chapter 2: Ahead of the Curve (29:11)

How the tobacco industry and Bloch Brothers treated labor very differently for the times

Chapter 3: Mailed It (50:12)

How Bloch Brothers leveraged their unique understanding of their customers in their marketing

Wrap-Up & Takeaways (1:11:24)

Resources

* Background & Chapter 1

* Key Dates for Bloch Brothers Tobacco

* Historic South Wheeling National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

* Samuel Bloch - Wheeling Hall of Fame Induction

* South Wheeling Historic Walking Tour Guide

* Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company - The West Virginia Encyclopedia

* Jesse Bloch - Ohio County Public Library

* JESSE A. BLOCH, WHEELING - Published by The West Virginia Biographical Association, 1928

* Jesse Bloch Political Ad, Autumn 1918, Ohio County Library

* Bloch Brothers' 75th Anniversary, Ohio County Library

* History of Greater Wheeling and vicinity, a chronical of progress and a narrative account of the industries, institutions and people of the city and tributary territory, 1912

* Wheeling Cigar and Tobacco Industry, 1886, Ohio County Library

* The Role of Lectors in Cuban Cigar Factories

* The Fame of Mail Pouch, The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer Fri, Jun 09, 1899

* Bloch Brothers Dry Goods Store Ad, The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer Wed, Apr 07, 1875

* Bloch Brothers Dry Goods Store Ads, The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer Mon, Jul 05, 1875

* Transfer Made: The Firm of Bloch Bros. Sell Out to the New Corporation, The Daily Register, Thu, Mar 05, 1891

* Big Men & Industries of West Virginia: Mail Pouch Tobacco and Bloch Brothers, The Wheeling Intelligencer, Thu, Feb 02, 1922

* Bloch Brothers Tobacco Works [Mail Pouch], Ohio County Public Library

* Mail Pouch Ad, “Save the Flags on Back of Bags”

* SAMUEL BLOCH DIES; TOBACCO FIRM HEAD; Wheeling, W. Va., Business Man Began Career as Wholesale Grocer--Had Lived Here, NYTimes

* The History of West Virginia, Old and New, Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 475, Ohio

* The Bloch Family, West Virginia University Library

* OBITUARIES: Former USGA President Bloch Dies at 84

* 1884 Flood Index, Ohio County Library

* The Flood of 1884, Ohio County Library

* Stogie Town, Archiving Wheeling

* The Wheeling “Stogie”, John Bowman (out of print)

* Origins of the word “stogie”

* Marsh Wheeling Stogies, Ohio County Library

* Buckle of the Stogie Belt, Archiving Wheeling

* Solomon Bloch Obituary, Wheeling Daily Intelligencer

* Lunch With Books: "A History of Bloch Brothers Tobacco" presented by Stuart Bloch - April 27, 2010

* The Tobacco Industry in Wheeling, 1931, Ohio County Library

* Samuel S. Bloch, Founder of Bloch Brothers Tobacco Co.

* Historical Marker - Mail Pouch Tobacco "Chew Mail Pouch - Treat Yourself to the Best" — Wheeling National Heritage Area

* Bloch Legacy Continues, The Intelligencer, Nov 5, 2017

* Bloch Brothers Acquisition History

* Augustus Pollack - Crown Stogies - Ohio County Library

* Legendary Locals of Wheeling, By Seán Duffy and Brent Carney

* Wheeling (WV) (Images of America)

* The Jewish Community, City of Wheeling, WV

* Jewish Communities on the Ohio River: A History

* Low River on the Ohio at Wheeling

* Ohio River at Wheeling, National Water Prediction Service

* The Great Flood of 1884 in the Ohio Valley: The Rise and Fall of the Waters From Pittsburgh to Cairo, With Accounts of the Destruction of Property, ... and Important Information and Statistics

* Rescued Wall Hosts A Flood Of Memories

* Ohio County Public Library, Brown Photograph 38: Flood of 1884

* Chapter 2

* Workmen’s Comp Act 1913 - WV

* How the U.S. Supreme Court Deemed the Workers' Compensation Grand Bargain "Adequate" Without Defining Adequacy

* A Brief History of Workers' Compensation

* WORKERS’ COMPENSATION Originally Authored in 1996 by Administrative Law Judge Henry Haselbacher Timothy G. Leach, Esq. C. Scott Masel, Esq.

* Swisher International Profile - IAM District 54

* Gorby, William Hal, "Saints, Sinners, and Socialists on the Southside: Polish Catholic Immigrant Workers, Politics, and Culture in Wheeling, West Virginia, 1890-1930" (2014). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 252. 

* Flag Presentation at Bloch’s, Wheeling Sunday Register Sun, Dec 24, 1893

* A Labor of Love: The Reuther-Wheeling Labor History Archive

* BCTGM News - Spring 2023 - Oldest Local - Bloch Bros. 

* Biography: Augustus Pollack

* Adventures in Archives: History Mysteries Solved (Pollack Stogie Employees Photo)

* Tobacco Workers Union, (Wheeling, W.Va.), Minutes, West Virginia & Regional History Center

* BLOCH WILL ARRIVE FOR SUFFRAGE VOTE; West Virginia Senator Rushes by Special Train to Cincinnati and Goes On.SUFFRAGISTS WIN DELAY Prevent Vote by Anti Who Had Moved to Illinois and ForceAdjournment Till Today., NYTimes

* Radical Ratification: Wheeling’s Role in the 19th Amendment, Weelunk

* Chapter 3

* “CHEW MAIL POUCH TOBACCO, TREAT YOURSELF TO THE BEST” (Mail-in program)

* Trading Stamps Josiah Baker, Vanderbilt Law Review

* Trading Stamps: A Long History, James J. Nagle, NYTimes

* Green Stampede: The Redeeming History of Trading Stamps, Joseph P. Mastrangelo, Washington Post

* Vintage Tobacco Coupons and Vouchers

* Big Mail Pouch Wall Sign - Ford City, Pennsylvania

* History of the old Mail Pouch ghost sign in Jonesborough, Tennessee

* The Barn Painter Hardcover – January 1, 2004 by Harley E. Warrick (Author), Roger Warrick (Illustrator)

* Art & Advertising of Mail Pouch (not in print)

* [20] Elkhart Co, IN - Mail Pouch Barn (14177 IN-120 Bristol, IN)

* Surgeon General’s warning: “It’s Mail Pouch Tobacco. Treat yourself.”, American Dirt

* We called ourselves barn massagers, walldogs or barn lizards, AppalachianHistory.net

* Barns turned billboards, Lancaster Online

* A Real American Idol Celebrates 100th: Mail Pouch, By Jack Goddard

* Harley Warrick - Last of a Breed - Wheeling WV Mail Pouch Tobacco

* Installing the Mail Pouch Barn at the American Sign Museum

* The Side of a Barn: Indiana’s Mail Pouch Tobacco Signs, Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History

* Mail Pouch On the Road with Charles Kuralt - 1975 Documentary Ohio State University Wheeling History

* We Are What We Sell: How Advertising Shapes American Life

* The Barns Remain but the Artists are Forgotten!

* Mail Pouch Barnstormers

* Harley Warrick - The Barn Painter

* Harley Warrick Interview

* Harley Warrick and the Mail Pouch Barns

* ZIM (1977) - Maurice Zimmerman, An Original Mail Pouch Barn Painter

* Maurice Zimmerman – An Original Barn Painter

* Mail Pouch Barns of West Virginia

* Mail Pouch Barns: A Fading American Icon

* Advertising barns : vanishing American landmarks - (hard copy)

* How Wheeling’s Mail Pouch Changed Advertising

* THE LEGACY OF MAIL POUCH TOBACCO BARNS: ICONS OF AMERICAN RURAL LANDSCAPE

* Highway Beautification Act

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smallcitysegment.substack.com

Today we're going to talk about Wheeling Steel. It's easy to argue that this company, in some ways, spanned the better part of 160 years, its origins dating back to 1852. This isn't the type of company you can trace back to a larger-than-life founder or a single ‘eureka’ moment. In many ways, it was born out of the Nail City itself, formed through a merger of the three largest independent iron and steel companies in Wheeling in 1920.

It was named Wheeling Steel for a reason. In its first decade, it employed more than 17,000 people. It had operations spanning almost 30 miles up and down the Ohio River. It was the third largest steel manufacturing company in the country.

But as we'll hear today, it didn't just have recognition in the industry. Its name was also known all over the country. In this episode, we're going to zoom in on three stories from different areas of wheeling steel and discuss what they can teach us both about business and about being a business in a small city.

--

Background (1:30)

Chapter 1: Down to the Last Penny (16:00)

How LaBelle Iron Works set themselves apart from all of their competitors by how they did financial management

Chapter 2: Steely Resolve (52:35)

How two men in particular fought through tough local pressure to innovate new products and processes that kept Wheeling Steel alive

Chapter 3: It’s Wheeling Steel! (01:16:40)

How the musical skills of Wheeling Steel's employees gave it an advantage in the mills

Wrap-Up & Takeaways (01:32:45)

--

Resources:

Wheeling Steel

Iron & Steel in Wheeling, WV

Principo to Wheeling

Wheeling Steel’s Roots Still Run Deep in the Ohio Valley

Wheeling Steel Corp. is Major Producer (1956)

June 21, 1920: Wheeling Steel Created

The Romance of Iron & Steel

Wheeling Corrugating: Making Metalware of Merit, 1931

1934 Wheeling Steel: Ductillite Vintage Print Ad

1934 Ad Wheeling Steel Ductillite Tin

1934 Wheeling Steel: Ductillite SS Bremen Vintage Print Ad

The manufacturing route for tinplate products

History of Iron and Steelmaking in the United States

La Belle Iron Works

La Belle Iron Works / Cut Nails

Nailing Down History, La Belle Company Records, 

Map location

Historic American Engineering Record La Belle Iron Works (La Belle Cut Nail Works) - August 1990

Process Drawings

From Mine to Market, 1926 - images from book

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form - La Belle Iron Works

September 30, 2010: Wheeling-La Belle Nail Company Closes

Balloon Framing

La Belle Nail Making Process

Wheeling (-Pittsburgh) Steel

How Wire Nails are Made

Technology, Cost Accounting, and Management in the Cut Nail Industry of the Upper Ohio Valley, 1865-90 

The Cut Nail Industry 1776-1890 Technology, Cost Accounting and the Upper Ohio Valley (Dissertation, 1979)

Wheeling Iron Works (Top Mill) Price List 1836

"It’s Wheeling Steel!" Radio Show

“It’s Wheeling Steel” Radio Show–A Popular National Radio Show Broadcast from the Heart of Wheeling

The Musical Steelmakers

It’s Wheeling Steel Photos

Wheeling Steelmakers @ World’s Fair

Wheeling Steelmakers in NYTimes

Earl Summers Jr. Audio Interview

Wheeling Hall of Fame: Earl Summers, Jr.

Music Under the Stars: Celebrate 90 Years With Ninth Music Director

Transcript of interview with Earl Summers, Jr., March 2, 1992, for the film "West Virginia"

Radio: Musical Steelmakers (Time)

Wheeling Steel Radio Program Sound Recordings

"It's Wheeling Steel" radio program excerpts 

On January 2, 1938, "It's Wheeling Steel," a live radio program from the Capitol Theater in Wheeling, premiered coast to coast on the Mutual Network.

Recalling It’s Wheeling Steel

The Mabel Files: WWVA Jamboree and “It’s Wheeling Steel”

Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 (pg24)

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smallcitysegment.substack.com

Today, we're going to introduce you to the city of Wheeling, West Virginia. Sandwiched between Ohio and Pennsylvania in the narrow 11 mile wide Northern panhandle of the state.

Wheeling is a hard place to categorize. It sits at a physical transition from the Appalachian mountains to the fields of the Midwest.

Its history has been dominated by iron and steel, but also music and culture. It feels part Victorian, part Appalachian, part Rust Belt, part Nashville.

George Fetherling, a Wheeling native, in his book, Wheeling, A Brief History, said the following, describing the city in the early 1800s.

This was the wonder of Wheeling at the time, the fact that it was a mixture of the transient and the stable, the fleeting and the fixed.

We'll use this first episode to give you a bit of Wheeling's story. This will be followed by three more episodes, each featuring a company that has anchored part of Wheeling's past, Wheeling Steel, Block Brothers Tobacco, and the radio station WWVA.

I hope you'll find the city and these companies as interesting, surprising, and category defying as I have.

—

Resources:

* Wheeling: A Brief History - George Fetherling

* Wheeling Population Dynamics

* Wheeling, WV-OH - Data USA

* Wheeling Nailers - Minor League Hockey

* Bridge Tavern & Grill

* Wheeling Heritage - Self-Guided Tours

* North Wheeling - Weelunk

* Ohio County Public Library

* Mount Wood Overlook: A Community Treasure - Weelunk

* Wheeling Miners - Arena Football

* Waterfront Hall

* Waterfront Hall - Building New Business in Wheeling, WV

* Wheeling Hotel Photos - Ohio Country Public Library

* New-Look Bridge Tavern Reopens in Downtown Wheeling

* Wheeling Flag Description

* Wheeling: The Gateway to the West (1928, West Virginians)

* Wheeling Area Economic Outlook - 2021-2025

* Wheeling University

* Northern West Virginia Community College

* Bridges: Wheeling Suspension Bridge

* Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse "Gallopin' Gertie"

* Henry: The life and legacy of Wheeling’s most notorious brewer - Wheeling Heritage Media

* The History of Wheeling’s Mozart Park - Part 1 & 2

* How a Wheeling Company Became One of the Country’s Largest Pharmaceutical Giants - Weelunk

* The Aspirin Wars

* History of Wheeling Post No. 1, American Legion

* DiCarlo’s Pizza

* DiCarlo’s Pizza: A Cultural Icon

* Wheeling Heritage

* Friends of Wheeling

* Betsy Sweeny: Saving Old Buildings in Wheeling, WV

* Wheeling Intelligencer & News Register

* Orrick Law Firm

* Orrick Global Operations & Innovation Center - Wheeling, WV

* Orrick Marks Wheeling Transformation With a Renaming: The Global Operations & Innovation Center

* Ralph Baxter: Why Orrick Came to Wheeling, WV

* At the Beginning (The American Lawyer)

* Why Doesn't Every Biglaw Firm Have An Office In Wheeling, West Virginia? - Above the Law

* Williams Lea

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smallcitysegment.substack.com

Anchors tells the stories of the companies - both past and present - that anchor the small cities of America.

Places like Columbus, GA, Reno, NV, Wheeling WV, and our home South Bend, IN. These are cities that are a bit too big to be considered rural or small towns - and a bit too small to be called urban centers.

But they are home to a lot of people, a lot of companies, and play a vital role in the fabric of the country.

Today, all of them have similar questions about their futures: 

How do we fit into the ever-changing economy? 

How do we make this a great place to live? 

How do we cultivate an entrepreneurial identity that builds on our strengths and feels authentic to us?

This podcast is an attempt to look to our economic pasts for inspiration about our economic futures. What can the companies that were built alongside these cities, and the cities that were built alongside these companies, tell us about where we might go next?

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smallcitysegment.substack.com