Block Communications

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Block Communications (also known as Blade Communications) is a 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 immigrant who came to the United States fifteen years prior, formed an ad representation firm for newspapers. Through the 1910s and 1920s, 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 Blade of Toledo (where Block eventually settled the company upon its purchase in 1927). After Block's death in 1941, his sons took over the company and later his grandchildren (one of which, Allen Block, is company chairman).

[edit] Company holdings

Newspapers

Television

KTRV Nampa-Boise, Idaho (Fox)
WAND Decatur, Illinois (NBC)
WDRB Louisville, Kentucky (Fox; operated by Block property Independence Television along with WMYO)
WMYO Louisville, Kentucky (My Network TV)
WLIO Lima, Ohio (NBC)
WT05 Toledo, Ohio (The CW cable; operated by Block property Buckeye Cablevision)

Cable Systems

Buckeye CableSystem, Inc. http://www.buckeyecablesystem.com (systems in Toledo, Ohio and Sandusky, Ohio, latter officially known as Erie County Cablevision)
Buckeye Telesystem, Inc. (phone unit of Buckeye Cablevision) http://www.buckeyetelesystem.com
Buckeye Express (High Speed Internet) http://www.buckeye-express.com
Buckeye Access (Dial up Internet) http://www.buckeye-access.com

Cable Television Networks

WT05 (see above)
Buckeye Cable Sports Network

Non-Media Holdings

Corporate Protection Services (Sold to Guardian Alarm Co. of ToledoGuardian News Release)
Metro Fiber & Cable Construction Company (a Toledo-based contractor of fiber optic installation)