TOLEDO (WTOL) - In 1958, Toledo Ohio, like the rest of the nation, was on the cusp of change. In the post-World War II world of sending rockets into space, dancing to rock 'n' roll music, and driving long and colorful cars with big fins on modern four-lane highways, there was this thing called TV. Television.
The electronic altar was strategically positioned for best viewing in just about every living room in America, giving us a glimpse of the world like we’d never seen it before. It had 12 VHF channels available on its round dial, but in Toledo, even by the late ’50s, there was only one in use by WSPD-TV. But in 1958, that would change.
WTOL TV, Reams Broadcasting, was about to open up a new channel for Toledo viewers. Channel 11. Saturday, Dec. 6, 1958, at 7 p.m. was the official sign-on. The exact moment when Toledo was officially given a new eye on the world. As an impressionable kid of 9 years old, living in nearby Genoa, I remember my older brother and I watching the test pattern that Saturday, waiting for the big moment to arrive.
This was a huge event for those of those growing up and being nurtured in this new TV-centric world. We loved television. They were our computers and smartphones of the day. Up to this point in our analog television-watching childhood, we had been often forced to squint if we wanted to see some of our favorite shows that were only available from those faraway Detroit stations.
This meant trying to focus through the veil of “snow” of a blurry channel, or spending hours adjusting the rabbit ears antenna atop the set, or running outside to manually twist the steel mast to fine tune the direction of the alien-looking antenna that captured those invisible signals in the sky.
I wish I could tell you that I remember the exact moment that WTOL went “live” and who was on the screen. I can’t. Memory is now as selective as picking a good show to watch from the Peach Section of The Blade used to be. What I do remember is that after WTOL took to the airwaves, we could watch a whole new lineup of shows that soon became staples in home viewing. Not just in our house, but throughout Northwest Ohio. Shows like the “Twilight Zone,” or “Have Gun, Will Travel”, “Gunsmoke,” Jackie Gleason, “The Phil Silvers Show,” Jack Benny and comedian Red Skelton.
These shows became a part of the American cultural fabric. Icons of the era brought to our eyes on Channel 11, as were other memorable moments and names, from sports to news, national and local. The life of the world and our neighborhoods played out every waking hour on the wooden box in the living room. Little did we know at the time, how much and what effect this new viewing opportunity in Toledo would mean to us and change our lives.
It also introduced us to Toledo people that we would come to know as virtual friends. People who would play larger than life roles as news broadcasters and entertainers. To name a few, Gordon Ward, Oscar Huff, John Saunders, Joe Ashton, Mr. Thistledown (Mr. T), Miss Connie of “Romper Room,” Don Edwards, the Tabner Brothers, Doug and Orris, Joe Gillis and many others
Many years and six decades have now passed since December of 1958 when WTOL-TV took to the air. The world has changed. Toledo has changed. I have changed. WTOL has changed.
And as we progress from our analog roots to the new digital frontier, what the future holds, we can’t say for sure. But the 9 year old boy inside of me knows that WTOL TV will be there.
