Anchors

Dustin Mix & Maria Gibbs
  • 5.0 (1)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED DAILY
Anchors

A podcast about the companies - both past and present - that anchor the small cities of America. smallcitysegment.substack.com

Episodes

  1. 11/15/2024

    WWVA (Wheeling, WV)

    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.'

    1h 29m
  2. Bloch Brothers Tobacco (Wheeling, WV)

    06/19/2024

    Bloch Brothers Tobacco (Wheeling, WV)

    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

    1h 14m
  3. Wheeling Steel (Wheeling, WV)

    04/24/2024

    Wheeling Steel (Wheeling, WV)

    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

    1h 38m
  4. Wheeling, WV

    03/26/2024

    Wheeling, WV

    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

    34 min
  5. Announcing the Anchors Podcast

    03/14/2024

    Announcing the Anchors Podcast

    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

    3 min
  • 5 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

About

A podcast about the companies - both past and present - that anchor the small cities of America. smallcitysegment.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Dustin Mix & Maria Gibbs
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    5
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Dustin Mix
  • Show Website
    Anchors

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada