PRESQUE ISLE COUNTY ADVANCE-CENTENNIAL ISSUE-July 30. 1971 Central Radio And Telegraph Vital link In Operations Between Lakes Fleet And Plant For nearly 50 years Central Radio Telegraph Company (WLC), a subsidiary of United Slates Steel Corporation, has provided a vital communication link between Great Lakes freighers and the shore. The station here is one of six on the lakes with lakes-wide coverage and one of nine providing the limited FM service. In addition, Central Radio operatesa radio- telegraph service now used mainly for communication with foreign ships sailing on the lakes. Little known except to the lakes seamen, the station is located on the Calcite property of Michigan Limestone. Central Radio was the first to provide ship-to-shore radiotelephone service, beginning that service late in its first year of operation when only a handful of ships were equipped with radiotelephone. Today Central Radio numbers its customers in the hundreds but still maintains its original aim of providing the best possible service in the field of lakes shipping communication. The first equipment was installed and licensed for operation at Michigan Limestone & Chemical Company in May of 1922 with the original call letters of WCAF. The station operated from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and operated as a private station licensed to communicate with the ships of Bradley Transportation Line, Wyandotte Transportation and Boland and Cornelius. Frank Sager, who succeeded Robert Crittendon as supervisor of Central Radio and Telegraph, began his interest in radio as a HAM operator in his home-town of Warren, Ohio, in 1929. His interest in radio brought him his first employment as a radio operator for the Cleveland Cliffs line in 1933. He left the Lake boats of this company to join the old Bradley Fleet and sailed as a radio operator aboard the Carl D. Bradley from 1936 to 1939 when he joined RCA in Cleveland, Ohio. Two years later, in 1941, Mr. Sager moved to Rogers City and became an operator at Central Radio and Telegraph. He and his wife Mildred live at 565 N. 3rd St. in Rogers City. Central Radio has an "on-the-air" crew consisting of Joseph Hassett, who joined the station in 1942, Harvey Peltz, a staff member since 1952, Robert Mix,whose affiliation dates from 1963, Jay Seymour, a staff member since 1964, Raymond Heimberger, who has been on the staff since 1966, and William Pettee, a staffer since 1969. The station, with the call letters WLC (for World's Limestone Center) handles approximately 4OOO paid messages and commercial calls per month. The first transmitter was a one-half K.W. spark set purchased as Navy surplus after the first World War. In a short lime the power was increased to 4 K.W. Later in the year it was learned that a combination 1000-watt radio-telegraph (wireless) and a 500-watt radio-telephone was being manufactured and was available on a rental basis. This was obtained and constituted the first ship-to-shore radio telephone station on the Great Lakes. The transmission of voice by radio was an innovation at that time even in the broadcast field and the quality of transmission could not be compared with that of today. But it was possible to carry on a perfectly understandable conversation most of the time. At about the time the Rogers City station was experimenting with radioelephone, the Navy, which had taken overall of the coastal stations during World War I andcontinued to operate them, decided to close the stations. Thus it appeared at the beginning of the 1923 shipping season that there would be no stations with which radio-equipped ships could communicate. Some of the vessel operators requested that the Michigan Limestone & Chemical open their station to the public to give the ships at least one shore station outlet. The Limestone Company agreed to do so. A license was granted and since that time the station has been serving all who care to use it. Central Radio maintains 24-hour service during the shipping season, using a total of eight men, with three men on duty during peak hours of service. Equipment includes 12 AM transmitters of 1000 watts each, and 3 FM transmitters and the operators monitor 6 AM channels, 3 FM channels and and 2 radio-telegraph channels. Along with its regular message service, Central Radio provides important free service to shippers and seamen. Four times daily weather information directly from Chicago is broadcast on three different frequencies providing a lakes-wide weather service for masters of the lakes vessels. Further, the station receives weather condition reports from ships at widely scattered points on the lakes. Some 60 to 70 ships on the lakes are equipped to provide this information which Central Radio receives and then sends on to Cleveland where it is correlated for a summary of up-to-the-minute weather conditions on all the Great Lakes. In both its commercial business and the free service, Central Radio cooperates closely with ship owners, seamen and the Coast Guard for the protection of life and property at sea. Radio-telephone communication is something of great value on the lakes. One communication can save hours of delay in the movement of vitally needed cargo. Constant, reliable communication with ships allows dock operators to prepare cargoes in advance, reroute ships when it appears that there will be a congestion at a dock and in general to plan plant and dock operations to give the most economical over-all operation. Safety of life and property is of major importance and prompt contact with shore has, on many occasions. been instrumental in the saving of both. ******************************************** Included 2 Photographs whose captions were: Here's how Central Radio's Communication center looked a number of years back when Bob Crittendon, (standing) was manager. Harvey Peltz is the operator in the foreground. Frank Sager, (standing) oversees the operations as manager of Central Radio Telegraph. Others in the photo are operators William Pettee, Robert Mix and Ray Heimberger.