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Paul Block emigrated from Germany
to upstate New York in 1885, and began in the newspaper
business as a young man in Elmira, NY, and later in New
York City. In 1900, he left a secure job to form his own
ad rep firm which sold national advertising for client
newspapers. By 1927 he was publisher of 11 newspapers located
in such cities as New York City, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cleveland,
Detroit, Toledo, and Memphis. Though the Depression of
the 1930s took away many of his assets, at the time of
his death in 1941, he still had the rep firm and three
newspapers, one in Pittsburgh and two in Toledo.
His two sons, Paul, Jr., and William,
and the next two generations of Blocks and their employees
would build upon those assets to develop the Block Communications,
Inc. of today – a privately owned diversified media
company.
The Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo
were acquired in 1926 and 1927 respectively; Buckeye Cablevision,
Inc., was started in 1965, and Erie County Cablevision
was acquired in 1981. In broadcast TV, BCI acquired WLIO
in 1972, WDRB in 1984, KTRV in 1985, WAND
in 2000, and WFTE in 2001. A construction firm, Metro Fiber & Cable
Construction, was started in 1994, and Buckeye Telesystem,
Inc., was started in 1997. |
