Block Communications
Block Communications Inc. (also known as Blade Communications) is an American 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-Jewish immigrant who came to the United States fifteen years prior, formed an ad representation firm for newspapers. 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 Toledo "Blade" (where Block eventually settled the company upon its purchase in 1927). After Block's death in 1941, his children took over the company. They eventually passed it on to their grandchildren, who continue to operate it to this day. Company holdings. Television. Broadcast. Louisville, Kentucky Lima/Findlay, Ohio (*) - Serve as translators for WOHL to expand its coverage across the West Ohio TV market Other markets Controversy. In January 2021, Susan Allen Block, a former board member of Block Communications and a member of the company's namesake family, made a Facebook post supporting  the insurrectionists who took part in the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol. In the post Block also used several derogatory terms when describing Vice-President Kamala Harris, even referring to her as a "Whore." This set off a chain of events that ultimately led to Allen Block and Block Communications facing severe backlash from the public and other organizations. Notably, the organization was condemned by the Toledo Bureau of the NAACP, and Governor Mike DeWine's spokeswoman. Allen Block resigned from her position on the Ohio Arts Council after the controversy began.