Block Communications

Block Communications, Inc. (BCI) is a privately held family media holding company headquartered in Toledo, Ohio. Rooted in the newspaper advertising firm Paul Block Paul BlockPaul Block (died 1941) was an American newspaper publisher and advertising representative who founded a firm selling national advertising for newspapers in 1900, acquired The Blade of Toledo in 1926 and created the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1927; his family business later became Block Communications.Open the full entry founded in 1900, it long operated The Blade, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh Post-GazetteThe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is a newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, descended from the Pittsburgh Gazette, founded in 1786 as the first newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains. Run by the Block family from 1927 for nearly a century, it has won several Pulitzer Prizes. A three-year labor strike began in 2022, and after its owner announced a closure in 2026, its assets passed to the nonprofit Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism.Open the full entry, several television stations and the Buckeye Broadband cable and internet business.

Contents12 sections

Key facts

1900Origins

In 1900 Paul Block formed a national advertising firm for newspapers, the company’s origin.⁠[1]

1965–2001Expanding Into Cable and Television

The company started Buckeye Cablevision in 1965 and acquired Erie County Cablevision in 1981; in broadcast television it acquired WLIO in 1972, WDRB in 1984, KTRV in 1985, WAND in 2000 and WFTE in 2001, and it started Buckeye Telesystem in 1997.⁠[2]

In October 1982 Blade Communications, now Block Communications, bought out Midwestern Broadcasting and became sole owner of WLIO-TV in Lima, Ohio.⁠[3]

1992Pulitzer Prize for Block Newspapers

Photographer John Kaplan won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for Block Newspapers, for photographs depicting the diverse lifestyles of seven 21-year-olds across the United States.⁠[4]

2004Investigative Reporting Pulitzer for The Blade

The Blade’s Michael D. Sallah, Mitch Weiss and Joe Mahr won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for their series on atrocities by Tiger Force, an elite U.S. Army platoon, during the Vietnam War.⁠[5]

2006Closing the Washington Bureau

In 2006 the family voted to close its 79-year-old Washington bureau, with Post-Gazette publisher John Robinson Block the only family member voting against; he said both papers were in the red and that “If we don’t get relief, we won’t be able to survive.”⁠[6]

May 2024Family Lawsuit and Leadership Change

On May 8 Allan Block, then chief executive and chairman, sued other family members in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, seeking a preliminary injunction to stop a sale of the company; his side said a sale could threaten nearly 1,000 jobs tied to The Blade and the Post-Gazette.⁠[7]

On May 10 president and chief operating officer Jodi Miehls issued a statement acknowledging the suit and saying the company could not comment on pending litigation.⁠[8]

The board then removed Allan Block; his spokesman said he was fired for seeking to enforce his contractual rights. Allan Block owned 25% of the company and had clashed with his twin brother John Robinson Block, publisher of both papers; board member Karen Block Johnese thanked him for 30 years of contributions. Buckeye Broadband then had about 120,000 subscribers.⁠[9]

August 1, 2025Sale of the Television Stations

The company agreed to sell its entire television portfolio to Gray Media for $80 million, including WDRB and WBKI in Louisville, WAND in Decatur, Illinois, WLIO and WOHL-CD in Lima, Ohio, and several low-power stations; its newspapers and cable assets were excluded.⁠[10]

Gray expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approval including waivers of FCC ownership rules.⁠[11]

January 2026Post-Gazette Closure Announced

The company announced that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette would cease publication on May 3, saying it had lost hundreds of millions of dollars over two decades and that continued losses were unsustainable; the same day the U.S. Supreme Court declined the company’s emergency appeal of an NLRB order on health coverage.⁠[12]

April 14, 2026Sale of the Post-Gazette

The company agreed to sell the Post-Gazette, which it had run since 1927, to the nonprofit Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism. Chairperson Karen Johnese said the family believed it had found a responsible steward for local journalism.⁠[13]

September 8, 2026Seeking a Buyer for The Blade

The company said it was trying to sell The Blade’s assets and that the paper would stop publishing at the end of 2026 if no buyer was found; executive Jodi Miehls said years of losses were “simply not sustainable.” Toledo NewsGuild members had earlier rejected, 46–25, a company contract proposal that would have halved severance and allowed AI use and outsourcing of union work.⁠[14]

Founded in 1835, The Blade then had 119 employees and printed only Thursday and Sunday editions.⁠[15]

Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts

Block Communications: Official website: https://www.blockcommunications.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[16]

Buckeye Broadband: Official website: https://www.buckeyebroadband.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[16]

The Blade: Official website: https://www.toledoblade.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[1]