# Great Lakes History - voice ship to shore radio service beginning mid 1930s



## kewl dude (Jun 1, 2008)

Obviously I cannot speak to the rest of the world, but on the four western Great Lakes - Superior, Huron, Michigan and Erie - but not Ontario - ships had voice ship to shore telephone service beginning in the mid 1930s. Before WW II, call-sign WMI in Lorain, Ohio, WAD in Port Washington, WI, and WAS in Duluth, MN. Lorain Radio was the name of the service. All of the shipboard equipment was provided by Lorain and labeled Lorain Radio. Installations could be leased or bought regardless Lorain provided technicians that visited the ships to maintain the equipment.

Picking up the phone aboard ship a shore side operator answered and connected your call. When using the ship to shore phone it was necessary to say "over" when you were done talking, so the operator knew to switch the connections. Morse code radiotelegraphy came to the Lakes around 1910, with, eventually several competing companies; but was pretty much out of business after WW II due to Lorain Radio. 

ALL Lorain Radios came with free services. Like broadcasting voice weather forecasts, given in a series of spoken numbers, that one figured out with a paper list of the code meanings. Lorain maintained a listening watch on emergency frequencies ashore and got the US and/or Canadian Coast Guards in the loop right from the beginning of a possible situation. Eventually Lorain extended its service to Montreal then later to the ocean end of the St. Lawrence Seaway with stations in the US and Canada.

http://www.imradioha.org/WMI.htm
http://www.imradioha.org/Great_Lakes.htm
http://www.imradioha.org/Personal_Pages/Bobel.htm

https://lib.bgsu.edu/finding_aids/items/show/740
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio - home to MANY Great Lakes shipping small historical objects, and do***ents. This is a history of Lorain Electronics Corporation, as it was renamed somewhere along the line.

Greg Hayden


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## Baulkham Hills (Jul 11, 2008)

I always wanted to know when Morse disappeared from the Great Lakes, so thanks for that.


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