100 Years Ago: Feb. 28-March 6

From The Indianapolis News, Thursday, March 5, 1925: WFBM, the Merchants Heat & Light Co radio station, will formally begin broadcasting at 6:30 tonight with a special program transmitted remotely from the Indianapolis Athletic Club. The program will include selections by the Gus C. Edwards orchestra, playing for the club’s regular dinner and dance crowd, remarks by Mayor Lew Shank and Lt. Gov. Harold Van Orman, and a special musical performance by the Popular Four Quartet and the Schubert Quartet. WFBM radio will not have a studio but will broadcast from any place in the city by a special telephone connection to the Merchants Heat & Light Co Lenore substation five miles southwest of the city. One purpose of WFBM is to advertise Indianapolis as the “convention city of America.” Its use will be free to any person or organization.