Our local radio station 1370 WSPD plays a prominent role in “Trouble at Tiedtke’s.” We have taken a few liberties with the history, however.
WSPD began broadcasting in 1921 as “WTAL.” The call letters changed in 1928 when George B. Storer and his brother-in-law J. Harold Ryan purchased the station. The call letters came from the name “Speedene Oil,” a brand owned and marketed by the new station owners. For decades Toledoans will remember the moniker “Speedy 1370" which originally referred to the “Speedene” brand name.
In later years WSPD featured regular broadcasts from Tiedtke’s Department Store including Toledo icon Art Barrie’s “Summit Conference.” His show was broadcast directly from the Seaway Cafeteria in Tiedtke’s.
Though “Trouble at Tiedtke’s” is set in the mid 1920s, we incorporated an Art Barrie-style WSPD radio show into our play and set it in the Seaway Cafeteria, just as what became a Toledo tradition years later.