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To Madge with Love by Scott Spears (WMRN-2026-054) is a digitized 66-page biographical booklet about longtime WMRN broadcaster Madge Cooper Guthery, preserved within the WMRN Personalities and Staff Documentation Collection. Written by Scott Spears with Chris Collins, the booklet was digitized from a Marion Public Library reference copy. No formal publication date appears in the scanned pages, although the library copy contains a December 6, 2011 catalog or accession stamp.

The booklet documents Guthery’s life and long association with WMRN, beginning with her arrival at the station in 1941. It covers her work as director of women’s activities, continuity writer, and WMRN’s first woman program director, along with her later local-history program The Way We Were and her extensive community service. Photographs and contextual material also document WMRN, Marion broadcasting culture, Ray Marsh, Rod Serling, Scott Spears, and other people connected with Guthery’s life and career.

Career and Historical Topics Documented in Booklet
1941 – Madge Cooper Guthery begins her association with WMRN shortly after the station goes on the air.
Director of Women’s Activities – Guthery develops and presents programming directed toward women in the Marion community.
Continuity Writer – Guthery writes station copy, announcements, and other broadcast material for WMRN.
First Woman Program Director – Guthery becomes the first woman to hold the program director position at WMRN.
The Way We Were – Guthery later hosts a local-history program focused on Marion’s people, places, and community memories.
Community Service – The booklet documents Guthery’s involvement in civic, historical, and community organizations.
WMRN Broadcasting History – Photographs and narrative material provide additional context concerning WMRN-AM, WMRN-FM, station personalities, and Marion broadcasting culture.

Historical Significance

This booklet preserves one of the most detailed known accounts of Madge Cooper Guthery’s life and broadcasting career. It is especially useful because it documents her arrival at WMRN during the station’s earliest years, her progression through several important programming and writing positions, and her role as WMRN’s first woman program director.

The item also preserves a broader history of WMRN and Marion broadcasting through photographs, personal recollections, and contextual material involving station employees, community figures, and local media history. As a biographical document, it helps connect Guthery’s personal story with the institutional history of WMRN and the development of local radio in Marion, Ohio.

Exhibit Label

To Madge with Love: The Story of Marion’s First Lady of Broadcasting, Madge Cooper Guthery. c. 2011. Written by Scott Spears with Chris Collins. Digitized biographical booklet. This item is preserved as part of the WMRN Radio History Archive.

The post To Madge with Love: The Story of Marion’s First Lady of Broadcasting, Madge Cooper Guthery first appeared on The WMRN Radio History Archive.

WMRN 53 Years Serving the Marion Area Promotional Timeline Handout (WMRN-2026-053) is a printed station-history and anniversary handout associated with WMRN-AM / WMRN-FM, preserved within the WMRN Promotional Ephemera Collection. The handout was likely produced in or after September 1993, based on its “53 Years” anniversary language and the latest milestone printed on the sheet.

The piece features a blue-and-white design headed “Celebrating 53 Years of Serving the Marion Area,” with a central color photograph of the WMRN building, flagpole, landscaping, and antenna towers. The lower portion presents a selected institutional timeline of WMRN milestones from the station’s 1940 sign-on through early 1990s facility and operational improvements.

Timeline Milestones Printed on Item

• December 23, 1940 – WMRN-AM signs on the air under the auspices of Robert and Frank Mason.
• February 1949 – TV writer/producer Rod Serling is hired under a college work-study program.
• May 1953 – WMRN-FM signs on the air simulcasting WMRN’s AM signal with 25,000 watts of power.
• November 1967 – WMRN-FM ceases simulcasting and offers its own “beautiful music” format.
• January 1971 – A major addition is completed, more than doubling space for studios, offices, and transmitting equipment.
• April 1, 1981 – “Beautiful music” is replaced with a contemporary country music format.
• December 23, 1990 – WMRN celebrates its golden anniversary.
• April 1992 – WMRN-FM becomes “Hot Country-107.”
• September 1993 – WMRN-AM-FM completes a major capital improvements project, computerizing station operations with digital audio technology.

Historical Significance

This handout documents how WMRN presented its own institutional history to listeners and the Marion community during the early 1990s. It is especially useful because it combines facility imagery, station anniversary language, AM/FM development, programming changes, and technology modernization into a single promotional object.

The item also preserves WMRN’s public narrative of continuity: from the Mason-era 1940 sign-on, through Rod Serling’s early station association, FM expansion, format changes, Hot Country 107 branding, and early digital operations. As printed ephemera, it helps show how local radio history was summarized, commemorated, and distributed outside the broadcast itself.

Exhibit Label

WMRN 53 Years Serving the Marion Area Promotional Timeline Handout. c. 1993. Printed promotional timeline handout / station history flyer. This item is preserved as part of the WMRN Radio History Archive.

The post WMRN 53 Years Serving the Marion Area Promotional Timeline Handout first appeared on The WMRN Radio History Archive.

Speaking directly to listeners, Serling asks what the date means to them and whether the sacrifices made during the war are still remembered. Referencing battlefields such as Cassino, Anzio, Normandy, and Sicily, he reminds audiences that the names on the map represent the lives of soldiers who fought and died during the conflict.

The commentary reflects the atmosphere of the late 1940s, when the world was only beginning to emerge from World War II while facing new tensions in the early Cold War and the dawn of the atomic age. Serling urges listeners to remember the cost of victory and to reflect on the responsibility of preserving peace.

Although Victory in Europe Day is officially recognized as May 8, 1945, Serling frames his remarks around May 6, 1948, the date of the broadcast, using it symbolically as a moment of remembrance three years after the end of the war in Europe.

This recording captures Serling early in his broadcasting career, years before he would gain national recognition as the creator and narrator of The Twilight Zone. Today, the broadcast stands as both a piece of WMRN history and an early example of the thoughtful voice that would later make Rod Serling one of the most influential writers in American television.

The post Rod Serling Commentary on V-E Day Anniversary — WMRN Broadcast (May 6, 1948) first appeared on The WMRN Radio History Archive.