History Detectives
Monday, August 17, at 9 p.m.
on WKAR-HD and WKAR-23

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Charlotte, Michigan, Plays Lead Role in "History Detectives"

Charlotte, Michigan, residents and experts from Michigan State University are featured in the August 17 edition of “History Detectives” on WKAR-HD/23. The program airs at 9 p.m.

The segment focuses on a discovery by a ham radio enthusiast living in Colorado. While sorting through a bucket of old power adapters, he came across a curious device - a hand-sized black box with the wording “National Emergency Alarm Repeater, Civilian Warning Device.” (NEAR) History detective Gwendolyn Wright travels to Michigan to sift through the secrets to find out whether anyone mass-produced this device and discover what happened to the Civilian Warning program.

During the production, “History Detectives” consulted with MSU Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering instructor Jonathan Althouse, who demonstrates how the NEAR alarm worked. She also speaks with Charlotte’s local historian Jeralyn “Jeri” Bohms. Charlotte conducted Civil Defense drills using the NEAR device. Fred Wieting of Charlotte was a high school senior at the time and witnessed the Charlotte drill.

Included are visuals of this drill, during which anyone hearing the alart was to release a pink helium balloon larger than a beach ball so that those operating the drill could have a visual clue to measure the effectiveness of the signal.