Travelers' Information Stations (TIS) began with various experimental stations and pilot projects conducted in the 1950s-1970s in national parks and at certain airports, highways and bridges. As a result, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a notice-of-inquiry; and a rulemaking process ensued that led to federal rules in 1977, which, with certain modifications, continue to govern today.

In 1980, armed with a BA in communications from Indiana University and three years’ experience at a small broadcast station in Moline, Illinois, Bill Baker (pictured left) decided that to serve certain needs, the radio service needed to get more focused. The idea came to him while camping on the shores of Lake Michigan. He knew there was potential in starting a tiny radio station to broadcast continuous messages specifically for campers. Since every vehicle had a radio receiver, it occurred to Baker that it would be "cool" if there were a little radio station in the park where he camped. "I decided to do something," he says. After returning home, he investigated, then pursued his idea. The technology already existed. "All we did was apply a little creativity to integrating, assembling and making it accessible," Baker recounts. "It was a great use of FCC-approved technology and spectrum."

Two years later he formed his own company, TouRadio, in Davenport, Iowa, to offer and install low-power AM radio stations that would allow park officials to communicate directly with visitors. In the summer of 1982, he convinced the manager at Mississippi Palisades State Park in Illinois to try his idea, offering to set up a station at a campground for free. It worked.

Humble Beginnings

In 1983, the fledgling company with a new name, Information Station Specialists, officially rolled out its first “Information Station,” a 10-watt, AM-band Travelers Information Station (TIS) with a 3-5-mile-radius range and a companion product with 1/10 watt of power for about ½-mile range. National parks and local visitor and convention bureaus became Information Station Specialists' first customers. In 1984 Baker met Megan McCombs, who became the company’s first accountant and his wife.

In 1986 Bill and Megan Baker moved their family’s company to the Lake Michigan area, where it remains today. They operated the company from their home for eight years. Bill did the marketing; Megan did the book work. In 1989 they hired their first employee. Information Station Specialists steadily grew. By 1994 it outgrew the family home, so the Bakers moved the entire operation to an office and production facility on 88th Avenue in Zeeland, Michigan.

They credit the company's success, particularly in the early days, to a no-nonsense approach with customers. “I recall that after our first installation, the buyer wrote me a letter and cited his satisfaction that we merely ‘did what we had proposed to do,’ It seemed like a low bar; and yet, the honoring of the sales contract was what had impressed the buyer.” Baker realized that an honest approach to business was something the market viewed as an important selling point, perhaps more critical than the product itself. “A customer knows that a product can always be repaired it if is defective, but that’s not true for the character of the company they are purchasing from.” Baker’s Christian faith informed the company’s focus on “truth in advertising,” and customers apparently appreciated it. Seemingly, the more Information Station Specialists presented products transparently, the more customers came through its doors.

In the 1990s, departments of transportation began installing information radio stations, dubbed Highway Advisory Radio, as part of “Intelligent Transportation Systems” (ITS) to benefit commuters. The radio stations were installed in conjunction with variable message signs and other emerging ITS technologies in major cities with the goal of making travel more efficient and to reduce air pollution.

After the September 11th tragedy, then a massive power outage in the eastern US and, finally, Hurricane Katrina, emergency managers began embracing information radio technology as a means of public communication during and following crises. The "ALERT AM Emergency Advisory Radio System" was born – the first such station designed specifically for emergency managers and public safety. ALERT AM expanded information radio technology to communities, industry and military bases and allowed for a wide range of options designed to protect the public.

In 2008, the company founded the first association of information station operators (American Association of Information Radio Operators), which successfully lobbied the FCC for rule changes needed so the technology could more effectively serve communities and agencies during times of crisis. At that time, the firm also introduced portable information stations that could be carried by hand and set up in minutes for public health (and other) emergencies. Major national events began to deploy the portable stations on a temporary basis for event information, further expanding the company’s reach and visibility.

An Expanding Future

The universal character of radio - and companion products such as special signage and streaming services - continue to place Information Station Specialists in demand in a world that since the 1980s has shifted its focus from tourism to terrorism. Consequently, despite the company's humble beginnings, Information Station Specialists has arrived as the USA's primary provider of these technologies.

Amid the seriousness of emergency-management use are other unique applications that Baker says are "just plain fun." Among them: A dog-mushing club in Maine that uses a radio station to inform participants when races are about to begin; And there’s the radio service at the windmill farm that changes messages, depending on how fast the wind blows. "Ours, is a product line with so many applications that it's enjoyable to go to work every day," Baker still affirms, after more than thirty years – and going on forty.