Spectrum was a Toledo, Ohio

Toledo, Ohio

Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...

-based newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 (and later, magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

) serving the University of Toledo

University of Toledo

The University of Toledo is a public university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. The Carnegie Foundation classified the university as "Doctoral/Research Extensive."-National recognition:...

 community.

History

Spectrum was founded in 1993 by two University of Toledo students, Michael Miller and Will Nicholes. Both had previously served as editors at the student newspaper

Student newspaper

A student newspaper is a newspaper run by students of a university, high school, middle school, or other school. These papers traditionally cover local and, primarily, school or university news....

, The Collegian

The Independent Collegian

The Independent Collegian is an independent student newspaper published in Toledo, Ohio, serving the University of Toledo community. It is published bi-weekly, each Monday and Thursday.- Early history :...

.

Spectrum contributors included future Toledo Free Press

Toledo Free Press

The Toledo Free Press is a semi-weekly paper in Toledo, Ohio. It was founded in March 2005 by Thomas Pounds, a veteran administrator of daily newspapers in Toledo and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On March 10, 2010, the paper added a Wednesday edition called the Toledo Free Press STAR, that is...

cartoonist Jeff Payden (creator of GoComics

GoComics

GoComics is a website launched in 2005 by the digital entertainment provider Uclick. It was originally created as a distribution portal for comic strips on mobile phones, but in 2006, the site was redesigned and expanded to include online strips and cartoons...

 comic Biff & Riley) and Edward Shimborske III

Edward Shimborske III

Edward Shimborske III is an American record executive, music producer, singer/songwriter, graphic artist, journalist/author, radio personality, lyricist and voice-over artist...

. Shimborske served as Spectrum music editor from April 1993 until January 1994, when he left to start his own publication, The Glass Eye

The Glass Eye

The Glass Eye was an eccentric Toledo, Ohio-based monthly reader/zine published by Edward Shimborske III that focused on Ohio area music and featured exclusive interviews with both regional and national acts. The debut issue hit stands in 1994 and ran until 2006...

.

The first issue of Spectrum was published March 31, 1993, with the tagline

Tagline

A tagline is a variant of a branding slogan typically used in marketing materials and advertising. The idea behind the concept is to create a memorable phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of a brand or product , or to reinforce the audience's memory of a product...

 "Weekly guide to arts and leisure." The first issue featured a preview of the UT production of Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...

's Assassins

Assassins (musical)

Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted to assassinate Presidents of the United States...

, interviews with student leaders, and restaurant and music reviews. In October of that year, the paper was first to publish a report that the UT student government was investigating The Collegian for inflating its circulation numbers by discarding large numbers of newly-printed Collegians immediately after printing them. The Collegian responded the next day with an editorial denouncing the investigation as a "smear campaign" and criticizing Spectrum for publishing the report.

In November 1993, the Toledo Blade

The Blade (newspaper)

The Blade is a daily newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, first published on December 19, 1835.- Overview :David Ross Locke gained national fame for the paper during the Civil War era by writing under the pen name Petroleum V. Nasby. Writing under the pen name, Locke wrote satires ranging on topics from...

published an editorial commenting on the reactions of the Spectrum and Collegian editorial teams to the news that Bruce Douglas, the then-chairman of the UT Board of Trustees, had given UT President Frank Horton cash gifts. The Blade noted the "delightful irreverance " of the papers' columns, contrasting The Collegian "impertinent" commentary with Miller's "more light-hearted view".

In January 1994, Spectrum underwent a redesign from a newspaper format to a magazine format, featuring full-cover photography. Miller currently serves as Toledo Free Press Editor-in-Chief.