John Earl Fetzer is born to John Adam Fetzer and Della Frances (Winger) Fetzer in Decatur, Indiana. Rhea Yeager is born to Dr. William Nelson Yeager and Leona Maude (Lawrence) Yeager in Augusta, Michigan.

Also in this year, Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi sends first transatlantic wireless transmission (radio signals) across the Atlantic, between Cornwall and Newfoundland.

John Fetzer acquires a telegraph set and learns Morse code from his brother-in-law, Fred Ribble in 1911. The next year, he has his first religious experience: a vision of him holding onto the feet of Jesus Christ who says, “I will always be with you.” Soon after, Fetzer builds his first wireless receiver/transmitter with help from Ribble and the next year, John Fetzer and Fred Ribble hear their first music over the air. 

In 1916, Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates the telephone with a call from New York to T. A. Watson in San Francisco and Albert Einstein introduces his general theory of relativity. For security purposes, the U.S. bans the use of all wireless (radio) transmitting and receiving equipment. A year later, the U.S. enters World War I. 

Then, in 1918, the influenza pandemic causes 196,000 deaths in the U.S. and 17-year-old John Fetzer is stricken with the illness. He spends nine months in bed, he “made a commitment that if I were permitted to live, I would devote my life to the spiritual work of the Creator.”

After recovering, Fetzer receives his license for a general amateur radio station in 1919. 

The first radio broadcasts of police calls, World Series baseball, heavyweight championship boxing, religious services, and weather reports happen in 1921. 

This same year, John Fetzer graduates from West Lafayette High School (Indiana) with letters in baseball, basketball, and track. He then attends wireless classes at Purdue University studying the work of Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, which later fuels his interest in the links among the physical, mental, and spiritual realms.

The following year, Fetzer receives his license as a commercial radio operator, first class. He then moves to Berrien Springs, Michigan to establish a radio station and enroll in Emmanuel Missionary College. Within a year, Fetzere has designed and built is first radio station, KFGZ, in Southwest Michigan. 

In 1924, Fetzer meets Rhea Yeager in college chapel, where she is to perform in a musical program. Radio Lighthouse Music Makers, an eight-piece orchestra featuring Rhea Yeager on cello, performs exclusively for KFGZ. They marry two years later at the Vincent Hotel in Benton Harbor, Michigan. 

During the 1920s, Fetzer also graduates from the National Radio Institute, travels to Europe for a month-long study of radio stations, and graduates from Emmanuel Missionary College. His yearbook describes him as “a silent thinker who combines modesty with brilliance.” Fetzer teaches Radio Transmission at Emmanuel Missionary College until 1929.

In 1927, Detroit Tigers games are first broadcast over radio and the U.S. Radio Act proclaims public ownership of the airwaves. Automobiles become equipped with radios. Fetzer enrolls at the 

The decade closes with the stock market plunge, marking the beginning of the Great Depression, as Fetzer enrolls at the University of Michigan to study modern physics and higher mathematics.  

The “Golden Age” of U.S. radio begins in 1930. John Fetzer purchases WEMC from Emmanuel Missionary College for $5,000 and changes its name to WKZO.

The next year, WKZO moves from Berrien Springs to Kalamazoo, Michigan and Fetzer trades radio airtime for meal tickets during the Depression. He goes on to receive Master Mason status at Anchor Masonic Lodge, Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1933. 

By 1934, half of all U.S. homes have radios. The Federal Communications Act regulates radio broadcasting, telephone, and telegraph industries. Television is then introduced at the Olympic Games in Germany, and Fetzer is elected vice president of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters.

Later in the decade, “War of the Worlds,” a radio drama produced by Orson Wells, causes panic in the U.S. Fetzer reduces his annual salary from $9,000 to $6,000 because of the Great Depression, and is elected to Board of Directors of the National Association of Broadcasters, serving until 1946.

WKZO wins a landmark 590 Case from Federal Communications Commission in 1938 and is granted nighttime broadcasts with directional antennae. The ruling allows 3,000-5,000 additional radio stations to go on air.

The end of the 1930s sees commercial television broadcasts in New York City, airing baseball and football games and prize fights for the first time.

In 1941, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and the U.S. enters World War II. The Federal Communications Commission also sets U.S. TV standards. By 1945, Germany surrenders. Japan signs a formal surrender aboard battleship Missouri. 

During this time, General Eisenhower approves the appointment of John Fetzer and other distinguished journalists and broadcasting executives to conduct National Association of Broadcasting inspection tour of radio stations in Europe.

In 1947, the Detroit Tigers were first broadcast on television. The decade closes with network TV established in the U.S. and Fetzer Broadcasting granted a license for a television station in Kalamazoo, assigned Channel 3.

By 1950, 9% of U.S. households have television sets and 63% have radios. Fetzer’s WKZO-TV Channel 3 goes on the air. 

Shortly after, Fetzer becomes the first chair of the Television Code Review Board of the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters and serves until 1955. Fetzer joins journalists touring Europe and Middle East to assess the postwar situation and meets with Marshall Tito, the Shah of Iran, Charles DeGaulle, Pope Pius XII, and King Paul and Queen Fredericka of Greece. He also chairs CBS Radio Business Standards Committee.

As the Korean war ends in 1953, radio sets outnumber daily newspapers worldwide. Fetzer Broadcasting purchases KOLNTV in Lincoln, Nebraska and donates it to University of Nebraska in 1954.

In the same year, the John E. Fetzer Foundation is established to give grants for religious, charitable, scientific, library, and/or educational purposes. Fetzer is also elected trustee of Kalamazoo College, and serves until 1976.

Mid-decade, Fetzer visits Radio Free Europe facilities in West Germany and Austria. He also purchases six acres at 590 W. Maple in Kalamazoo for the WKZO “Broadcast House” and organizes an 11-person syndicate to purchase the Detroit Baseball Company, becoming one-third owner and chairman of the Board of Directors.

Fetzer is named to American League Radio and Television Committee and in 1958, he is awarded honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Western Michigan University for his pioneering efforts in mass communications. He also forms John Fetzer Music Corporation and acquires a Muzak franchise for outstate Michigan. Rhea Fetzer is elected president of the Kalamazoo Family Service Center.

This decade starts with John Fetzer becoming sole owner of the Detroit Tigers — and Briggs Stadium is renamed Tiger Stadium. Federal Communications Commission also approves FM stereo broadcasting and spurs FM development. WJFM, Fetzer’s station in GrandRapids, Michigan, is the world’s most powerful FM station.

Fetzer tours South America in 1962 to create programs of mutual interest for broadcasters in North and South America. He receives Muzak’s Golden Ear Award for “clearly distinguished achievements in public service affairs.” Fetzer is then elected chair of the American League Baseball Television Committee.

In 1964, Fetzer publishes One Man’s Family: A History and Genealogy of the Fetzer Family.

Under his ownership, the Detroit Tigers win the 1968 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. 

The decade culminates with racial tensions intensifying, Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, and Apollo XI’s lunar landing.

The Fetzers start the decade with Rhea Fetzer elected as the first woman to the board of the Kalamazoo Foundation. She also serves on the boards of the Kalamazoo Community Chest, Kalamazoo Symphony Society, Senior Citizens Fund, and Kalamazoo Council of Social Agencies.

This period also sees John Fetzer publish various works and serve in the U.S. State Department delegation for the Japanese-U.S. Television Treaty. He’s awarded an honorary LLD by Kalamazoo College and is elected to the board of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, dedicated to exploring consciousness and human potential.

In the late 1970s, John Fetzer is greatly influenced by his Study of A Course in Miracles, published by the Foundation for Inner Peace — and he introduces a transcendental meditation program to Detroit Tigers’ team members. He ultimately sells Tiger Stadium to the City of Detroit for $1 in exchange for a 30-year lease. Fetzer also receives his honorary engineering degree from Lawrence Technology, Southfield, Michigan. 

The new decade sees CNN begin 24-hour news channel broadcasting. John Fetzer hosts the Monday Night Group, a study group focused on envisioning the mission and activities of the Institute. 

The John Fetzer Award for Meritorious Services to Baseball is established by the Milwaukee Brewers. Broadcast Pioneers recognizes Fetzer’s WKZO 50 years of serving the community and honors the station with the Golden Mike Award. Fetzer pledges $1 million to Western Michigan University for a new business center. 

In 1983, Fetzer sells Detroit Tigers Baseball Club to Tom Monaghan for $53 million and remains with the organization as chairman of the board and stockholder until 1989. He also establishes Pro Am Sports System (PASS), a cable sports network and one of the first regional sports networks in the United States. 

The next year, Fetzer is inducted into Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and receives the Baseball Commissioner’s Executive Award for Excellence in Baseball. The Detroit Tigers defeat the San Diego Padres to become World Series Champions.

By 1985, Forbes Magazine lists John Fetzer as one of the 400 wealthiest people in the United States. He sells Fetzer Communications (television properties) and establishes John Fetzer Energy Medicine Institute, in Phoenix, Arizona. 

Later in the decade, Fetzer and Jean Yawkey, owner of the Boston Red Sox, help fund a major expansion of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Fetzer also sells remaining interest in Fetzer Broadcasting Services and presents a paper addressing the mission of the Institute: “It supports and provides research, education and service designed to discover and enhance the integral relationships of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of experience which foster human growth, action and responsible improvement of the human condition.”

In 1988, John Fetzer’s wife, Rhea Maude Fetzer, dies at age 86. 

John E. Fetzer follows on February 20, 1991 at age 89, leaving behind a legacy of love.