- San Antonio Express-News
Infobox Newspaper
name =
caption = TheMay 17 ,2007 front page of the
"San Antonio Express-News"
type = Dailynewspaper
format =Broadsheet
foundation =1865
owners =Hearst Corporation
headquarters = Avenue E and Third Street
San Antonio,Texas 78205
USA
editor = Robert Rivard
publisher = Thomas A. Stephenson
circulation = 236,918 Daily
333,902 Sunday [cite web | title=2007 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation |publisher=Burrelles"Luce" |url=http://www.burrellesluce.com/top100/2007_Top_100List.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=2007-05-29 |date=2007-03-31]
ISSN =
website = [http://mysa.com MySA.com]The "San Antonio Express-News" is the daily newspaper of
San Antonio, Texas . It is ranked as the third-largest daily newspaper in the state ofTexas in terms of circulation, and is one of the leading news sources of South Texas, with offices in Austin, Brownsville, Laredo, andMexico City . The Express-News is owned by theHearst Corporation .History
The paper was first published in 1865 as a weekly tabloid-style newspaper under the name "San Antonio Express". At that time, the city had already had a number of other newspapers in a number of different languages. However, all the other publications went out of business, leaving only the "Express" to serve the city.
In December 1866, the Express made the move from a weekly paper to a daily newspaper, and expanded into a full newspaper by the early 1870s. The early days of the Express was marked by several leadership changes which almost doomed the paper, until a brand new company, the "Express Printing Company", took control in 1875. The Express eventually became a daily morning newspaper in 1878.
In January 1881 a new rival newspaper, the "Evening Light", was first published. The "Evening Light" was published as an afternoon paper, as opposed to the Morning "Express". At first, the editors of the "Express" chose to ignore the upstart paper, but the "Light" soon grew in popularity at the turn of the 20th Century. In 1906 the Daily Light was sold to E. B. Chandler, and in 1909 the Daily Light Publishing Company bought the San Antonio Gazette. From then until 1911 the paper was referred to as the Light and Gazette. Edward S. O'Reilly, known as Tex, was at one time managing editor. In 1911 Harrison L. Beach and Charles S. Diehl, veteran correspondents of national standing, moved to San Antonio and bought the Light and Gazette. Once again it was known as the Light. Diehl was a founder of the AP wire service. Beach and Diehl installed leased wire news service and published the first full stock market reports in a San Antonio paper. The Light became liberal-Democratic in its political views. While Beach and Diehl ran the paper circulation increased from 11,000 to 25,000 copies daily. In 1918, the Express ownership, now renamed "Express Publishing Company", launched its own afternoon paper, the "San Antonio Evening News." Soon thereafter, a rivalry developed between workers of the "Express" and the "News". In fact, some "News" workers dubbed a new office building as the "News-Express" building. In 1924, however, William Randolph Hearst bought the Light and instituted Hearst policies, and by 1945 the circulation was approximately 70,000.
The 1920s was marked by expansion by "Express Publishing" as the company started one of the city's first radio stations, WOAI, in 1922. Meanwhile, the company's future owners, in the form of
William Randolph Hearst , purchased the "Light". As the two rival companies entered the 50s, the "Express" and the "News" both had higher readership numbers than the "Light". However, the "Light" skyrocketed to the top of the market when it acquired a number of popular comic strips, likeDick Tracy . Over at "Express Publishing", the company diversified further as they acquired a couple more radio stations, and a television station which they renamedKENS-TV . In the 1960s, "Express Publishing" was sold to theHarte-Hanks newspaper group.In 1973, with the "Light" beating the "Express" and the "News" in circulation numbers, a new ownership group emerged. Australian native
Rupert Murdoch of News Corp bought the "Express" and the "News" from Harte-Hanks. Murdoch re-formatted the "News" as a more tabloid-styled paper, while the Express retained its original, conservative format. The "Light" was now forced to compete against two different styles of newspaper while at the same time trying to combat the growing costs of an afternoon circulation.By the mid 1980s, the "Express" and the "News" merged into the "Express-News" and afternoon service was slowly discontinued, while the "Light" started getting into the morning circulation business in order to keep up. But under News Corp., the "Express-News" adopted a more mainstream format and expanded its services to communities outside
Bexar County . As a result, the "Express-News" became San Antonio's leading newspaper for good. By 1992, News Corp had diversified into movies and television and was looking to sell the "Express-News". The Hearst Corporation, which still owned the "Light", agreed to either sell or close the newspaper and acquire the "Express-News" in order to keep its stake in the San Antonio market. The "Light" never found a buyer and it went out of business in January 1993.Current business
Today, Bob Rivard is the editor of the San Antonio Express-News. Brett Thacker is the managing editor. This Hearst Corp. newspaper is also led by Publisher and President Thomas A. Stevenson, Executive VP and General Manager Sergio H. Salinas, and Executive Vice President and of Finance and Administration Susan Pape. With a circulation of 238,149 weekdays and 342,709 Sundays and an editorial staff of 280, it is the third-largest in Texas. For 2004, the Express-News earned its first ever Newspaper of the Year honors from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors. The Express-News was honored the best daily paper in its big-city circulation category, topping competitors in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin.
ee also
*
Dan Cook References
[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/ees5.html Handbook of Texas Online, San Antonio Light]
External links
* [http://www.mysanantonio.com MySA.com] Online home of the "Express-News" and KENS-TV
** [http://www2.mysanantonio.com/aboutus/expressnews/history.cfm The history of the "Express-News"] "San Antonio Express-News"
* [http://www.hearst.com/newspapers/property/news_daily_san_antonio.html Hearst subsidiary profile of the "San Antonio Express-News"]
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