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 of
Texas in terms of circulation, and is one of the leading news sources of South Texas, with offices in
Austin,
Brownsville,
Laredo, and
Mexico City. The Express-News is owned by the
Hearst 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 by A. W. Gifford and
J. P. Newcomb, who had been an early investor in the
Express. 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, like
Dick Tracy. Over at
Express Publishing, the company diversified further as they acquired a couple more radio stations, and a television station which they renamed
KENS-TV. In the 1960s,
Express Publishing was sold to the
Harte-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 and executive vice president for news 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. Stephenson, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration Susan Pape, Senior Vice President for Advertising Lilia Jones, Senior Vice President for Circulation Scott Frantzen and Senior Vice President for Technology and PrePress Nina Brooks. With a circulation of 238,149 weekdays and 342,709 Sundays and an editorial staff of 250, 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.
See also
