Suburban Journals
| Type | Chain of communitynewspapers |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Lee Enterprises |
| Founded | Various |
| Headquarters | 14522 South Outer 40 Road Town and Country, Missouri63017 |
| Sister newspapers | St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
| Website | suburbanjournals.stltoday.com |
Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louiswas a group of publications in theSt. Louisregion owned byLee Enterprises.The chain servedSt. LouisandSt. Charlescounties inMissouriandMadison,MonroeandSt. Claircounties inIllinois.
It published community newspapers, theLadue News,Savvy Family,St. Louis' Best BridalandFeast.[1]
Publications were grouped in regional offices inTown and Country, MissouriandCollinsville, Illinois.
The chain for years was distributed to homes for free. The papers became subscription-only in November 2008, a move decried by long-time employees as "the beginning of the end.".[2]
The chain's main competition was theWebster-Kirkwood Times,The South County TimesandCall NewspapersinMissouriandThe Alton Telegraph,Edwardsville Intelligencer,andBelleville News-DemocratinIllinois.
Relationship with St. Louis Post-Dispatch
[edit]The newspapers are independent of the Lee-ownedSt. Louis Post-Dispatch,but share some resources, such a technical assistance and printing.[3]
The companies, which were previously owned byPulitzer Inc.,also share a common website, stltoday.com.
The papers were printed at Donnelly Printing Company on Latty Avenue in northSt. Louis Countyfor years, then later at the Pulitzer Publishing Center inMaryland Heights, Missouri.
Notable staff
[edit]- ComedianKathleen Madiganworked for the Suburban Journals for approximately 18 months in the late 1980s after graduation from SIU-Edwardsville.[4]
- Steve Pokin, a reporter and columnist for theSt. Charles Journal,in November 2007 broke the story ofMegan Meier,aDardenne Prairie, Missouri,teen who committed suicide after being scorned by a fictitious friend on the social networking siteMySpace.[5]
- Todd Smith, a reporter for theKirkwood-Webster Journal,was shot in the hand during the February 2008shooting inside City Hall in Kirkwood, Mo.[6]He was later laid off as part of cutbacks.[7]
- Charles F. Wiegert, worked for the South County Journal from 1974-1991. Owner of River City Sports and VP of Fanball Sports, and later VP of CDM Sports. He served as Treasure for Fantasy Sports Trade Association from 1997 to 2015. He currently serves as the Grand Master for the State of Missouri for 2023-2024.
- Sir Dennis Burkholder, worked for the North County Journal in the 1980's, and later joined Transcontinental in Montreal Canada as an regional executive he later created and founded the marketing firm Mad Moose Media which provides services for small and medium size companies. Sir Dennis was knighted in 2004 by the Royal Order of Scotland.
History
[edit]Most of the publications currently owned by Suburban Journals date to the early 1900s as independent newspapers. Many were in direct competition with one another.
By the 1930s, the big adversaries in southSt. Louiswere theSouth Side Journal—renamed from theCherokee NewsafterFrank X. Bickbought it in 1933 — and39th Street Neighborhood News,launched in the summer of 1922 by ex-Post Dispatch composing room worker Bernard H. Nordmann.[8]Bick's son,Frank C. Bick,helped shape the fledgling chain, which grew to include 10 publications in St. Louis City, as well asSt. Louis,JeffersonandFranklincounties. Meanwhile, in northern St. Louis,Arthur Morgan Donnellybought theWellston Localin 1935 and rebranded it as theWellston Journal,focusing more on north and central areas of the city. Donnelly, with his sons James and Robert, later shifted attention to northern and western St. Louis County,St. Charles Countyand eventually spread eastwards across theMississippi Riverto include the Illinois counties ofMadison,St. Clair,andMonroe;ultimately publishing 25 separate newspapers in the bi-state metropolitan St. Louis area.
The Donnelly and Bick families competed against one another until 1970, when operations were eventually and cooperatively formalized as sister companies, creating the Suburban Newspapers ofGreater St. Louis;more commonly known as Suburban Journals. Circulation topped 820,000 households, making it one of the largest free-distribution community newspaper groups in the United States. In May 1984, the group was snapped up byIngersoll PublicationsCo., a firm headed byRalph Ingersoll II,whosefatherlead the innovativePMnewspaperin 1940sNew York City.[9]
Ingersoll, who wanted to compete with thePost-Dispatchand now defunctSt. Louis Globe-Democrat,used high-risk junk bonds and the advice of his friend Michael Milken to finance his acquisitions and eventually launched the failedSt. Louis Sun.[10]Ingersoll was bought out by his partner and financier,E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co.,which formed the Journal Register Co., the owner of 25 daily newspapers, including theNew Haven RegisterandAlton Telegraph.The chain became the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis.
In 1997, it bought theLadue News.[11]The company in 1999 had revenues of $151 million.[12]Pulitzer, which owned thePost-Dispatchand 11 other daily newspapers, in June 2000 bought the company, which then had 38 papers.[13]It cost $165 million.[12]
Founder's grandson Robert Donnelly, Jr. rejoined the firm as an employee of Pulitzer, Inc. 16 years after the family's sale to Ingersoll Publications Co., making him a third-generation Publisher at Suburban Journals. Pulitzer later sold the group to Lee in summer 2005 for $1.46 billion.[14]In early 2007, Lee reorganized the chain's management and eliminated publisher positions in the nine offices.[15]
When the chain was acquired as part of Pulitzer's purchase out by Lee in 2005, the Suburban Journals published 35 papers.[16] The bad economy, the effect ofthe Interneton the newspaper business and the weight of the debt Lee took on in the purchase of Pulitzer combined to force major layoffs and consolidation in the chain. In 2009, the chain was cut to 10 editions.[17]Additional cuts in 2011 brought the number of editions to six.[18]Two more editions were cut in 2013.[19]In August 2014 theCollinsville Heraldand theGranite City Press-Recordwere combined to create theMadison County Journal.[20]
Feastwas launched in August 2010.[21]
Editions
[edit]- Belleville Journal
- Cahokia-Dupo Journal
- Central West End Journal
- Chesterfield Journal
- Clayton Citizen Journal
- Collinsville Herald Journal
- East St. Louis Journal
- Edwardsville Journal
- Fairview Heights Journal
- Granite City Press-Record Journal
- Jefferson County Journal
- Mehlville Journal
- Meramec Journal
- Millstadt/Smithton Enterprise
- Monroe County Clarion
- News Democrat Journal
- North County Journal
- Northwest County Journal
- North Side Journal
- O'Fallon/Fairview Journal
- Press Journal
- St. Charles County Journal(two editions)
- St. Louis County Star
- St. Peters Journal
- South City Journal
- South County Journal
- South Side Journal
- Tri-County Journal
- Warrenton Journal
- Webster-Kirkwood Journal
- Wentzville Journal
- West County Citizen Journal
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2008-04-10.Retrieved2008-02-17.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^Volkmann, Kelsey; Tritto, Christopher (2008-10-08)."Suburban Journals go subscription-only".American City Business Journals.Archivedfrom the original on 2008-10-14.
- ^"'St. Louis Post Dispatch' Takes on Last of Suburban Journals' Printing ".Archived fromthe originalon 2008-04-23.Retrieved2008-05-10.
- ^Missouri Legends: Famous People From The Show-Me Stateby John W. Brown. Page 166. Published by Reedy Press, St. Louis, 2008.
- ^Suburban Journals | News | 'My Space' hoax ends with suicide of Dardenne Prairie teen[permanent dead link]
- ^"Reporter Wounded in Missouri Shooting in Stable Condition".Archived fromthe originalon 2008-02-10.Retrieved2008-02-17.
- ^St. Louis - Daily RFT - Suburban Journals Fires Reporter Who Took Bullet During Kirkwood Shootings
- ^Suburban Journals | About Us |
- ^"THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Ingersoll Cutting Costs At Chain".The New York Times.May 15, 1990.
- ^"LISTSERV 16.0 - Archives - Error".list.msu.edu.
- ^Journal Register Co. buys Ladue News - St. Louis Business Journal:
- ^ab"SEC Info - Pulitzer Inc - '8-K' for 6/24/00 - EX-99".www.secinfo.com.
- ^"g7pulit0131 (Page 1)"(PDF).
- ^"Pulitzer's Owner Takes Prize for Frothy Numbers: Jonathan Weil - Bloomberg".Bloomberg News.2012-02-21. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-02-21.Retrieved2023-05-25.
- ^Lee eliminates publisher posts at Suburban Journals - St. Louis Business Journal:
- ^"Suburban Journals cuts 14 jobs, four publications".
- ^"Suburban Journals Announces Layoffs and Restructuring".Archived fromthe originalon 2014-01-02.Retrieved2014-01-02.
- ^Staff REPORTS."Suburban Journals to cut some print editions, 20 staffers".STLtoday.com.
- ^Suburban Journals cuts 2 print editions
- ^"Welcome to the Madison County Journal".Madison County Journal.6 August 2014.
- ^Feast magazine debuts today, covering the St. Louis area food scene
Sources
[edit]- A 2001Riverfront Timesarticle about the relationship between thePost-Dispatchand Suburban Journals reportersNews Hole
- An article about Ingersoll[1]