The Gannett Media Conglomerate's Hidden History--Part 1

(The following (slightly updated) article originally appeared in the May 8, 1991 issue of the Lower East Side alternative newsweekly, Downtown).

The Gannett Company mass media conglomerate was the world’s largest newspaper publishing chain in the early 1990s. At that time, Gannett controlled the USA Today national newspaper, 81 other daily newspapers in the United States and U.S. territories, and 35 other non-daily newspapers. The daily circulation of Gannett-owned newspapers around the United States exceeded 6,000,000 in the early 1990s. Gannett also operated 16 commercial radio stations and 10 commercial television broadcasting stations at that time. Currently, Gannett operates 85 daily newspapers with a circulation of over 7.2 million and 23 commercial television broadcasting stations.

Among the mass media properties controlled by the Gannett Company in suburban New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and elsewhere, in addition to its USA Today national newspaper, in 1991 were:

New York: Yonkers Herald Statesman; White Plain Reporter; New Rochelle Standard-Star; Port Chester Daily Item; Mount Vernon Daily Argus; Mamaroneck Daily-Times; Peekskill Star; Ossining Citizen-Register; Tarrytown Daily News; West Nyack Rockland Journal News; Poughkeepsie Journal; Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin; Elmira Star Gazette; Ithaca Journal; Niagara Falls Niagara Gazette; Saratoga Springs Saratogian; Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Times-Union; and Utica Observer-Dispatch.

New Jersey: Camden Courier-Post; Bridgewater Courier –News; Mullville Daily; and Vineland Times-Journal.

Connecticut: Norwich Bulletin.

Washington, D.C.: WUSA-TV.

Arizona: Phoenix’s KPNX-TV; Tucson Citizen.

Arkansas: Little Rock Arkansas-Gazette.

California: Los Angeles’ KHS-Radio; San Diego’s KSDO-Radio; Marin County Marin Independent Journal; Palm Springs Desert Sun.

Colorado: Denver’s KUSA-TV.

Florida: Jacksonville’s WTLV-TV; Tampa’s WDAE and WUSA-Radio; Pensacola News-Journal; Fort Myers News-Press.

Georgia: Atlanta’s WXIA-TV.

Hawaii: Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Idaho: Boise Idaho Statesman.

Illinois: Chicago’s WGCI-Radio; Rockford Register-Star; Danville Commercial News.

Iowa: Des Moines Register; Iowa City Press-Citizen.

Kentucky: Louisville Courier-Journal.

Massachusetts: Boston’s WLVI-TV.

Michigan: Detroit News; Lansing State-Journal; Battle Creek Enquirer; Port Huron Times-Herald.

Minnesota: Minneapolis-St. Paul’s KARE-TV.

Mississippi: Jackson Clarion-Ledger and Daily News.

Missouri: St. Louis’s KUSA and KSD-Radio; Kansas City’s KCMO-Radio; and Springfield News-Leader.

Nevada: Reno Gazette-Journal.

New Mexico: Santa Fe New Mexican.

Ohio: Cincinnati Enquirer.

Oklahoma: Oklahoma City’s KOCO-TV.

South Dakota: Sioux Falls Argus-Leader.

Tennessee: Nashville Tennessean.

Texas: Austin’s KVUE-TV; Houston’s KKBQ Radio; and El Paso Times.

Vermont: Burlington Free Press.

Wisconsin: Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Virgin Islands: Virgin Island Daily News. and

Guam: Pacific Daily News.

Then in 1995, Gannett purchased the Multimedia, Inc. media corporation and temporarily added 10 additional daily newspapers to its chain of newspapers, 5 additional television stations, and two additional radio stations. But by 1998, the Gannett media conglomerate had decided to reduce its involvement in radio broadcasting and had sold off the 16 radio stations it had owned in 1991 and the two additional radio stations it had acquired from Multimedia, Inc. in 1995.

(Downtown 5/8/91)

Next: The Gannett Media Conglomerate’s Hidden History—Part 2