Oakland Tribune

The Oakland Tribune was a daily newspaper published in Oakland, California from 1874 to 2016 when it was merged into the East Bay Times by its owner, Bay Area News Group.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Folded>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Consolidation>Template:Cite news</ref>

History

Origin

On February 21, 1874, the Oakland Daily Tribune was founded by editor George Staniford and printer Benet "Ben" A. Dewes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At that time the competition was the Oakland News and Oakland Transcript. The paper's first editorial stated, "There seems to be an open field for a journal like the Tribune in Oakland, and we accordingly proceed to occupy it, presenting the Tribune, which is intended to be a permanent daily paper, deriving its support solely from advertising patronage."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

That August, Staniford sold his half interest to Dewes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The paper's office moved to 911 Broadway in January 1875.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A.B. Gibson joined Dewes as co-owner in February 1876.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The partnership soon dissolved and A. E. Nightingill bought a half-interest.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The William Dargie era

In July 1876, Dewes sold the Oakland Daily Evening Tribune to William E. Dargie,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> a former student of California State University. He soon secured wire service dispatch's from the Associated Press for the paper.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Darige also bought Nightingill's stake,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> although his widow disputed the transaction having ever occurred.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Under Dargie's management, the paper increased in size, circulation and influence. The Republican paper became the leading news publication in Alameda County.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref>

Dargie was a news innovator in several ways: 1876, wire service dispatches; 1877, a book and job department added; 1878, when the Bell Telephone System arrived in Oakland, one of the first telephones was installed at the Tribune- Number 46; 1883, a Saturday edition was introduced; 1887, special editions; 1888, an extra for the presidential election.

On August 28, 1891, the name The Oakland Tribune was officially adopted.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> Prior names include Oakland Daily Tribune, the Oakland Evening Tribune and the Oakland Daily Evening Tribune. Dargie had news offices in New York and Chicago. Dargie also acquired a patent approved R. Hoe & Co. double cylinder press.

In the early 1900s, Dargie hired a one-eyed lensman Jack Gunin, making him probably the first full-time photojournalist in the Western United States.<ref name=":2" />

In 1906, the Tribune added a Sunday edition.

1906 earthquake

The newspapers of San Francisco were destroyed in the earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906. The Tribune printed many "extras." Dargie lent the TribuneTemplate:'s presses for a joint edition of the San Francisco Call-Chronicle-Examiner. In the aftermath of the conflagration, San Francisco Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz, declared the Oakland Tribune the official San Francisco newspaper.

The circulation grew as displaced San Franciscans moved to Oakland and Alameda County. The TribuneTemplate:'s editorial direction was then under Managing Editor John Conners. After 35 years as publisher, William E. Dargie died on February 10, 1911. Former Oakland Mayor Melvin C. Chapman served as acting president of the Tribune Publishing Company. Bruno Albert Forsterer (1869–1957), was publisher and general manager. He was executor of Dargie's estate. Bruno and his son, Harold B. Forsterer, also served the Knowlands and the Tribune.

The Knowland Family era

The Tribune Tower was the headquarters of the Oakland Tribune from 1924 until 2007.

In 1911, Dargie died.<ref name=":1" /> After five terms in the United States House of Representatives, Joseph R. Knowland (1873–1966) purchased the Oakland Tribune from Dargie's widow, Hermina Peralta Dargie. In his first edition as publisher of the Oakland Tribune, November 14, 1915, he wrote, "It is perfectly understood that what the Tribune does, rather than what it promises, will determine the true measure of its worth; and with that understanding, the Tribune, under its new control, girds to its work."

Knowland moved the Tribune to a new location at 13th and Franklin Streets on March 25, 1918. Under Knowland, the Tribune became one-third of a triumvirate of California Republican newspapers with conservative viewpoints, along with the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle. The Tribune endorsed Republican candidates and "J.R." (as Knowland was widely known) often picked and controlled Republican elected officials. The Tribune would make many political careers, the most noted being Knowland's own son William F. Knowland and Earl Warren.

In 1921, Knowland started radio station KLX and his newspaper library. The 305 feet tall<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Tribune Tower, an Oakland landmark, was completed in 1923. The Tribune moved its business into the tower in 1924.<ref>Tribune Tower (Oakland)</ref> The Tribune Publishing Corporation, was founded by Knowland on January 4, 1928. The publishing corporation held interests in KLX, part owner of a paper mill in Tacoma, Washington and subsidiary businesses, U-Bild, Tower Graphics and Tribune Features, Inc.

In the mid-1930s, J.R. tied in with the Associated Press Wirephoto Service. He had a direct wire link for international news from London, England. The mast head logo, which became an icon of the paper, showed Oakland, a port to the world and nation. The logo changed with the times: the Tower, transport ship and steam locomotive; in later years, the Tower, the Bay Bridge, larger transport ship, diesel engine, the china clipper and later, a jet airplane.

On September 1, 1950, the Tribune became the sole Oakland daily newspaper, with the demise of its competitor, William Randolph Hearst's Oakland Post Enquirer.<ref>1950 demise of Post Enquirer Template:Webarchive, cnpa.com</ref>

In 1960, Joseph R. Knowland's son, former U.S. Senator William F. Knowland (1908–1974), was named editor; he had shared being assistant publisher with his brother, Joseph Russell "Russ" Knowland, Jr. (1901–1961), since 1933. Russ Knowland's 1961 death made his brother Bill sole successor to their father.

On February 1, 1966, Joseph R. Knowland died at the age of 92. William F. Knowland was appointed president and publisher. His son, Joseph William Knowland became vice-president and general manager. Bill Knowland added to the logo, A Responsible Metropolitan Newspaper. The Senator had assumed duties as the TribuneTemplate:'s publisher and editor. He became the president of The Tribune Publishing Corporation.

Under Bill Knowland's ownership, the Tribune had a conservative editorial position and a reputation for being strongly pro-business. As the city of Oakland became more ethnically and politically diverse in the 1960s and 1970s, the Tribune was unable to respond quickly enough to the demographic changes (and the political and social unrest exemplified, among other factors, by the University of California, Berkeley, student uprisings and the Black Panther movement).

The TribuneTemplate:'s readership declined after the early 1960s as a large portion of the paper's traditional subscription base relocated to the newly developing suburbs south and east of Oakland. In southern Alameda County, the readership went to Floyd Sparks's The (Hayward) Daily Review and in Contra Costa County to Dean Lesher's Contra Costa Times.

In 1973, Bill Knowland wrote in Fortune magazine, "Any city needs a means of communication between the diverse members of its community. Communication is essential."

Bill Knowland's personal life would soon affect the Oakland Tribune. Two days after the Tribune celebrated its 100th anniversary on February 21, 1974, William F. Knowland committed suicide. On the death of their father, Joseph William Knowland (1930-2019), became the TribuneTemplate:'s editor and publisher; Emelyn K. Jewett (1929–1988) became president of The Tribune Publishing Corporation.

The California Press Association honored Joseph W. Knowland, as the winner of the 1975, Publisher of the Year award. This honor was bestowed on Joe Knowland for his progressive innovations in the operations and makeup of the newspaper.<ref>1975 Publisher of the Year award Template:Webarchive, thecolumnists.com</ref>

CCC, Gannett and Maynard

In 1977, the Knowland Family sold the Oakland Tribune for $15.8 million to Combined Communications Corporation of Arizona, which owned The Cincinnati Enquirer, seven television stations, six radio stations and 10 outdoor advertising companies.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Karl Eller was president and CEO of the company, which merged with Gannett in June 1979.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> That October, Robert C. Maynard was then hired as the Tribune's first African-American editor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A month later Gannett CEO Allen H. Neuharth launched East Bay Today, a morning edition of the Tribune, an afternoon paper, and was sold at only retailers in Oakland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The pilot project served as an early prototype of Gannett's later national paper USA Today.<ref name="marking30">Template:Cite web</ref> The Tribune was merged into East Bay Today in September 1982.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Around that time Gannett purchased KRON-TV. The company then had due sell the Tribune as federal anti-trust laws made it illegal to own a television station and a newspaper in the same geographical market.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1983, Gannet sold the paper to Maynard and his wife Nancy Hicks Maynard for $22 million. At that time the paper had a circulation of 174,000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Maynard used the real estate assets of the Tribune as collateral for a $17 million loan from Gannett used to fund the purchase. The deal was the first management-led leveraged buyout of a newspaper in the United States.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> At that time Maynard was the only Black owner of a metropolitan newspaper in the country.<ref name=":0" />

The Tribune faced financial difficulties and was close to shuttering. In 1991, the Freedom Forum, a nonprofit founded by Neuharth, agreed to provide the paper the means to wipe out its $31.5 million debt owed to Gannett, in addition to funds to help cover operating expenses. It was the first time in the nation a nonprofit organization bailed out a major for-profit publication.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

MediaNews Group

Circulation continued to decline and Maynard, then age 55, soon began a series of radiation treatments for prostate cancer. In 1992, the Maynards sold the Tribune for $10 million to Alameda Newspaper Group, a subsidiary of the Denver-based MediaNews Group. Around 380 employees were laid off. Tribune Tower, the paper's office, was not included in the sale.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2006, ANG's name was changed to Bay Area News Group after the acquisition of The Mercury News and Contra Costa Times from McClatchy Co.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2007, the Tribune permanently moved out of Tribune Tower to new offices on Oakport Street.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2011, BANG announced a plan to merge the Tribune with other sister East Bay newspapers, but on October 27, 2011, BANG announced that it would retain The Oakland Tribune masthead.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2012, the Tribune moved its offices to 1970 Broadway in Oakland's Uptown district.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On April 4, 2016, the last daily edition of the Tribune was published as it was combined with other BANG-owned East Bay papers the Contra Costa Times, Hayward Daily Review and Fremont Argus, The Alameda Journal under the new East Bay Times nameplate.<ref name="Folded" /><ref name="Consolidation" />

"Near Collision at Air Show", the Pulitzer Prize-winning work by Tribune photographer Bill Crouch

Pulitzer Prizes

The Oakland Tribune won the Pulitzer Prize for a photograph of a small private plane narrowly missing a B-29 Superfortress in 1950, and again for photographs of the aftermath of the October 17, 1989, Loma Prieta earthquake.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sources

• Allen, Annalee. Selections From The Oakland Tribune Archive. San Francisco: Arcadia Publishing, 2006.
• Collier, Peter. A Press Dynasty Topples in Oakland. More, September 1977.
• Gothberg, John Alfred. The Local Influence of Joseph R. Knowland's Oakland Tribune. Minneapolis Journalism Quarterly, 1968.
• Centennial Souvenir Edition, Oakland Daily Tribune, February 21, 1974.

The majority of this article is from the History of the Oakland Tribune.

• Proud Old Paper Has Known Power, Glory, (Oakland Tribune) San Francisco Chronicle, October 16, 1992.

External links

• Oakland Museum of California Oakland Tribune Collection 10,000+ items, ~90% photographs. 10% news texts.