The Reporter (Lansdale)
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Journal Register Company |
| Publisher | Dena Fritz |
| Founded | October 27, 1870 (as the Lansdale Reporter) |
| Headquarters | 307 Derstine Ave. Lansdale, PA 19446  United States |
| Website | [1] |
The Reporter is the local newspaper based out of Lansdale, Pennsylvania owned by Journal Register Company. It primarily serves the communities in the North Penn and Souderton Area School Districts, including Lansdale Borough, Montgomery Township, Hatfield Township, Hatfield Borough, North Wales Borough, Towamencin Township, Skippack Township, Souderton Borough, Telford Borough, and other municipalities in northwest suburban Montgomery County in southeast Pennsylvania.
The Reporter traces its founding to October 27, 1870 when the Lansdale Reporter was a weekly four-page advertising missive. Its founder was Frederick Wagner.
The Lansdale Reporter focused on closely-knit community news, with articles discussing trivial news ranging from Miss Grendle's visit to the Bauer Family on a Friday to John Smith making the crowd laugh at his birthday bash. By 1915, the paper was a bona fide information tool. "Even after Lansdale became a borough in 1872, The Reporter didn't cover council meetings right away," Lansdale Historical Society President Dick Shearer said. "The Reporter was primarily a print shop device."
By 1918, the region at three newspapers: The Lansdale Reporter, The Republican and The North Penn Review. The Review was bought out by The Republican and became the Republican-Review.
In 1923, Walter Sanborn, the owner of the Lansdale Reporter sold the newspaper to Republican-Review publisher Chester Knipe, who merged it with his paper.
The Republican-Review-Reporter was shortened to The Reporter-Review. In 1927, Sanborn bought the paper back from Knipe and renamed it The North Penn Reporter.
Prior to the merger on August 17, 1922, an edition called The North Penn Review featured Lansdale's 50th anniversary on its front page.
The paper celebrated its 100th anniversary on November 1, 1970. At this time subscription rates were $17 for one year.
Journal Register Company owns The Reporter. It also owns 21 other newspapers and 300 nondaily publications in six geographic locations of the United States.
It was announced on December 27, 2007 that publisher Angel Hernandez would be leaving to be publisher of Berks-Mont Newspapers. Former publisher Dena Fritz returned on January 2, 2008 as publisher of The Reporter after being moved as publisher of The Times Herald in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
Since Journal Register Company sees The Times Herald as a more profitable newspaper than The Reporter, to move publishers from a larger paper to a smaller paper is a demotion.
In May 2008, Journal Register Company was removed from the New York Stock Exchange due to very low shares. It reported a net loss of $72.2 million or $1.84 per diluted share, for the first quarter of March 30, 2008. In April 2007, it had an income from continuing operations of $1.5 million or $0.04 per diluted share. The net loss includes a $95.4 million, $70.2 million net of tax, or $1.78 per share, non-cash charge for the impairment of assets under the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards.[1] Currently, all products of Journal Register, including its newspapers and structures, are for sale.
On September 8, 2008, the price of a daily newsstand copy of The Reporter increased from 50 cents to 75 cents.
Journal Register’s stock trades for a penny a share. In the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company had a net loss of $8.7 million, or 22 cents a share, compared to income of $11.2 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier.[2]
On November 13, 2008, Journal Register authorized layoffs at The Reporter, affecting editorial and production. More layoffs occurred on November 14.
Journal Register still owes a sizable debt that was due in July and pushed back to January 2009. The Reporter faces shutdown in January 2009, and Journal Register could reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Reporter is currently up for sale, as is its assets.
On November 14, 2008, Journal Register Co. announced its hire of New Mexico-based mergers and acquisition firm Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, which specializes in newspapers, to find buyers for certain daily and weekly newspapers.[3]
Journal Register Co. will close two newspapers in Connecticut.
References
"The Reporter Remembers: Covering Our Community for 135 years." Published by The Reporter, Lansdale, PA.
- ^ "Journal Register Reports First Quarter 2008 Results". Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ "Journal Register mulling sale of some newspapers". Retrieved 2008-11-14.
- ^ "Journal Register mulling sale of some newspapers". Retrieved 2008-11-14.
External links
- "The Reporter Newspaper Web site". Retrieved 2008-07-08.
- "Journal Register Company Web site". Retrieved 2007-07-08.