Morning Sentinel
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Blethen Maine Newspapers |
| Publisher | John Christie |
| Editor | Eric Conrad |
| Founded | March 2, 1904, as Waterville Morning Sentinel |
| Headquarters | 31 Front Street, Waterville, Maine 04901  United States |
| Circulation | 19,639 in 2004[1] |
| Website | morningsentinel.mainetoday.com |
The Morning Sentinel is a seven-day morning daily newspaper published in Waterville, Maine, USA. Since 1998, it has been owned by Blethen Maine Newspapers, a subsidiary of The Seattle Times Company. The newspaper covers cities and towns in parts of Kennebec County, Somerset County, Franklin County and Penobscot County. The paper is printed at the Kennebec Journal press in Augusta, Maine.
History
Originally founded in 1904 by officials of the Waterville Democratic Party -- Waterville mayor Cyrus Davis; future U.S. Senator Charles Fletcher Johnson; and future mayor L. Eugene Thayer, leavened by newspaper veteran Thomas F. Murphy -- the Waterville Morning Sentinel, within a year, grew from a three-desk operation to requiring its own building, on Silver Street.[2]
In 1911, a financially ailing Davis sold the paper to bond holders; ten years later, it was bought by Guy Gannett, who was in the process of building a newspaper, radio and television empire in Maine. His holdings included the Portland Press Herald and, after 1929, the Sentinel's in-county competitor, the Kennebec Journal.[2]
Gannett's ownership also saw the paper become less politically biased.[2]
Gannett and his heirs -- no relation to the Virginia-based chain called Gannett Company -- held the three Maine dailies until 1998, when they sold them to The Seattle Times Company, which rechristened the chain "Blethen Maine Newspapers." Frank Blethen, a descendant of Seattle Times founder Albert Blethen, a Maine native, later called the purchase "the largest and riskiest investment in our history" but a necessary move to keep the newspapers from becoming part of a corporate chain.[3]
References
- ^ Gill, Kathy. "Presidential Race - Editorial Endorsements". November 1, 2004. Accessed May 27, 2007.
- ^ a b c CentralMaine.com: About, accessed May 27, 2007.
- ^ Christie, John. "In the Newspaper Business, Who Owns the Place Makes All the Difference in the World". Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine). August 13, 2006.
