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 | thereporteronline.com |
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 early 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.
In 1980 The Reporter was sold to Gannett Corporation, which also used the presses as a print site for USA Today in the Philadelphia region. In 2001 Gannett sold The Reporter to Journal Register Company, currently based in Yardley, Pennsylvania.[1]
As of August 2009[update], Journal Register Company also owns 18 other daily newspapers, 152 non-daily publications and 128 web sites affiliated with print publications, in five geographic locations of the United States, in the east and midwest.[2]
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.
In May 2008, Journal Register Company was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange due to low share prices.[3]
On September 8, 2008, the price of a daily newsstand copy of The Reporter increased from 50 cents to 75 cents.
On November 13, 2008, Journal Register authorized layoffs at The Reporter, affecting editorial and production. More layoffs occurred on November 14.
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.[4]
On February 12, 2009, Journal Register Company filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy notification in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. On August 7, 2009 the company announced it was emerging from bankruptcy with a pre-negotiated plan of reorganization with creditors. As part of the plan, the company's common stock was canceled. The Reporter continued to operate through the bankruptcy proceedings as normal.[5]
References
- "The Reporter Remembers: Covering Our Community for 135 years." Published by The Reporter, Lansdale, Pennsylvania.
- ^ "Lansdale Historical Society" (PDF). Retrieved 10 September 2009.
- ^ "Journal Register Company press release". Journal Register Company. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
- ^ "Journal Register Reports First Quarter 2008 Results". Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ "Journal Register mulling sale of some newspapers". November 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
- ^ "Journal Register Company press release". Journal Register Company. Retrieved 10 September 2009.