7 min

Toledo newspaper history

A few snippets, not an exhaustive story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toledo_News-Bee

The Toledo News Bee is a defunct newspaper that served Toledo, Ohio and much of northwestern Ohio in the early part of the 20th century. It was formed from the 1903 merger of The Toledo News andThe Toledo Bee, and was published until August 2, 1938, when it was purchased by The Toledo Blade for USD787,000.

http://www.toledohistorybox.com/2011/01/25/the-toledo-news-bee/

With very little fanfare save a front-page announcement, a thin fourteen-page edition marked the end of the The Toledo News-Bee on August 2, 1938. The News-Bee was the last remaining competition to The Blade (unless you count the Daybreak Dispatch in the 1970s). Small bits of the announcement are gone forever, but here’s what it mostly said:

NEWS-BEE RETIRES FROM TOLEDO FIELD

THE NEWS-BEE will suspend publication with its last edition today.

The News-Bee, for several years, has been published at a loss. So long as it appeared that there was a place in the Toledo field for The News Bee…..been willing to sustain these losses, and …..investments on the chance that The News-Bee would, in time, become a reasonably profitable institution. This was done in the face of greatly increased production costs due to mounting labor costs and rising newsprint prices.

The decision to retire from the field was based on the conviction, finally, that two afternoon newspapers cannot be published, with a fair profit for both, in Toledo. It was felt by the owners of The News-Bee to be sound business, as well as good journalism, to retire from a field which offered no hope of betterment – and to concentrate time and effort and investment on those properties within the Scripps-Howard concern which occupy more favorable fields for expansion and growth.

WE REGRET the circumstances which made this action necessary, but we hold no one to blame for those circumstances. They rise from a trend in newspaper economics over which we have no control. The News-Bee has been in Toledo a long time. It is with a feeling of regret that we now suspend publication. We sincerely wish Toledo and its people well. We have only friendliness and good wishes for The Blade and its people.

When The Blade folded the morning Toledo Times (and the last relic of the competitive newspaper history in Toledo) in 1975, it died in the same unheralded sort of way: there was a small story on the front page and nothing else was said about it. No long history about The Times, or any recounting of the history behind it.

The Toledo Blade Company announced today that it is suspending publication of the Toledo Times after the Friday July 18 edition.

Company officials said that insufficient reader and advertiser interest prompted the decision to suspend publication of the Times, which has been published Monday through Friday mornings.

About 120 employees are involved in the production of the Times. About 50 will be terminated within the next few weeks. Of that number, about 23 full-time news department people will be affected. It is hoped many of the remaining employees can be utilized in the production of The Blade, by covering what previously had been overtime shifts.

The times, with a circulation of just over 30,000, was acquired by The Blade Company in 1931. It was started in 1849.

Company officials said that every effort will be made to help terminated employees find other jobs.

Names

http://www2.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac/page41567.html

Toledo Bee

Toledo Bee (d) general newspaper; Independent, 1876-1886; Democratic, 1886-1903. Merged with the Toledo News to form the Toledo News-Bee

Toledo News

Toledo News-Bee (d) general newspaper; Independent. Title variations: Toledo News, 1888-June 6, 1903; Toledo News-Bee, June 8, 1903-Aug 2, 1938

Toledo Times

Toledo Times (d) general newspaper; Republican (1900-1904, 1931-1939); Independent (1905-1930, 1938-1975). Title variations: Toledo Times, 1900-Nov 7, 1926; Toledo Daily Times, Nov 8, 1926-Sep 1, 1930; Toledo Morning Times, Sep 2, 1930-Aug 11, 1938; Toledo Times, Aug 12, 1938-1975

Toledo Daily Herald & Times

Toledo Daily Herald & Times (d) general newspaper. Title variations: Toledo Daily Times, 1857?-1858?; Toledo Daily Morning Times, 1858?-July 16, 1859; Toledo Daily Herald and Times, July 18, 1859-

Toledo Record

Toledo Record (w) religious. CAC holdings: Oct 6, 1911-Dec 31, 1920*

Toledo Sunday Journal

Toledo Sunday Journal(w) general newspaper. Merged with the Toledo Sunday Courier to form the Sunday Courier-Journal. CAC holdings: Aug 6-Sep 3, 1876*; Apr 21, 1889*; May 29, 1892*; Sep 19,1897*; Nov 6, 1898*; Jan 1, 1899*; May 20, 1906*; May 19-Dec 29, 1907*

Toledo Tribune

Toledo Tribune (w) general newspaper (editor C.W. Selner) CAC holdings: Apr 1, 1899-Dec 29, 1900*

Toledo Tribune (w) general newspaper (editor Harold C. Place) CAC holdings: Mar 25, 1932-June 3, 1932*

Toledo Tribune (w) general newspaper (editor Joseph Hayek) CAC holdings: Apr 16-July 2, 1964*

Toledo Weekly Bee

Toledo Weekly Bee (w) general newspaper; Independent (1877-1886); Democratic (1886-1903) CAC holdings: Jan 7, 1897-Dec 27, 1900*

Toledo Weekly Blade

Toledo Weekly Blade (w) general newspaper; Whig (1835-1854); Republican (1855-1924) CAC holdings: Sept 27, 1866; Jan 6, 1870-Dec 28, 1871*; Aug 8-15, 1872; Mar 15-Aug 16, 1877*; Sep 13, 1877-Feb 28, 1878*; Aug 15, 1878-May 6, 1880*; Dec 12, 1880-Dec 28, 1916*; Jan 6, 1921-Oct 9, 1924*

West Toledo Herald

West Toledo Herald (w) general newspaper; Independent. CAC holdings: July 6, 1949-Dec 30, 1981*; Feb 24, 1982-

I don't think the West Toledo Herald is published anymore. In July 2001, I moved into Toledo, specifically the West Toledo area, and for much of the last decade, I remember seeing the West Toledo Herald printed paper at various locations.

Quick Google search, which I should have done first, produced this:

http://www.mondotimes.com/1/world/us/35/5343/16266

The West Toledo Herald is a newspaper in Sylvania, Ohio, USA covering local news, sports, business, jobs, and community events.
The West Toledo Herald ceased publication in early 2008. It covered local news and events for the Sylvania area.

Circulation: 11,000 copies

This newspaper is owned by Delphos Herald, Inc..

I believe Sylvania had the Sylvania Herald.

July 20, 2011 Blade story:
http://www.toledoblade.com/West/2011/07/20/Sylvania-Herald-mails-last-edition.html

The Sylvania Herald shut its doors last week, mailing its final edition to more than 12,000 Sylvania-area households. The weekly community newspaper announced Wednesday that it was closing down after more than 120 years in business.
Murray Cohen, president of Delphos Herald Inc., the newspaper's corporate owner, said weak advertising revenue was behind the closure.

"We couldn't get the advertising support to keep it going," Mr. Cohen said, adding the decision to close had been made several weeks ago.

He said his company has other newspapers in northwest Ohio that are doing well.

Mr. Cohen said the Herald's one full-time employee is interviewing for other jobs.

The four other employees who lost their jobs were part time. The newspaper's offices were at 5700 Monroe St., in the Starlite Plaza.

The Herald ran lots of photos and specialized in soft news and announcements about people and events in the Sylvania area.

Sounds like a good plan for "news" coverage. Would a digital-only hyperlocal media biz work today? It would be tough. The biz would need to be active with Facebook, Twitter, etc. in order to drive traffic and interest to the main website. Local businesses could advertise and maybe produce paid content on the website. No paywall. It would be a labor of love. I should have tried this years ago. Photos, videos, interviews, business profiles, events, nature, history, pet info, etc. Soft news is still useful information, and it can be entertaining if produced well. The focus would be on zip codes that define West Toledo where I live. But some city-wide or regional information would be included too, but it would be less emphasized, since that info can be garnered elsewhere.

Total list

dailies and weeklies that i'm aware of:

Toledo Bee
Toledo News
Toledo Times
Toledo Daily Herald & Times
Toledo Record
Toledo Sunday Journal
Toledo Tribune
Toledo Weekly Bee
Toledo Weekly Blade
Toledo Blade
Sojourner's Truth
Toledo Journal
West Toledo Herald
Toledo City Paper
Toledo Free Press
La Prensa
Toledo Business Journal
Toledo Parent
Point & Shoreland Journal (Point Place, Toledo)
The Independent Collegian

http://toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/tt.pl/article/277/Help_Local_Media_Orgs

#toledo - #media - #history - #local - #blog_jr

By JR - 1354 words
created: Apr 14, 2014 - updated: Jul 26, 2016
source - versions