The Sioux City Journal, that was founded in 1864, has recently informed its carriers that their last delivery date will be Sunday June 18, 2023. There will be no more newspapers delivered to homes, etc. by carriers. Newspapers will be delivered by mail. Print editions for Wednesday, Friday and Sunday are being eliminated. New print edition will be Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (the weekend edition).
This newspaper has been around for all of the lives of those who read it. The Sioux City Journal was founded as a weekly newspaper on August 20, 1864 by Samuel Tait Davis ( 1828-1900) and others who wanted a strong local voice for the Union Party and the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. Serving as the first editor, Davis continued until after the election, ensuring a pro-Lincoln perspective. With the end of the Union Party after the Civil War, this shifted to a pro-Republican stance.
George and Henry Perkins bought the Sioux City Weekly Journal in 1869, and within a year converted it to a daily newspaper. Continuing the Republican editorial line, George Perkins (1840-1914) served as editor in between terms as a Republican office holder. Among other offices, he served in the Iowa Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, and lost a highly contested bid for Iowa’s governorship in 1906.
After George Perkins died early in 1914, the paper was left to his son, William R. Perkins, and son-in-law, William Sammons. They hired noted architect William L. Steele to design a new four-story building at the southwest corner of Douglas Street and 5th Street. Housing the paper’s editorial, reporting, circulation, advertising sales, and printing operations, the building was ready for occupancy in 1915.
Sammons ran the “Journal” until his death in 1944. One of his accomplishments was purchasing in 1941 the Journal’s primary competitor, the pro-Democratic “Sioux City Tribune”. Since the Journal was a morning paper and the Tribune an evening paper, for over 30 years they continued both papers with a merged staff.
The “Tribune” was formed out of the “Sioux City Daily and Weekly Times” a paper which had been founded in May 1869 by a stock company. In 1874, a Mr. Warner purchased the “Daily and Weekly Times”, made it politically Democratic and changed the name to the “Tribune”. Warner stepped down as editor in 1876, with C.R. Smead taking the helm. Albert Watkins was the next editor. Watkins continued the publication of the paper until July 1, 1880, when he handed it over to John C. Kelly, its editor and proprietor until at least the year 1882. At that time, the Tribune was a six-column quarto format newspaper. Judson Welliver was editor until 1904. Having been dissolved and reestablished by 1929, the “Tribune merged with the “Sioux City Journal” in 1941 to form the Sioux City Tribune and Journal. This successor title eventually ceased printing in 1959 or 1960 under the name of the “Journal-Tribune”.
By 1972, the elegant building designed by Steele was no longer meeting the paper’s needs, and a new plant was built east of downtown at Sixth and Pavonia Streets. The Journal moved there in November of that year, and the Steele building was demolished soon afterwards.
On December 14, 1972, the Journal-Tribune Publishing Co. was purchased by Hagadone Corp. of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and Howarad Publications of Oceanside, California. Shortly after the ownership change, the Journal dropped its afternoon editions and became a seven-day morning paper. Lee Enterprises Inc. of Davenport, Iowa, bought Howard Publications in February 2002, giving it half-ownership of the paper; in June 2002, Lee purchased the remaining half from Hagadone.
The newspaper founded radio station KSCJ in 1927 and co-founded television station KTIV in 1953. Both have been sold off.
The Sioux City Journal revenue is $4.7M annually. It has 92 employees, and the revenue per employee ratio is $51,086. It’s peak revenue was $4.7M in 2022.
The Sioux City Journal executive team is 38% female and 62% male. 72% of the management team is White. 10% of Sioux City Journal management is Hispanic or Latino. 11% of the management team is Black or African American.
(The reason “ xxx ” seems to be more than usual, it is because what should be in italics is NOT excepted by the computer it is sent to.)
Because the Sioux City Journal has been around “forever”, I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of history it had. The aforementioned information on the Sioux City Journal’s history is found on their web site.
For those who have had the newspaper delivered to their doors, it will be a change. With change, comes cost. Maybe there will be more people going to the Marcus Public Library to read it—cost free!
Just as I finished this article, Steve found a newspaper from Sept. 7, 2005 that the headline was “Paperboys are no more”. The image of a young lad, biking through a neighborhood, hurling a rubber-banded newspaper one day, collecting from customers another day, is no more. The days of young boys delivering papers and drop-offs in neighborhoods fell by the wayside in 2002. Newspaper carriers, for the most part in most area of the U.S. are adults who deliver their papers in the dead of night. The reasons for this change are many, but foremost are safety and cost-effectiveness.
The paperman, being followed by a reporter for a story telling of delivering newspapers, is on the north side of Sioux City where he has gotten out of his car and begins his walk. He experiences mosquitoes but is happy for the absence of flies and gnats. There is occasional flashes of lightening even though the moon is bright.
Over one shoulder is the daily newspaper with the shopper inserted and over the other is the shopper only. When he delivers, he must remember who gets what. On Wednesdays, his deliveries increase from 87 to 150 papers when all households receive the Journal. The Sunday paper is much heavier and bulkier and weighed 1.35 pounds.
This paperman uses a lot of wrist action in rubber banding and then hurls papers toward the front doors. At one house he lays the paper flat because the lady has arthritis and has trouble taking the rubber band off, so he does it for her. Some like the paper in a Journal box; some like it inside the door, but most are just pleased to have it in the general vicinity of the front door.
He has encountered dogs, some friendly and some not; bats can scare birds and cause a commotion. He has smelled skunk but never met up with one. As he is walking with the reporter, two police squad cars pull up. Someone had reported that they had seen someone taking pictures and thought this was unusual. (The reporter was taking pictures of the paperman on his route!)
Newspaper carriers earn their money by serving as independent contractors. They receive a profit for delivering the newspaper. Journal officials say, “It’s a great way for people to earn income or extra income. They admit that the carrier force is their backbone. They are out there in the cold and wet elements and without them, we would not get the newspaper delivered. (I wonder how many customers in our area would really like their paper delivered the way this paperman delivered his?!)
There was an insert to this story called “Carrier Appreciation”. The Journal at that time was soliciting readers’ nominations in anticipation of Carrier Appreciation Month in October. The carrier who received the most accolades would be presented with a monetary award and a plaque in mid-October. They are asking customers to send a postcard with a brief statement why your carrier should win this award.
That was in 2005 NOT now. As the years went on, the people delivering the newspaper were doing a job for less money as time went by. This 2005 article was all about how important the paperman was to them—the people that sat at a desk during the day and didn’t have to worry about weather or anything else.
But as of June 18, 2023 there will be only three newspapers a week and they will be delivered to the post office to be mailed to the customer. How long will this be before people will be going on their computer to read the newspaper?