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San Francisco Chronicle
The San Francisco Chronicle began its life with a borrowed twenty-dollar gold piece, a sum that would eventually fund the most influential newspaper on the West Coast. Founded on the 16th of January 1865 by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young, the publication started as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle. Their brother Gustavus de Young was named on the masthead, though he played no active role in the day-to-day operations. The brothers operated out of a modest office at the corner of Bush and Kearney Streets, a location that would soon be replaced by a more ambitious headquarters. Within a decade, the paper had achieved the largest circulation of any newspaper west of the Mississippi River, a feat that seemed impossible given its humble financial origins. The de Young brothers commissioned a new building from the architectural firm Burnham and Root at 690 Market Street, which became known as Newspaper Row. This structure, completed in 1889, was San Francisco's first skyscraper and stood as a testament to the brothers' vision. The building was damaged in the 1906 earthquake but was rebuilt under the direction of William Polk, Burnham's associate. Today, the structure, known as the Old Chronicle Building or the DeYoung Building, remains a historic landmark and houses the Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences.
The Zodiac Cipher
During the late 1960s, the Chronicle became the central battleground in one of the most infamous murder investigations in American history. Paul Avery, a staff writer for the paper, pursued the trail of the self-named Zodiac Killer, who sent cryptograms in three sections to the Chronicle and two other newspapers. One of these letters, mailed on the 31st of July 1969 and postmarked in San Francisco, contained a cipher that the Chronicle eventually solved. The paper's coverage of the Zodiac Killer was part of a broader era of investigative reporting under editor Scott Newhall, who took a bold and provocative approach to news presentation between World War II and 1971. Newhall's Chronicle featured investigative reporting by journalists such as Pierre Salinger, who later played a prominent role in national politics, and Paul Avery. The paper also boasted a roster of colorful columnists including Pauline Phillips, who wrote under the name Dear Abby, Count Marco, Stanton Delaplane, Terence O'Flaherty, Lucius Beebe, Art Hoppe, Charles McCabe, and Herb Caen. This era of journalism helped the Chronicle grow in circulation to become the city's largest, overtaking the rival San Francisco Examiner.
The Financial Squeeze
The competition between the Chronicle and the Examiner took a severe financial toll on both papers until the summer of 1965, when a merger of sorts created a Joint Operating Agreement. Under this arrangement, the Chronicle became the city's sole morning daily while the Examiner changed to afternoon publication, which ultimately led to a declining readership. The newspapers were officially owned by the San Francisco Newspaper Agency, which managed sales and distribution for both newspapers and was charged with ensuring that one newspaper's circulation did not grow at the expense of the other. Revenue was split equally, which led to a situation widely understood to benefit the Examiner, since the Chronicle, which had a circulation four times larger than its rival, subsidized the afternoon newspaper. The two newspapers produced a joint Sunday edition, with the Examiner publishing the news sections and the Sunday magazine, and the Chronicle responsible for the tabloid-sized entertainment section and the book review. From 1965 on, the two papers shared a single classified-advertising operation. This arrangement stayed in place until the Hearst Corporation took full control of the Chronicle in 2000. The financial strain of this arrangement eventually led to the Examiner becoming a free tabloid, leaving the Chronicle as the only daily broadsheet newspaper in San Francisco.
Who founded the San Francisco Chronicle and when was it established?
The San Francisco Chronicle was founded on the 16th of January 1865 by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The publication began as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle with a borrowed twenty-dollar gold piece.
What is the significance of the San Francisco Chronicle building at 690 Market Street?
The building at 690 Market Street was San Francisco's first skyscraper and was completed in 1889. It was commissioned from the architectural firm Burnham and Root and is now known as the Old Chronicle Building or the DeYoung Building.
How did the San Francisco Chronicle cover the Zodiac Killer case?
Paul Avery, a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, pursued the trail of the self-named Zodiac Killer during the late 1960s. The paper received a letter mailed on the 31st of July 1969 containing a cipher that the Chronicle eventually solved.
When did the San Francisco Chronicle launch its SFGate website?
The San Francisco Chronicle launched the SFGate website on the 3rd of November 1994. It was the first large market newspaper website in the world and was co-founded by Allen Weiner and John Coate.
When did the San Francisco Chronicle sell to Hearst Communications?
The de Young family sold the San Francisco Chronicle to Hearst Communications, Inc. on the 27th of July 2000 for $660 million. This sale transferred ownership from the Chronicle Publishing Company to the Hearst Corporation.
What unique features does the San Francisco Chronicle use for its sports and entertainment sections?
The sports section is edited by Christina Kahrl and called Sporting Green as it is printed on green-tinted pages. The Sunday arts and entertainment insert section is called Datebook and is printed on pink-tinted paper.
In 1994, the newspaper launched the SFGate website, with a soft launch in March and an official launch on the 3rd of November 1994, including both content from the newspaper and other sources. The Gate, as it was known at launch, was the first large market newspaper website in the world, co-founded by Allen Weiner and John Coate. It went on to staff up with its own columnists and reporters, and even won a Pulitzer Prize for Mark Fiore's political cartoons. The newspaper's websites were at SFGate.com and SFChronicle.com, with SFGate being free and SFChronicle.com being premium. Originally The Gate, SFGATE was one of the earliest major market newspaper websites to be launched, on the 3rd of November 1994, at the time of The Newspaper Guild strike. The union published its own news website, San Francisco Free Press, whose staff joined SFGATE when the strike ended. SFChronicle.com launched in 2013 and since 2019 has been run separately from SFGATE, whose staff are independent of the print newspaper. Across all platforms, the Chronicle has 34 million unique visitors each month, with SFGATE receiving 135.9 million pageviews and 25.1 million unique visitors per month and SFChronicle.com 31.3 million pageviews and 31.3 million unique visitors per month globally.
The Sale and The Shift
The de Young family controlled the paper, via the Chronicle Publishing Company, until the 27th of July 2000, when it was sold to Hearst Communications, Inc. for $660 million, considerably above analysts' $500 million valuation of the paper. Hearst owned the Examiner, and following its purchase of the Chronicle, the Hearst Corporation transferred the Examiner to the Fang family, publisher of the San Francisco Independent and AsianWeek, along with a $66-million subsidy. Under the new owners, the Examiner became a free tabloid, leaving the Chronicle as the only daily broadsheet newspaper in San Francisco. Since the Hearst Corporation took ownership in 2000, the Chronicle has made periodic changes to its organization and design. On the 1st of February 2009, as the newspaper began its 145th year of publication, the Chronicle Sunday edition introduced a redesigned paper featuring a modified logo, new section, and page organization, new features, bolder, colored section-front banners and new headline and text typography. The frequent bold-faced, all-capital-letter headlines typical of the Chronicles front page were eliminated. Editor Ward Bushee's note heralded the issue as the start of a new era for the Chronicle. On the 9th of November 2009, the Chronicle became the first newspaper in the nation to print on high-quality glossy paper.
The Green and The Pink
The Chronicle's sports section is edited by Christina Kahrl and called Sporting Green as it is printed on green-tinted pages. The section's best-known writers are its columnists: Bruce Jenkins, Ann Killion, Scott Ostler, and Mike Silver. Its baseball coverage is anchored by Henry Schulman, John Shea, and Susan Slusser, the first female president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The Chronicle's Sunday arts and entertainment insert section is called Datebook, and has for decades been printed on pink-tinted paper in a tabloid format. Movie reviews, for many years written by nationally known critic Mick LaSalle, feature a unique rating system: instead of stars or a thumbs up system, the Chronicle has for decades used a small cartoon icon, sitting in a movie theater seat, known as the Little Man. This icon is explained by the Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert as the only rating system that makes any sense, with the Little Man seen jumping out of his seat and applauding wildly, sitting up happily and applauding, sitting attentively, asleep in his seat, or gone from his seat. The current publisher of the Chronicle is Bill Nagel, and Audrey Cooper was named editor-in-chief in January 2015, being the first woman to hold the position.
The Crisis and The Fall
Circulation has fallen sharply since the dot-com boom peaked from around 1997 to 2001. The Chronicles daily readership dropped by 16.6% between 2004 and 2005 to 400,906. The Chronicle fired one-quarter of its newsroom staff in a cost-cutting move in May 2007. Newspaper executives pointed to growth of SFGate, the online website with 5.2 million unique visitors per month, which was fifth among U.S. newspaper websites in 2007. In February 2009, Hearst chief executive Frank A. Bennack Jr. and Hearst President Steven R. Swartz announced that the Chronicle had lost money every year since 2001 and more than $50 million in 2008. Without major concessions from employees and other cuts, Hearst would put the papers up for sale and, if no buyer was found, shut the paper. San Francisco would have become the first major American city without a daily newspaper. The cuts were made. Despite or perhaps because of the threats, the loss of readers and advertisers accelerated. On the 26th of October 2009, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported that the Chronicle had suffered a 25.8% drop in circulation for the six-month period ending in September 2009, to 251,782 subscribers, the largest percentage drop in circulation of any major newspaper in the United States. Chronicle publisher Frank Vega said the drop was expected as the paper moved to earn more from higher subscription fees from fewer readers.