Cowles Publishing Company

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Cowles Publishing Company
Type publisher, manufacturer, media
Genre newspaper, paper, television
Founded c. 1894
Founder William H. Cowles
Headquarters Spokane, Washington, United States
Area served Spokane, Washington, Spokane Valley, Washington, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Inland Empire
Key people Elizabeth A. Cowles (chairwoman), William Stacey Cowles (publisher), Steven A. Smith (editor)
Website http://www.spokesmanreview.com
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/
Real Cities, McClatchy Interactive
This article is about the Cowles Publishing Company of Spokane, Washington. For other persons and entities named Cowles, see Cowles.

Cowles Publishing Company, sometimes shortened to Cowles Company, is a newspaper publisher and diversified company in Spokane, Washington in the United States. Cowles Publishing owns and operates the The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane founded in 1894. The company operates Inland Empire Paper Company, television stations, and interests in real estate, insurance, marketing and financial services.[1]

William Stacey Cowles is the publisher and the fourth generation to publish the The Spokesman-Review. Steven A. Smith is the editor. Smith came to Spokane from The Statesman-Journal of Salem, Oregon and The Gazette of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Elizabeth A. Cowles, chairwoman of the parent company, is the publisher's sister and like him is a descendant of Willam H. Cowles, the company's founder.

Contents

[edit] History

Review building
Review building

William H. Cowles came to Spokane at age 24 to be the business manager of the Spokesman, which was founded less than two years before, and excelled at local news coverage. He had experience as a police reporter for the Chicago Tribune and was the son of the Tribune's treasurer, Alfred Cowles, Sr. In 1893 the paper merged with its competitor, the Review to become The Spokesman-Review which Cowles purchased from his partners. He acquired the Chronicle in 1897. According to Time in 1952, he was a "determined man" who had an artificial leg yet walked two miles to the office each day.[2]

Cowles set the Chronicle on a course to be independent, and The Spokesman-Review to support Republican Party causes. Time magazine related the paper's success gaining lowered rates for freight carried to the Northwest United States and an improved park system and that helped the region. Increasing its reputation for comprehensive local news and by opposing "gambling, liquor and prostitution," The Spokesman-Review gained popularity. The paper's opposition to building the Grand Coulee Dam was not quite so universally applauded and when it opposed the New Deal and the Fair Deal, it disturbed President of the United States Harry Truman. The Scripps League's Press closed in 1939, making Cowles the only newspaper publisher in Spokane. Cowles created four weeklies, the Idaho Farmer, Washington Farmer, Oregon Farmer and Utah Farmer.[2]

Cowles died in 1946. When William H. Cowles, Jr. succeeded his father as publisher, James Bracken received much more news and editorial control as managing editor.[2]

The original Review Building, designed by Seaton & Ferris in 1891 in an unusual style closest to Richardson Romanesque, is ten stories with a tower that reaches 146 feet (45 m). In 1975 it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[3]

[edit] Television

Cowles television stations include KHQ of Spokane, KNDO of Yakima, Washington and KNDU of Richland, Washington.[4] As of September 2007, Cowles California Media Company planned to acquire two CBS affiliate television stations for USD $41 million from Newport Television, one of the holding companies formed by Providence Equity Partners when Providence planned to acquire the television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications. They are KCOY-TV in Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-San Luis Obispo California and KION-TV in Monterey, California. KION carries The CW Television Network on a separate digital channel. Cowles would also have a management agreement with KCBA, the Fox affiliate serving Salinas, Monterey and Santa Cruz, California, and would acquire two low power stations, KKFX-CA, also Fox in San Luis Obispo, California and the Telemundo affiliate KMUV-LP in Monterey.[5] The deal closed on May 7, 2008.

[edit] Newsroom cutback

In October 2007 about thirty employees lost their jobs and about ten positions will end with early retirement offers due to a 10 percent reduction in the The Spokesman-Review's newsroom budget. Quoted by ContextNext, the publisher said, "Our best advertisers must compete against a huge number of stores and websites that do not advertise much if at all."[6]

[edit] Cowles family

Alfred Cowles, Sr. of the Chicago Tribune, father of William H. Cowles
Alfred Cowles, Sr. of the Chicago Tribune, father of William H. Cowles
Edwin Cowles of the Cleveland Leader, brother of Alfred Cowles. Sr.
Edwin Cowles of the Cleveland Leader, brother of Alfred Cowles. Sr.

The Cowles family of Spokane is descended from Elizabeth (1827–1910) and Sarah Hutchinson (1837–1884) of Cayuga County, New York.[citation needed] The two sisters married two brothers, Alfred Cowles, Sr. and Edwin Cowles of Cleveland, Ohio. Edwin published the Leader and Alfred moved to Chicago, Illinois where he purchased one third of the Chicago Tribune.[7][8]

Feminist and educator Betsy Mix Cowles was Alfred and Edwin's paternal aunt.[9] Edwin's sons Alfred and Eugene were chemists and metallurgists who invented and operated electric arc smelters to extract aluminum.[10] Alfred Cowles, 3rd—the grandson of Alfred, Sr.—founded the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics following the Great Depression.[11]

Distantly related, the Cowles family of Spokane are about sixth cousins of the family of Gardner Cowles, Sr. of Des Moines, Iowa and Minneapolis, Minnesota who owned Cowles Media Company.[12] Both Cowles publishing families are descendants of Hannah Bushoup (c.1613-1683) of Hartford, Connecticut and John Cowles (1598-1675) of Gloucestershire, England.[13]

[edit] List of affiliated businesses

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Yahoo! or Hoovers via Yahoo!. Cowles Publishing Company Company Profile. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
  2. ^ a b c "The Inland Empire's Voice", TIME, Time, 7 January 1952. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  3. ^ Review Building. Emporis. Retrieved on 2007-10-18.
  4. ^ "Business in brief: Cowles Co. buying California stations", The Spokesman-Review, Cowles Publishing Company, 26 September 2006. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  5. ^ "Cowles Buying California TV Stations", TV Newsday, 26 September 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-25. 
  6. ^ Kaplan, David. "Houston Chronicle Lays Off 5 Percent Of Staff; Spokane-Review Also Cuts Jobs", ContentNext Media (paidContent.org), 23 October 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-25. 
  7. ^ Edwin Weed Cowles, Alfred Cowles and Edwin Cowles in Palmer, Michael (contact) (last updated 6 July 2000). PALMER Database. RootsWeb, MyFamily.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
  8. ^ White, James Terry (1895). The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States. James T. White & Company, via New York Public Library via Google Books full view. Retrieved on 2007-10-24.  and Robert Norton Smith (10 June 1997). Chapter 1, The Colonel, The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick 1880-1955. Houghton Mifflin Co. via The New York Times Company. ISBN 0-3955-3379-1. Retrieved on 2007-10-24. 
  9. ^ Betsy Mix Cowles in Woodworth, Jim (contact) (last updated 26 January 2007). Woodworth and Allied Families. RootsWeb, MyFamily.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
  10. ^ Edwin Cowles, Alfred Hutchinson Cowles and Eugene Hutchinson Cowles in Kelley, Miguelk (contact) (last updated 23 July 2007). Cape Cod-to-Carmel Kelleys. RootsWeb, MyFamily.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
  11. ^ Alfred Cowles, Jr. and Alfred Cowles, 3rd, in Kelley, Miguelk (contact) (last updated 23 July 2007). Cape Cod-to-Carmel Kelleys. RootsWeb, MyFamily.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
  12. ^ Gardner Cowles in Kroll, Diana (contact) (last updated 17 January 2002). Cowles Years 1630-1929. RootsWeb, MyFamily.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
  13. ^ Kroll, Diana (contact) (last updated 17 January 2002). Cowles Years 1630-1929. RootsWeb, MyFamily.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-24. and Woodworth, Jim (contact) (last updated 26 January 2007). Hannah Bushoup in Woodworth and Allied Families. RootsWeb, MyFamily.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-24. and Woodworth, Jim (contact) (last updated 26 January 2007). John Cowles in Woodworth and Allied Families. RootsWeb, MyFamily.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-24.

[edit] External links

Journalism Portal
Television Portal