Van Nuys News (1911-1981)
The Daily News began publication in Van Nuys as the Van Nuys Call on October 13, 1911.[2][3] E.R. Elkins founded the weekly newspaper,[4] and sold it after six weeks to Frank M. Keffer, a reporter from Pittsburgh,[5] who renamed it to the Van Nuys News.[6] In 1920, Walter Mendenhall became a co-owner.[7] In 1922, the paper expanded to a twice weekly.[2]
In 1926, Keffer was elected president of the Southern California Editorial Association.[8] In 1927, the News had 799 paying subscribers.[9] In 1932, Keffer sold his stake to William Colfax Markham and his children.[10] In the 1940s, the paper began producing its front page on green colored paper to set itself apart from the competition.[2]
In 1953, the paper was renamed the Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet.[3] During this period, the paper was delivered for free to readers in 14 zoned editions in the San Fernando Valley.[11] The News expanded to three days a week in 1954, and four days in 1959.[2] A few years later the paper expanded coverage to the Conejo, Simi and Santa Clarita valleys.[2]
In December 1960, Keffer died.[12] In August 1961, Walter Mendenhall died.[13] In September 1961, Markham died.[14] The paper was inherited by his children and the other owner's son Ferdinand Mendenhall, who in 1970 was elected president of the California Newspaper Publishers Association.[15]
In 1973, the Tribune Company acquired the News from the Markham and Mendenhall families. At that time, the paper had a circulation of 276,000.[16] The sale price was $25 million.[2] In 1976, the green front page was dropped. In 1979, the News expanded to seven days a week.[2]
Los Angeles Daily News (1981-Present)
In 1981, the paper stopped its free distribution and was renamed to the Los Angeles Daily News.[2][3] Later that year, former owner Ferdinand Mendenhall died.[17] A few years later, federal regulators forced Tribune Co. to sell the Daily News as a condition of its acquisition of KTLA. The winning bid went to Jack Kent Cooke for $176 million.[18] At that time Cooke owned the Washington Redskins and the Chrysler Building.[2]
In 1987, the Daily News relocated to a 132,000-square-foot building.[2] In 1990, a new printing plant was opened in Valencia.[2] When the Los Angeles Herald Examiner went out of business November 2, 1989, it left the Daily News as the second-biggest paper in the city behind the Los Angeles Times.[19] In April 1997, Cooke died.[20] That December, his estate sold the Daily News to MediaNews Group, at that time headed by William Dean Singleton.[21]
The paper was consolidated with other Southern California titles into a subsidiary called the Los Angeles Newspaper Group,[19] which later became the Southern California News Group. All papers in the group are local editions of the Daily News.[22]
