The ''Daily Times-Advocate'', also called the ''Escondido Times-Advocate'', was a daily newspaper published in
Escondido, California
Escondido is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Located in the North County region, it was incorporated in 1888, and is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. It has a population of 151,038 as of the 2020 census.
Et ...
. It was founded in 1909 and ceased publication as a separate title in 1995.
History
''The Daily Times-Advocate'' was founded in 1909 following the merger of two weekly papers, ''The Escondido Times'' (founded by A. J. Lindsey in 1886) and ''The Escondido Advocate'' (founded by A. D. Dunn in 1891). Also known later as the ''Escondido Times-Advocate'', it was one of the longest-standing institutions in Escondido's history. It had been bought by the Appleby family in the early 1960s with Carlton R. Appleby becoming its publisher. Appleby sold the paper in 1977 to
Tribune Publishing
Tribune Publishing Company (briefly Tronc, Inc.) is an American newspaper print and online media publishing company. The company, which was acquired by Alden Global Capital in May 2021, has a portfolio that includes the ''Chicago Tribune'', the ...
who at the time were buying up a number of other Southern California papers.
In 1995 Tribune Publishing sold its Southern California holdings, including its largest one the ''Times-Advocate'', to
Howard Publications Howard Publications was a family-owned company of newspapers in the United States. It owned 16 daily newspapers when it sold to Lee Enterprises for $694 million in 2002.
Robert S. Howard founded the company in 1961.York, Tom (2 December 2019)Speci ...
. At the time of the sale, the ''Times-Advocate'' had a circulation of 40,000.
Oceanside's ''North County Blade-Citizen'' and the ''Times-Advocate'' were merged that year to form the ''
North County Times
The ''North County Times'' was a local newspaper in San Diego's North County. It was headquartered in Escondido. The final publisher was Peter York.
It was formed in 1995 from the merger of the ''North County Blade-Citizen'' of Oceanside (fo ...
''. That paper ceased publication as a separate title in 2013 when it was bought by the ''
San Diego Union-Tribune
''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868.
Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...
'' and merged into the larger paper to become its North Coast edition.
The "Times-Advocate" name, which had fallen into the public domain, was revived by real estate broker Kelly Crews for a completely different publication in 2014. Crews sold that publication to the proprietor of the ''
Valley Roadrunner'' in January 2016.
Former staff and contributors
In 1979 photographer
Len Lahman quit his job at the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' to begin a one-year personal project documenting the lives of California's migrant workers and the toll their living and working conditions had taken on them. His
photo essay A photographic essay or photo-essay for short is a form of visual storytelling, a way to present a narrative through a series of images. A photo essay delivers a story using a series of photographs and brings the viewer along a narrative journey.
E ...
, pioneering for its time, was rejected by numerous publications, including ''
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
''. He finally found a publisher in the ''Times-Advocate'' who ran it in 1980 as a 16-page supplement entitled ''Faces Beyond the Border''. The following year, Lehman won the
Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award
The Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism is a journalism award named after Robert F. Kennedy and awarded by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. The annual awards are issued in several categories and were est ...
for the piece. A 1987–1988 series of stories by Catherine Spearnak for the ''Times-Advocate'' and ''
San Diego Magazine
''San Diego Magazine'' is a multi-platform media company covering food, arts and culture, travel, health and wellness, social progress, and life in San Diego County. Its flagship monthly magazine has won multiple regional and national awards. The ...
'' on the unsolved murders of San Diego women involved in prostitution led to the establishment of San Diego's multi-agency Metropolitan Homicide Task Force.
Other staff or contributors who worked for the newspaper in their early careers include:
*
James W. Huston (1953–2016), lawyer and author known for his military and legal thrillers who wrote
op-ed
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...
s for the ''Times-Advocate'' in the early 1990s
*
Mary Jacobus
Mary Jacobus (February 11, 1957 – February 20, 2009) was an American journalist. She was an executive with The New York Times Company, serving as president and general manager of ''The Boston Globe'' from January through September 2006, an ...
(1957–2009), newspaper executive and former manager of the ''
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' who was director of sales and marketing at the ''Times-Advocate'' in the 1980s
[. Retrieved 7 June 2016.]
*
Armen Keteyian Armen Keteyian (born March 6, 1953) is an Armenian American television journalist and best-selling author. Most recently he was the Anchor and an Executive Producer for ''The Athletic''. Previously he spent 12 years as a network television correspon ...
(1953–), journalist and author who worked as a sports and feature writer for the paper from 1978 to 1980
*
Jim Toomey
James Patrick Toomey (born December 26, 1960) is an American cartoonist famous for his comic ''Sherman's Lagoon''. Toomey received his B.S.E. from Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering in 1983, an M.L.A. from Stanford University in 1 ...
(1960–), whose comic strip ''
Sherman's Lagoon
''Sherman's Lagoon'' is a daily comic strip by Jim Toomey that is widely syndicated in newspapers worldwide after its first appearance in the ''Escondido Times-Advocate'' of Escondido, California, on May 13, 1991.
The story of Sherman's Lagoon ...
'' was first published in the ''Times-Advocate'' in 1991 and went on to national syndication
[Tobin, Suzanne (5 April 2002)]
"Comics: Meet the Artist With Jim Toomey"
''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
References
External links
Recordat the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
''Chronicling America'' project
*Wolff, Eric (November 2013)
"Below the Fold: An Oral History of the ''North County Times''" ''
San Diego Magazine
''San Diego Magazine'' is a multi-platform media company covering food, arts and culture, travel, health and wellness, social progress, and life in San Diego County. Its flagship monthly magazine has won multiple regional and national awards. The ...
''
{{Portal bar, California, Journalism
Daily newspapers published in California
Mass media in San Diego County, California
Companies based in San Diego County, California
Defunct newspapers published in California