The ''Texarkana Gazette'' is a daily
newspaper founded in 1875 and currently owned by
WEHCO Media, Inc. It serves a nine-county area surrounding
Texarkana.
History
The newspaper was acquired through the consolidation of several newspapers in 1933 through the efforts of
Iowa-born businessman
Clyde E. Palmer Clyde may refer to:
People
* Clyde (given name)
* Clyde (surname)
Places
For townships see also Clyde Township
Australia
* Clyde, New South Wales
* Clyde, Victoria
* Clyde River, New South Wales
Canada
* Clyde, Alberta
* Clyde, Ontario, a to ...
. Palmer established a newspaper and radio station chain that reached into
Hot Springs
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
,
Camden
Camden may refer to:
People
* Camden (surname), a surname of English origin
* Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer
* Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor
Places Australia
* Camden, New South Wales
* Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...
,
Magnolia, and
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
in
Arkansas. In 1952, Palmer acquired the television station KCMC, which became
KTAL-TV in 1961. It serves both Texarkana and
Shreveport
Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...
. Through a reorganization in 1968, ''
The Camden News'' in
Camden, Arkansas
Camden is a city in and the county seat of Ouachita County in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city is located about 100 miles south of Little Rock. Situated on bluffs overlooking the Ouachita River, the city developed ...
, technically became the parent company for the Palmer newspapers, including the ''Texarkana Gazette''.
Palmer's ''Texarkana Gazette'' still circulates in
Bowie,
Red River,
Morris,
Marion,
Titus, and
Cass counties in Texas and
Miller,
Little River,
Hempstead,
Nevada,
Howard
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
,
Sevier
Sevier ( ) is an unincorporated community in southwestern Sevier County, Utah, United States. It lies in the valley of the Sevier River along U.S. Route 89 southwest of the city of Richfield, the county seat of Sevier County. Its elevation is ...
,
Pike and
Columbia
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
counties in Arkansas. Newspapers are also delivered into
McCurtain County in the southeastern corner of
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
and into northern
Caddo Parish
Caddo Parish ( French: ''Paroisse de Caddo'') is a parish located in the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Louisiana. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the parish had a population of 237,848. The parish seat is Shreveport, which developed a ...
in
Louisiana.
The ''Texarkana Gazette'' has more than 130 employees and some 120 independent carriers that deliver newspapers in a 60-mile
radius. The average circulation is about 25,000 daily. The previous afternoon daily, the ''Texarkana Daily News'', ceased publication in 1978.
Rodger Dean Duncan
Rodger Dean Duncan (born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is an American author and business consultant whose focus is leadership, human performance, and the strategic management of change.
Consulting
After working at F.I. duPont, Glore Forgan & Co ...
, who later worked for two White House administrations and is now a prominent business consultant, was managing editor of the two Texarkana newspapers in the late 1960s.
Palmer determined the key to newspaper success was the readers, the advertisers, the employees, the creditors, and the stockholders, in that order.
The paper earned the coveted 2010 General Excellence award from the Arkansas Press Association, competing against eight other large dailies, including the ''
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,'' which placed second.
For more than 85 years, the main office of the Gazette was located at 315 Pine Street on the Texas side. In September 2016, the Gazette's business, circulation, advertising, creative services, and editorial departments moved to the first two floors of the Landmark Building at 101 E. Broad St. on the Arkansas side, while the printing and distribution remained in the existing building.
On December 12, 2017, the paper announced that it would close its Texarkana printing press in mid-January and begin printing in
Little Rock, Arkansas, where sister paper the ''
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is printed.
Controversy
In September 2013, the paper and editor Les Minor generated controversy when it refused to publish the wedding announcement of a gay couple. "The ''Texarkana Gazette'' publishes wedding, engagement and anniversary announcements related to marriages or impending marriages that are recognized by states in which it circulates," Minor said.
Notes
External links
''Texarkana Gazette'' official web site''Texarkana Gazette'' on Facebook''Texarkana Gazette'' on Twitter''Texarkana Gazette'' Sports on Twitter
{{WEHCO
Daily newspapers published in Texas
Newspapers published in Arkansas
Texarkana
Texarkana, Arkansas
Texarkana, Texas
Publications established in 1875