Western Communications, Inc. was an American newspaper publisher serving the states of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The family-owned company was based in

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U.S ...

and was founded by

Robert W. Chandler Robert W. Chandler (May 12, 1921 – July 12, 1996) was an American journalist, businessman, and philanthropist. He was the editor and publisher of ''The Bulletin'', a daily newspaper in Bend, Oregon. He ran the newspaper for 43 years. With th ...

. Its flagship paper was '' The Bulletin''. Chandler, who bought the ''Bulletin'' in 1953, built the company up over the ensuing decades, prior to his death in 1996. The company was recognized by an

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

awards program in 1995, for an effective ownership transition from Chandler to his daughter, Elizabeth McCool, and for remaining actively engaged in its community. At the time, the chain consisted of eight papers and employed 300 people. When the company bought '' The Redmond Spokesman'' from Mary Brown in 1955, it owned radio stations in Oregon and California. The company built a large headquarters building in Bend in 2000. It filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy in 2011, seeking to renegotiate an $18 million loan, and hoping to complete the bankruptcy proceedings within six months. In 2012, the company did emerge from bankruptcy, but also laid off 10% of its staff, due to a sharp decline in advertising revenue from legal notices. In 2017, it listed its headquarters building for sale, but no offer had been accepted as of January 2019, and the company had fallen behind on payments of state taxes. The debt the company owes is estimated at $26 million. In January 2019, the company again filed for bankruptcy protection. Two papers were sold to Country Media, one was sold to

RISN Operations RISN Operations Inc., also called Rhode Island Suburban Newspapers, is a privately owned publisher of three daily newspapers and several weekly newspapers in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The company was founded by Illinois-based newspaper exec ...

and the remaining properties were sold to

EO Media Group The EO Media Group is a newspaper publishing company based in the U.S. state of Oregon. It publishes 17 newspapers in the state and in southwestern Washington. History The company, which has been family-owned for four generations, was previous ...

Newspapers

;Oregon * ''

Baker City Herald The ''Baker City Herald'' is a tri-weekly paper published in Baker City, Oregon, United States, since 1870. It is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays by EO Media Group and has a circulation of 2,304. History The ''Herald'' was established ...

'' * '' The Bulletin'', Bend * ''Central Oregon Nickel Ads'' * ''

Curry Coastal Pilot The ''Curry Coastal Pilot is'' a weekly newspaper published in Brookings, Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Wa ...

'', Brookings * ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', La Grande * '' The Redmond Spokesman'' ;California * ''

The Daily Triplicate The ''Del Norte Triplicate'' is an American paid newspaper which serves the city of Crescent City and surrounding Del Norte county. It is published weekly on Fridays. History The ''Del Norte Daily Triplicate'' traces its roots back to 1879, sta ...

'', Crescent City * ''

The Union Democrat ''The Union Democrat'' is a newspaper that serves the Sonora and Sierra Nevada foothills area of Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, California since 1854. It was acquired by Oregon-based Western Communications since 1998. Previously, it was owned ...

'', Sonora

References

External links

The Chandler Lecture
from the

University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

Companies based in Bend, Oregon Newspaper companies of the United States Privately held companies based in Oregon Publishing companies based in Oregon {{Oregon-newspaper-stub