The Cowles Company is a diversified media company in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

, in the US. The company owns and operates ''

The Spokesman-Review ''The Spokesman-Review'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Spokane, Washington, the city's sole remaining daily publication. It has the third-highest readership among daily newspapers in the state, with most of its readership base in ...

'' in Spokane, founded in 1894, and owned the ''

Spokane Daily Chronicle The ''Spokane Daily Chronicle'' is a daily digital newspaper in Spokane, Washington. It was founded as a weekly paper in 1881 and grew into an afternoon daily, competing with ''The Spokesman-Review'', which was formed from the merger of two comp ...

'' until it was shut down in 1992. Built by William H. Cowles, the publishing business eventually constructed striking buildings in downtown Spokane for both papers. The Chronicle Building was eventually converted into offices and then residential. The company also owned several other papers and operates Inland Empire Paper Company,

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

stations, and interests in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

and financial services. William Stacey Cowles, the publisher of ''The Spokesman-Review'', is the great-grandson of the company's founder, William H. Cowles, and the fourth generation of the Cowles family to run the paper. His sister, Elizabeth A. Cowles, is chairwoman of the parent company. Rob Curley is the editor.

History

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 The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' and was the son of the ''Tribune'' treasurer, Alfred Cowles Sr. He soon bought the ''Spokesman'' from his partners. In 1893, he bought a rival paper, the ''Review'', and merged the two papers into ''The Spokesman-Review''. He acquired the ''Spokane Chronicle'' in 1897. According to ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' in 1952, he was a "determined man" who had an artificial leg yet walked two miles to the office each day. 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 The Northwestern United States, also known as the American Northwest or simply the Northwest, is an informal geographic region of the United States. The region consistently includes the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. ...

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 Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had two powerh ...

was not quite so universally applauded and when it opposed the New Deal and the

Fair Deal The Fair Deal was a set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in 1945 and in his January 1949 State of the Union address. More generally. the term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administr ...

, it so disturbed President of the United States

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

that he declared the Spokesman-Review to be one of the "two worst" newspapers in the United States. 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''. 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. The original Review Building, designed by Seaton & Ferris in 1891 in a style closest to

Richardson Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesq ...

, is ten stories with a tower that reaches . In 1975, it was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Television

Cowles' television operations are centered around the two NBC affiliates in eastern Washington. The flagship is

KHQ-TV KHQ-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship and namesake of the KHQ Television Group, a subsidiary of the locally based Cowles Company, which also owns ''The Spokesm ...

in Spokane, which was founded by Cowles as Washington's second television station. Cowles also owns

KNDO KNDO (channel 23) is a television station in Yakima, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the Spokane-based Cowles Company as part of the KHQ Television Group. KNDO's studios are located on West Yakima Avenue in downtow ...

Yakima Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uni ...

and its Tri-Cities semi-satellite

KNDU KNDU (channel 25) is a television station licensed to Richland, Washington, United States, serving the Tri-Cities area as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by the Spokane-based Cowles Company as part of the KHQ Television Group. KNDU's studios ...

(licensed to Richland). As of September 2007, Cowles planned to acquire two

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

affiliate television stations for US$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 KCOY-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Santa Maria, California, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Dabl. It is owned by VistaWest Media, LLC, which maintains a ...

in Santa Barbara- Santa Maria- San Luis Obispo, California and

KION-TV KION-TV (channel 46) is a television station licensed to Monterey, California, United States, affiliated with CBS, Fox, and Telemundo. Owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company, it serves the Monterey Bay area from studios located on Moffett St ...

in Monterey, California. KION carries

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

on a separate digital channel. Cowles would also have a management agreement with

KCBA KCBA (channel 35) is a television station in Salinas, California, United States, serving the Monterey Bay area as an affiliate of The CW Plus. It is owned by Seal Rock Broadcasters, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with the New ...

, the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

affiliate serving Salinas, Monterey and

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a po ...

, and would acquire two low power stations, KKFX-CA, also Fox in San Luis Obispo, California and the

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

affiliate KMUV-LP in Monterey. The deal closed on May 7, 2008. On September 20, 2013,

News-Press & Gazette Company The News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) is a media company based in St. Joseph, Missouri, wholly owned and operated by the Bradley family. It is presided by Brian Bradley and David R. Bradley, with Hank Bradley (retired), Eric Bradley and Kit Br ...

announced that it would purchase

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...

stations,

and KMUV-LP, as well as

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...

station KKFX-CA. NPG will also take over some of the operations of Santa Maria sister station

, which Cowles will retain, under a

shared services agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or time ...

(as NPG's holdings in the area already include

KEYT-TV KEYT-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Santa Barbara, California, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of ABC, CBS, and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) along ...

in Santa Barbara). The existing LMA for

was terminated on December 1, 2013, as that station's operations were assumed by

Entravision Communications Entravision Communications Corporation is an American media company based in Santa Monica, California. Entravision primarily caters to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community and owns television and radio stations and outdoor media, in several o ...

through a joint sales agreement (the license was retained by Seal Rock Broadcasters). On September 30, 2013, Cowles announced that it would acquire Max Media's Montana television station cluster for $18 million. The sale was finalized on November 29. In October 2022, Cowles introduced the standardized branding ''NonStop Local'' for all of its stations' news programming, as part of an effort to promote them as multi-platform news sources.

Current

(**) - ''indicates a station built and signed on by Cowles''.

Cowles Montana Media Company

Other Notes: * ¹ Owned by

Marks Radio Group Stephan Marks, a Maryland native, was the owner and operator of radio and television stations in three small United States markets. He died on May 11, 2022 at the age of 72. Stations owned by Stephan Marks Television * KXGN-TV channel 5 (digital ...

, Cowles operated KYUS as a satellite of KULR.

KHQ, Incorporated

Former

*¹ Cowles operated KCBA through a

(SSA). *² From 2014 to 2015, News-Press & Gazette Company operated KCOY under an SSA.

Other Affiliations

* Basic Financial Solutions * Citizens Realty * Inland Empire Paper Company * '' Spokane Journal of Business'' *

River Park Square River Park Square is a shopping mall and entertainment complex in Spokane, Washington. The shopping center was originally opened in 1974. Following years of decline, the center was redeveloped in 1999 using public and private funds in an effort t ...

* Nickels Worth Publications * Northwest Farmer-Stockman * Print Marketing Concepts * ''

'' ** ''

'' *

SWX Right Now SWX Right Now (Sports and Weather Right Now) is a regional digital subchannel network broadcasting high school and college sports, and automated weather and news on Cowles Company-owned stations throughout Eastern Washington state, the Idaho Panh ...

Cowles family

The Cowles family of Spokane is descended from Elizabeth (1827–1910) and Sarah Hutchinson (1837–1884) of Cayuga County, New York. The two sisters married two brothers, Alfred Cowles Sr. and

Edwin Cowles Edwin Cowles (1825–1890), born in Austinburg, Ohio, was notable as the publisher of ''The Cleveland Leader.'' During the President Abraham Lincoln administration and Civil War, he was appointed as US postmaster of Cleveland, serving April 4, 1 ...

of Cleveland, Ohio. Edwin published the '' Cleveland Leader'' and Alfred moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

where he purchased one third of the ''

''. and Feminist and educator Betsy Mix Cowles was Alfred and Edwin's paternal aunt. Edwin's sons Alfred and Eugene were chemists and metallurgists who invented and operated electric arc smelters to extract aluminum.

Alfred Cowles Alfred Cowles III (September 15, 1891 – December 28, 1984) was an American economist, businessman and founder of the Cowles Commission. He graduated from Yale in 1913, where he was a member of Skull and Bones. He was the grandson of Alfred ...

, 3rd—the grandson of Alfred Sr.—founded the

Cowles Commission for Research in Economics The Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics is an economic research institute at Yale University. It was created as the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics at Colorado Springs in 1932 by businessman and economist Alfred Cowles. In 193 ...

following the Great Depression. Distantly related, the Cowles family of Spokane are about sixth cousins of the family of Gardner Cowles Sr. of

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

and Minneapolis, Minnesota who owned

Cowles Media Company Cowles Media Company ( ) (1935–1998) was a newspaper, magazine and information publishing company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The company operated Cowles Business Media, Cowles Creative Publishing, and Cowles Ent ...

. Both Cowles publishing families are descendants of Hannah Bushoup (c.1613-1683) of Hartford, Connecticut and John Cowles (1598–1675) of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Gallery

File:Alfred Cowles Sr-Tribune Co.jpg, Alfred Cowles Sr. of the ''

'', father of William H. Cowles File:Edwin-Cowles-small.jpg,

of the '' Cleveland Leader'', brother of Alfred Cowles. Sr.

References

External links

Cowles Company

Company Overview of Cowles Company
{{Authority control American companies established in 1894 Companies based in Spokane, Washington Manufacturing companies based in Washington (state) Mass media companies of the United States Television broadcasting companies of the United States 1894 establishments in Washington (state)