Advertising: Paula Rankin; circulation: CiJi Dickson; sales, marketing and social media: Connor Frank; editorial: Colleen Schreiber; publisher: Robert S. Frank
Livestock Weekly is a newspaper published in San Angelo, Texas, that provides international coverage of the livestock industry, focusing on cattle, sheep, goats, range conditions, markets, and ranch life.[1][2] It was started by Stanley R. Frank in 1948 and was later referred to as "the cowboy's Wall Street Journal."[1][3]
History
After graduating from Barnhardt High School, working as a ranch hand, and dropping out of college, Stanley R. Frank held successive writing positions at the San Angelo Standard-Times, at a cattle publication in Memphis, at the Western Livestock Reporter in Los Angeles, and at the Midland Reporter-Telegram.[1][2] He returned to San Angelo in the fall of 1948 to launch his own newspaper.[1]
First Issue of West Texas Livestock Weekly, published February 10, 1949
Buoyed by a $5,000 loan from two San Angelo ranchers, Frank wrote, edited, provided photographs, and published the first issue on February 10, 1949, then called West Texas Livestock Weekly.[1][3] Charlie Moss, a printer in San Angelo, produced 5,000 copies.[1] The inaugural issue announced the publication's intention to "reflect the unusual flavor of southwestern ranch life ... [and identify] with the ranch industry of this section."[4] Frank, who had no previous experience as a publisher, described the first issue as "pretty pitiful" and that publishing it was "sheer agony, comparable to giving birth to a porcupine, sideways."[1][5] Thousands of complimentary copies were mailed out with the hope of signing on subscribers.[5] Fillmore Epley of Lenorah, Texas, was the first paid subscriber.[4] At the beginning, the main news items were country trades, an enumeration of how many head of livestock were traded at the local level, producer to producer.[2] Frank gathered the bulk of his news by visiting with ranchers in the lobby of the St. Angelus Hotel, a nexus of West Texas livestock trading in San Angelo.[2][6]
In its early days, the newspaper lost money, and its survival seemed bleak.[5] Frank hired editorial help, and by 1950 the newspaper was turning a profit.[1] In 1977, the publication changed its name to Livestock Weekly after its coverage expanded beyond West Texas.[1] Eventually, the publication earned a dedicated readership and reached a circulation of 16,000 in 1984.[1] By 1996, circulation had climbed to 20,000 subscribers located in the contiguous United States, Canada, Mexico, and Australia, with most subscribers located in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado.[2] In 1996, after forty-seven years of publishing, the weekly had not solicited an ad or subscription.[2]
A large part of the publication's success rests on Frank's background as a rancher, his embrace of the ethos of ranch life, and his dedication to reporting accurate livestock market information, along with his ability to weave humor into his writing.[1][3] Stanley popularized the cartoonist Ace Reid, first publishing his work in the May 5, 1949, issue.[1]Elmer Kelton also became a regular writer for the weekly after Stanley hired him in 1971.[1] Other writers and artists that appeared in the weekly include John Erickson, Baxter Black, Doc Blakely, and Curt Brummett.[3]
References
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Erickson, John R. (July 1984). "Writers of the Purple Sage: San Angelo's "West Texas Livestock Weekly" is a Cow Paper with Class". Southwest Magazine.
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