Sun Advocate

Last updated

Sun Advocate
Type Biweekly newspaper
Owner Emery Telcom
Founded1891
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters625 East 100 North
Price, UT 84501
OCLC number 13039549
Website etvnews.com/tag/sun-advocate/

The Sun Advocate was a bi-weekly newspaper located in Price, Utah, United States. [1] Emery Telcom has owned the paper since October, 2018 and is published as ETV News Sun Advocate.

Contents

History

The newspaper was the successor to a number of older publications. In January 1891, the Eastern Utah Telegraph was established. [2] In February 1885, the Telegraph was sold to S.H. Brownlee and renamed to the Eastern Utah Advocate. [3] In 1889, Robert W. Crockett, who previously worked at the Salt Lake Herald and Aspen Times , bought the Advocate. [4] In May 1907, the Carbon County News was founded in Price under the business management of J.H. Nelson. [5] The company was incorporated with Frank F. Fisk as president and B.R. McDonald as vice president. [6] That June, editor Carl L. Williams took charge of the News, [7] but he left later that year. [8]

In July 1913, Crockett sold the Advocate to Fred L. Watrous, [9] but foreclosed on the mortgage in May 1915. A few weeks prior, Watrous had sold the business to B.R. McDonald. A judge ruled the mortgage only included the printing plant, which went into the receivership of Carl R. Marcusen. The name rights and subscriber list were transferred to McDonald. [10] That June, Crockett used the plant to start a new paper called the Price Sun. [11]

In July 1915, McDonald bought the Carbon County News from W.C. Benfer and merged it with the Advocate to form the News-Advocate. Benfer stayed on as manager. [12] Also in July, Crockett bought the defunct Advocate plant from the sheriff's auction. [13] Throughout this time, both rival papers were sent to the same subscribers, with each urging customers not to pay for the other. [14] [15] In December 1915, Harry Wilbert Cooper took charge of the News-Advocate and published it until his death in 1923. [16] His widow Mrs. Grace A. Cooper then published the paper. [17] In June 1929, she sold it to William T. Igleheart. [18] In January 1932, P.K. Nielson bought the News-Advocate at sheriff's auction. [19]

In December 1932, Joseph L. Asbury, owner of The Richfield Reaper , bought the Price Sun from Crockett and the News-Advocate from Nielson. He merged them to form the Sun Advocate. [20] In 1935, Asbury sold his Price paper to Hal G. MacKnight and Val H. Cowles. [21] In 1937, the two bought the Helper Journal and appointed Clifton N. Memmott as manager. [22] In 1938 Cowles, a World War I veteran, was elected to serve in the Utah State Senate and would continue to do so for 9 years. [23] In 1941, Cowles sold his interest in the Journal to Memmott. In 1942, MacKnight sold his Journal stake to Joe Tullius. [24]

In 1948, L. Earl Durrant became Sun Advocate co-owner with McKnight. [25] In 1950, Tullius bought out Memmott from the Journal. [24] In 1966, MacKnight sold the Sun Advocate to an ownership group lead by Robert L. Finney and included Robert Cribb, [26] who then in 1973 bought the Journal from Tullius. [24] In 1975, Finney acquired the Emery County Progress. [27] In 1976, the Journal was merged with the Saturday edition of the Sun Advocate and renamed to the Sun Journal. [28]

In 1981, Communications Investment Corp., acquired the Sun Advocate and Progress. The company was owned by George C. Hatch and Wilda Gene Hatch, owners of the Ogden Standard-Examiner . [29] In 1989, Hometown Communication acquired the Sun Advocate and the Progress. In 1996, Brehm Communications of San Diego purchased both papers. [30] In 2018, Emery Telcom bought the Advocate and Progress from Brehm. [31]

References

  1. "The Sun-Advocate (Price, Utah) 1932-Current". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  2. "Local and Other Briefs". The Salt Lake Herald. January 20, 1891. p. 8.
  3. "Local Brevities". The Coalville Times. Coalville, Utah. February 1, 1895. p. 8.
  4. "Bought The Advocate | R.W. Crockett Becomes Owner of Newspaper Proposition". The Salt Lake Herald. p. 5.
  5. "Local Mentions". The Tooele Transcript. Tooele, Utah. May 3, 1907. p. 1.
  6. "New Publishing Company". Deseret News. Salt Lake City, Utah. May 16, 1907. p. 2.
  7. "Personals". Salt Lake Herald. June 3, 1907. p. 10.
  8. "Editor Carl Williams Leaves Price Field". Salt Lake Herald. November 24, 1907. p. 3.
  9. "New Editor in Charge". The Carbon County News. Price, Utah. July 3, 1913. p. 3.
  10. "Fight Over Advocate Rather Complicated". The Carbon County News. Price, Utah. May 7, 1915. p. 1.
  11. "Why "The Sun" Is Being Established". The Sun-Advocate. Price, Utah. June 4, 1915. p. 1.
  12. Benfer, W.C. (July 2, 1915). "News Changes Owners". The Carbon County News. Price, Utah. p. 1.
  13. "Advocate Plant Sold For $5500". The Sun-Advocate. Price, Utah. July 16, 1915. p. 1.
  14. "The Caine in the Manger". The Sun-Advocate. Price, Utah. July 28, 1915. p. 1.
  15. "Pay No Money To The News-Advocate". The Sun-Advocate. Price, Utah. September 24, 1915. p. 5.
  16. "Editor Cooper of Price Newspaper Called by Death". Deseret News. Salt Lake City, Utah. August 14, 1923. p. 8.
  17. "News-Advocate Observes Birthday | Ten Years Show Great Improvement". The Sun-Advocate. July 9, 1925. p. 1.
  18. "Wm. Igleheart Takes Over the News-Advocate at Price". The Eureka Reporter. Eureka, Utah. June 6, 1929. p. 8.
  19. "Plant of News-Advocate Sold at Auction". Emery County Progress. Castle Dale, Utah. January 29, 1932. p. 1.
  20. "Reaper Publisher Adds Two Papers To His Interests". The Richfield Reaper. December 1, 1932. p. 1.
  21. "Announcement". The Sun-Advocate. Price, Utah. January 24, 1935. p. 1.
  22. "Price Publishers Buys Helper Journal". Emery County Progress. Castle Dale, Utah. July 9, 1937. p. 1.
  23. "Retired paper publisher dies". The News Tribune. Tacoma, Washington. December 8, 1977. p. 31.
  24. 1 2 3 "Helper Journal Changes Owners". Helper Journal. April 12, 1973. p. 1.
  25. "Newspaperman Hal MacKnight dies". The Sun-Advocate. Price, Utah. January 19, 1983. p. 1.
  26. "The Sun-Advocate Changes Owners". The Sun-Advocate. Price, Utah. February 17, 1966. p. 1.
  27. "Progress sold to Sun-Advocate". The Sun-Advocate. Price, Utah. February 6, 1975. p. 2.
  28. "Newspapers plan growth". The Sun-Advocate. Price, Utah. October 7, 1976. p. 1.
  29. "Progress, Advocate changes ownership". Emery County Progress. Castle Dale, Utah. September 16, 1981. p. 1.
  30. "Brehm company purchases Carbon, Emery newspapers". The Sun-Advocate. Price, Utah. May 9, 1996. p. 1.
  31. Draper, Scottie (October 5, 2018). "Emery Telcom to Preserve History with Recent Acquisition". ETV News. Retrieved February 12, 2026.