While in college, brothers Milton I. Wick and James Lester Wick started a business employing college students to sell books to farmers during the summer months.[7] The two purchased their first newspaper in 1926.[8][9] Over the years Milton managed the business and acquired 27 papers across the country.[9] At the same time his business partner James worked as a foreign correspondent in Europe and focused on politics. After returning stateside he became editor of the newsletter What's Happening in Washington. In 1952, James published a book titled "How Not to Run for President, A Handbook for Republicans."[10]
In 1953, James organized a European tour with a group of 37 newspaper editors,[11] including his brother.[9] The venture was called Wick Editors Tours. The group were the first Americans to enter and report from Hungry and Romania after the raising of the Iron Curtain.[7] The Wick brothers were among the first party of U.S. journalists allowed inside the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin.[9] At the time of his death in 1964, James was the editor and publisher of Human Events, a Conservative newsletter.[11] Right before passing, he sold his interest in Wick Newspapers to his brother Milton's sons Walter M. Wick and Robert J. Wick.[12] The two took full ownership of the family business when their father Milton died on November 30, 1981. At that time the Wick Newspaper Group owned and operated 40 newspapers.[9]
Milton I. Wick was inducted posthumously into the Arizona Newspapers Hall of Fame in 1996,[13] and Walt M. Wick and Robert J. Wick were also inducted in September 2004.[13]
In 2016, Robert's son Francis Wick was named CEO of Wick Communications.[12] That same year Walter M. Wick died of pancreatic cancer.[14] Robert J. Wick died in 2022.[15] In August 2024, Francis Wick announced he will step down as company CEO.[5] He was replaced by Josh O'Connor, an executive with Black Press.[16]
Acquisitions and sales
The company originated in 1926 when the Wick family purchased the Niles Daily Times in Niles, Ohio.[8][9] The company bought The Daily Herald in 1947[17] and Williston Herald in 1961.[18][19] Also in 1961, the Wick sold the Niles Daily Times and three nearby newspapers (the Girard News, the Hubbard News and the Suburban Reporter) to a newly formed enterprise.[20] In 1962, Wick purchased a stake in the Sidney Herald.[21]
Wick purchased the Madison Daily Leader in South Dakota in March 2021.[51] In September 2023, Wick bought the Arizona Daily Sun from Lee Enterprises.[52] In April 2024, Wick Communications sold The Daily Iberian and Acadian LifeStyle to Carpenter Media Group.[53] In October 2024, the company purchased the television station, NCWLife channel.[54]
River City Newspapers
River City Newspapers, LLC is a joint venture between Wick Communications and Western News & Info. It was established in August 1995 to manage the Today's News-Herald, a newspaper based in Lake Havasu City, Arizona formed from the merger of Wick's Daily Herald and Western's Today's Daily News.[55] Wick also transferred ownership of the Parker Pioneer over to River City.[56]
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