 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2017) |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner(s) | Lee Enterprises |
| Publisher | Bailey Dabney |
| Editor | Don Kausler Jr. |
| Founded | March 18, 1922, as the Weekly News and Review |
| City | Florence, South Carolina |
| Country | United States |
| Circulation | 6,691 Daily 6,848 Sunday(as of 2022) [1] |
| ISSN | 1085-2131 |
| OCLC number | 27969756 |
| Website | scnow |
The Morning News is a daily newspaper published in Florence, South Carolina. It is owned by Lee Enterprises.
It was founded as the Farmers' Friend in 1887, and was part of several mergers and name changes. In its early history, it was aligned with the Democratic Party.
The first edition of the newspaper as the Weekly News and Review, appeared on March 18, 1922. [2] [3] Its immediate predecessor was the Florence News and Review, and its name was later changed to the Morning News Review. In February 1928, it purchased the Florence Daily Times and the name was changed to the Florence Morning News.
In 1945, it became the Florence Morning News. In 1956, then-editor Jack O'Dowd, the son of the newspaper's publisher, enraged the Ku Klux Klan by supporting the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education desegregation decision and he was run out of town, going to a job with the Chicago Sun-Times . The only other South Carolina newspaper that took the progressive stance in the 1950s and 1960s was the Greenwood Index Journal . O'Dowd was replaced by James A. Rogers, who while also somewhat progressive editorially, took a less confrontational posture. Rogers wrote several books on the region and was instrumental in the creation of Francis Marion College in 1970, now Francis Marion University. He retired as editor in 1975.
The Florence Morning News was purchased by Thomson Newspapers, later The Thomson Corporation in December 1981. [4] Thomson worked to expand the newspaper from a Florence-focused newspaper to more regional coverage. It was extensively redesigned in 1992, and again in 1998, to emphasize coverage of the nine-county Pee Dee region of South Carolina.
On June 14, 2000, the Thomson Corporation sold the Morning News, as well as associated newspapers in the Pee Dee to Media General for approximately $237 million. [5] The acquisition by Media General made the newspaper a partner with CBS affiliate WBTW, a station MG gained after an acquisition of Spartan Communications earlier in the year.
In 2012, Berkshire Hathaway acquired the Morning News as part of an acquisition of Media General's newspaper group.
The Morning News serves as the regional hub for four weekly newspaper publications also owned by Lee Enterprises: The Hartsville Messenger, The Lake City News and Post, The Marion Star & Mullins Enterprise, and The (Hemingway) Weekly Observer.
The Morning News operates online through scnow.com. [3] That website houses not only the Morning News, but also the Hartsville Messenger, Weekly Observer, The Lake City News and Post, and the Marion Star & Mullins Enterprise. Until Media General sold its entire newspaper division to Berkshire Hathaway, it also housed WBTW as well.
Starting June 6, 2023, the print edition of the newspaper will be reduced to three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Also, the newspaper will transition from being delivered by a traditional newspaper delivery carrier to mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service. [6]
Hartsville is the largest city in Darlington County, South Carolina, United States. It was chartered on December 11, 1891. The population was 7,764 at the 2010 census. Hartsville was chosen as an All-America City in 1996 and again in 2016. Hartsville has also been a National Arbor Day Foundation Tree City since 1986.
Florence is a city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. It lies at the intersection of Interstates 20 and 95 and is the eastern terminus of the former. It is the primary city within the Florence metropolitan area. The area forms the core of the historical Pee Dee region of South Carolina, which includes the eight counties of northeastern South Carolina, along with sections of southeastern North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 39,899, making it the 9th most populous city in the state.
Marion is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, South Carolina, United States. It is named for Francis Marion, a brigadier general from South Carolina in the American Revolutionary War. The population was 6,939 at the 2010 census.
The Pee Dee is a region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It lies along the lower watershed of the Pee Dee River, which was named after the Pee Dee, a Native American tribe that historically inhabited the region.
WBTW is a television station licensed to Florence, South Carolina, United States, serving the Pee Dee and Grand Strand regions of South Carolina as an affiliate of CBS. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios on McDonald Court in the unincorporated community of Socastee ; its transmitter is located near Dillon, South Carolina.
Media General was an American media company based in Richmond, Virginia. The company's origins can be traced back to 1887 when Richmond attorney Joseph Bryan acquired The Richmond Daily Times, which later became The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Joseph Bryan's son, John Stewart Bryan succeeded his father as owner and publisher of the Times-Dispatch, which merged with The Richmond News Leader in 1940 to form Richmond Newspapers, Inc.
The Florence Center is a 10,000-seat multipurpose arena in Florence, South Carolina. The arena was known as the Florence Civic Center until it rebranded in November 2017.
Florence Regional Airport is three miles east of Florence, in Florence County, South Carolina.
WPDE-TV is a television station licensed to Florence, South Carolina, United States, serving the Pee Dee and Grand Strand regions of South Carolina and affiliated with ABC and The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which also operates Dabl affiliate WWMB under a shared services agreement (SSA) with owner Howard Stirk Holdings. Both stations share studios on University Boulevard in Conway, while WPDE-TV's transmitter is located on Pee Dee Church Road in Floydale, South Carolina.
Lee Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 77 daily newspapers in 26 states, and more than 350 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by Alfred Wilson Lee and is based in Davenport, Iowa.
WFXB is a television station licensed to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States, serving the Grand Strand and Pee Dee regions of South Carolina as an affiliate of the Fox network. Owned by Bahakel Communications, the station maintains studios on Huger Street in Myrtle Beach, west of Myrtle Beach International Airport, with an advertising sales office on East Evans Street in Florence; its transmitter is located on Grices Ferry Court near US 76 east of Mullins.
The Review was a bi-weekly newspaper based in Reidsville North Carolina, based in Rockingham County, North Carolina. It was published under that name between 1899 - 2017. In 2017, it merged with two other newspapers in Rockingham County ; all three papers publish under the name Rockingham Now.
Area codes 843 and 854 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for a portion of the U.S. state of South Carolina that comprises roughly the eastern third and the southern tip. The numbering plan area (NPA) includes the Grand Strand, the Lowcountry, the Pee Dee, and the Sandhills. Major cities in the region are Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Beaufort, Hilton Head Island and Florence. Area code 843 was created in 1998 when area code 803 was split, while 854 was added in 2015 to form an all-services overlay.
The Dothan Eagle is a daily newspaper published in Dothan, Alabama.
The Bristol Herald Courier is a daily newspaper owned by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper is located in Bristol, Virginia, a small city located in Southwest Virginia on the Tennessee border.
The Daily Progress is a daily newspaper published in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
The News & Record is an American, English language newspaper with the largest circulation serving Guilford County, North Carolina, and the surrounding region. It is based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and produces local sections for Greensboro and Rockingham County, North Carolina.
The McDowell News is an English language newspaper published daily in Marion, North Carolina, United States, covering McDowell County. The newspaper is a member of the North Carolina Press Association.
The Herald & Review is a daily newspaper based in Decatur, Illinois. It is owned by Lee Enterprises.
The Opelika-Auburn News is a daily newspaper in Alabama, serving Opelika, Auburn, and the surrounding communities.
The Morning News, a Berkshire Hathaway Co. newspaper, is published daily and Sunday in Florence, S.C., to serve the Pee Dee.
