The Roanoke Times

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The Roanoke Times
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The Roanoke Times front page.jpg
The July 27, 2005 front page of
The Roanoke Times
TypeDaily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s) Lee Enterprises
PublisherSamuel Worthington
Founded1886
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters2l0 Church Ave SW Suite 100
Roanoke, Virginia 24011
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Circulation 24,889 Daily
25,794 Sunday(as of 2022) [1]
Website roanoke.com

The Roanoke Times is the primary newspaper in Southwestern Virginia and is based in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It is published by Lee Enterprises. In addition to its headquarters in Roanoke, it maintains a bureau in Christiansburg, covering the eastern New River Valley and Virginia Tech.

Contents

According to the 2011 Scarborough “Ranker Report,” The Roanoke Times ranks fifth in the country in terms of percentage of adults reading a newspaper on weekdays in that newspaper's coverage area.

History

The Roanoke Daily Times began publication in 1886. The paper's original owner, M. H. Claytor, eventually added a companion evening newspaper, The Roanoke Evening News. In 1909, he sold the paper to a group headed by banker J. B. Fishburn. The Fishburn group bought the Roanoke Evening World in 1913, merging it with the Evening News and changing its name to the Roanoke World-News. At the same time, Times-World Corporation was formed as the owner of both papers.

By 1931, Times-World Corporation had expanded into broadcasting with the purchase of WDBJ (now WFIR), Roanoke's first radio station. It eventually spawned an FM station (now WSLC) and a television station (which still has the WDBJ calls). In 1969, Times-World merged with Landmark Communications, which sold off the broadcasting properties and kept the papers. In 1977, Landmark merged the two papers into a single all-day paper, The Roanoke Times & World-News. [2] The World-News was dropped from the masthead in 1995. [3]

Landmark started shopping its newspaper properties in 2008 and sold the Times to Berkshire Hathaway's BH Media Group in 2013. [4] This made the Times a sister publication to the Richmond Times-Dispatch , as well as the News & Advance of Lynchburg, the other major paper serving the Roanoke/Lynchburg media market.

Notable stories

As the major daily newspaper for Roanoke and much of Southwest Virginia, The Roanoke Times has extensively covered news events from the area that have gained national media exposure. Some examples include:

Notable writers, columnists and editors

Awards

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References

  1. Lee Enterprises. "Form 10-K". investors.lee.net. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  2. Ralph Berrier Jr. "Changing Times: 125 years at The Roanoke Times". Roanoke Times. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  3. Matt Chittum (May 30, 2013). "Steady ownership has marked The Roanoke Times' history" . Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  4. John Reid Blackwell (May 31, 2013). "Berkshire Hathaway buys The Roanoke Times". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  5. Smith, J. David. "Walter Scott Copeland (1856–1928)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  6. Hammack, Laurence (February 24, 2008). "Dowe resigns over travel expenses". The Roanoke Times. Archived from the original on November 21, 2013.
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  12. Times, Stephanie Ogilvie | Special to The Roanoke. "So long, farewell ..." Roanoke Times. Retrieved 2017-05-02.
  13. Times, David Verde | Special to The Roanoke. "Farewell for now..." Roanoke Times. Retrieved 2017-05-02.
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  15. "Winners of 2007 Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards Announced". University of Missouri. Retrieved 24 November 2018.