Press-Register

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Press-Register
The September 26, 2006 front page of the Press-Register
TypeThrice weekly newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Advance Publications
PublisherRicky Mathews
EditorMike Marshall
Founded1813
Ceased publicationFebruary 26, 2023 (2023-02-26)
Headquarters401 North Water Street
Mobile, Alabama 36602
Sister newspapersThe Huntsville Times
The Birmingham News
The Mississippi Press
Websitewww.al.com/press-register/
www.gulflive.com/mississippipress/

The Press-Register (known from 1997 to 2006 as the Mobile Register) was a newspaper serving the southwest Alabama counties of Mobile and Baldwin. The newspaper is a descendant of one founded in 1813, making the Press-Register Alabama's oldest newspaper. It is owned by Advance Publications, which also owns the primary newspapers in Birmingham, Alabama and Huntsville, Alabama. The Press-Register had a daily publication schedule since the inception of its predecessors in the early 1800s until September 30, 2012, when it and its sister papers reduced printing editions to only Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays.

The Press Register also published an edition for the Mississippi Gulf Coast, The Mississippi Press.

The Mobile Press-Register is no longer in circulation. In 2022, Alabama Media Group announced it would shut down and cease all printing in 2023. The last printed edition of the Press-Register published February 2, 2023.[1]

19th century

The Mobile Gazette was founded and began

telegraph became the Register's means of receiving news in 1848. After C.A. and C.M. Bradford's purchase of the Register's one-half interest, the paper was renamed The Mobile Daily Register in 1849. Forsyth once again bought back the Register in 1854. Future Confederate colonel and Kentucky poet Theodore O'Hara joined the Register shortly before the American Civil War. Swiss-born propagandist for the Confederacy Henry Hotze
also worked for the paper for a time before the war.

It would take the conflict beginning in 1861 to combine the Mobile Daily Register and competitor The Mobile Daily Advertiser to form The Mobile Daily Advertiser and Register. About three years after the war, the Register was sold and combined again, this time to

Telephones would become available at the Register in 1883, along with electric light a year later. Rapier organized the stock
company The Register Co. to publish the paper in 1889. Erwin S. Craighead, who would later be known as "Mobile's newspaperman" began his long career at the Register as the city editor in 1884 before earning the position of editor in chief in 1892.

Throughout Craighead's tenure until retirement in 1927, he was supportive of the former Confederacy and the Union reconciling, along with economic and commercial development. As the 19th century was coming to a close, the Register began using six Linotype typesetting machines in 1893, which were used for many decades until the "cold type" age began in 1974. Photographs began appearing in the Register during the 1890s.

20th century

In 1905, company president John L. Rapier died, allowing his son Paul to take his position at Rapier and Company, leading up to the next name change from The Daily Register to The Mobile Register. Five years later, Frederick I. Thompson became the new owner of the Register. The Mobile Item would be the next newspaper to operate under the

The Great Depression, allowing his competitor to buy out The Mobile Register in 1932. The Mobile Daily Newspapers Incorporated was established to publish the Register as a morning paper, the Press as an afternoon paper, and both papers are combined as the weekend paper The Mobile Press Register. For the Press to continue, the Mobile News-Item had to end publication. The year 1944 had moments good and bad for the Press Register, starting with a fire stopping the presses for a brief period of time, but with help from the Army Air Corps and a New Orleans printing facility, the newspaper continued publishing. On October 1, 1944, The Mobile Press Register began publication at its new facility on 304 Government Street
in downtown Mobile after years on St. Louis and Hamilton. "No effort has been spared to make it 100% efficient", as the front page article stated that day. George M. Cox was the first Press Register editor to work in the building.

From 1948 to the end of the 1950s, the Press Register owned

Alabama Gulf Coast
, stopping the Press Register from publication for two days. Baldwin County's own paper The Baldwin Press Register began publication in 1988.

In 1992, Howard Bronson, formerly of the

editorials
on reforming the Alabama Constitution. On January 31, 1997, the afternoon Mobile Press ended publication, but the name lived on in the corporate title The Mobile Press Register Inc. The name continued to appear in the weekly "Suburban", "Points South", and "Points North" sections of the Register available to certain areas of Mobile County.

21st century

After almost 58 years on Government Street, the Mobile Register moved to its current modern facility on Water Street in June 2002. Days before the big move, the Register switched to the new

MAN Roland
AG printing press, which is viewable from large windows stretching from top to bottom on the new building. This location within historic DeTonti Square and the City of Mobile's business district was chosen as part of an effort to revitalize the downtown area and southwest Alabama. Also that summer, the Register printed ballots for its first ever Reader's Choice Awards, where readers can choose their favorite local attractions, food, people, and much more.

In September 2004, the Register's newfound strength within its 2-year-old building was put to the test when Hurricane Ivan rolled across the Gulf Coast and into the northeast. Unlike "Frederic", the Register continued operation during and after the storm's arrival. Less than a year later, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast as it made landfall on August 29, 2005, along the Louisiana-Mississippi border, knocking out power and communications throughout the region. After floodwaters swept into downtown Mobile and knocked out power to the Register's building, a special Hurricane Edition of the Mobile Register was published at the Pensacola News Journal facility on August 30, 2005. Subsequent editions were published in Birmingham while utilities came back on line in the days immediately following the storm. In the devastating aftermath of Katrina's assault on New Orleans, the Times-Picayune was published at the Register facility, and transported daily to New Orleans. During this time, the Register also housed employees of the Mississippi Press, whose offices were wiped out by the storm. In the weeks and months following the hurricane, the Water Street headquarters published three daily newspapers at its facility – the Mobile Register, Times-Picayune and Mississippi Press.

On April 2, 2006, the Register restored the Press-Register name, something that has stayed with longtime residents in south Alabama over nine years after The Mobile Press ceased publication. Besides being a welcome sight for long-time readers, the return of the Press-Register name reflects the newspaper's expansion into Mobile's surrounding areas. The twice-a-week "Mobile County Neighbors" section replaces the area-specific sections that appeared every Thursday. Stock market coverage was reduced to daily summaries and a Saturday recap of the week's events, including four pages of stock and mutual fund listings.

The newspaper announced that it would shut down and cease all printing in February 2023.[2]

The Mississippi Press

The Mississippi Press was the Mississippi edition of the Press-Register, headquartered in Pascagoula.[3] Its website is http://www.gulflive.com/mississippipress/

Cutbacks

In 2012, Advance Publications announced that The Press-Register, along with its sister papers in New Orleans, Birmingham and Huntsville, would reduce their print-edition publication schedule to Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with coverage on other days provided by their website, al.com. The change results in roughly half of the newspaper's staff being laid off. The change in schedule took effect on September 30, making the following day the first time since at least 1832 the Mobile had been without a daily newspaper.

After continuing losses in circulation and advertising, Advance announced that it would shut down and cease all printing in February 26, 2023.[4]

Notable staff

See also

References

  1. ^ "Alabama Media Group to stop publishing newspapers, including print version of the Birmingham News". 4 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Alabama Media Group to stop publishing newspapers, including print version of the Birmingham News". 4 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Mississippi Stem Cell Treatment".
  4. ^ "Alabama Media Group to stop publishing newspapers, including print version of the Birmingham News". 4 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Jeanne Voltz, 81; Past Editor of Times' Food Section". Los Angeles Times. 2002-01-16. Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  6. ^ "Jeanne Appleton Voltz 1920-2002". University of Alabama. Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  7. ISSN 0882-1127
    .

External links
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