Northwest Florida Daily News
Encyclopedia
The Northwest Florida Daily News is a daily newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
published in Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Fort Walton Beach is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of 2005, the population estimate for Fort Walton Beach was 19,992, and as of 2010, the population estimate for Fort Walton Beach is 19,507 recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau...
. It was founded in 1946 and is one of 65 newspapers owned by Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications, Inc. is a media conglomerate in the United States. It owns approximately 100 daily and weekly newspapers in the US, with a combined daily circulation of nearly one million subscribers, and also operates over seventy local news websites...
. According to Ulrich's Periodical Directory, its paid circulation is 38,122 daily and 49,086 Sunday.
In 1957, Hunter S Thompson, then an airman at Eglin Air Force Base, wrote a sports column under a pseudonym for the News.
History
A group of local businessmen met on Jan. 9, 1946, to organize a weekly newspaper for Okaloosa County's southern region. They gathered at a downtown Fort Walton bar which had the only available meeting room. Present were Clyde Meigs, Fred McCaully, Paul Roberts, Ray Folmar, R.L. Odom, Howard Gill, L. Ferrin, George Klosterman, Lee Courter, Frank Bizelle, Braden Ball, W.R. Cummings, DeWitt Lamb (the first editor), Andy Anderson, Leon Bishop, Toopey Work, Bill Williams and Bill Folb.Perry Publications, a group of about 30 papers, began publication of the Playground News Feb. 7, 1946. The first issue contained 24 pages, about 65 percent of which was paid display advertising. The paper was sold to Freedom Newspapers, Inc., now Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications, Inc. is a media conglomerate in the United States. It owns approximately 100 daily and weekly newspapers in the US, with a combined daily circulation of nearly one million subscribers, and also operates over seventy local news websites...
, on July 1, 1969.
Over its history, the paper has gone by three names:
- Playground News Feb. 7, 1946 - Sept. 30, 1975
- Playground Daily News Oct. 1, 1975 - Feb. 29, 1988
- Northwest Florida Daily News Mar. 1, 1988–present
Due to the close ties between the Fort Walton Beach community and Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 3 miles southwest of Valparaiso, Florida in Okaloosa County....
, the Playground/Northwest Florida News supplanted the Okaloosa News-Journal, published in Crestview, Florida
Crestview, Florida
Crestview is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. Crestview’s name was chosen because of its location on the peak of a long woodland range between the Yellow and Shoal rivers which flow almost parallel on the east and west side of the City....
, as the county paper of record.
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
wrote a sports column for the Northwest Florida Daily News (then called the Playground News) while stationed at nearby Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 3 miles southwest of Valparaiso, Florida in Okaloosa County....
. Thompson landed the job in early February 1957. Hired by Publisher Wayne Bell, Thompson wrote under the pseudonyms Thorne Stockton and Cubley Cohn.