The Herald (Sharon)
Encyclopedia
The Herald is a seven-day morning daily newspaper published in Sharon, Pennsylvania
, covering Mercer County
and the greater Shenango Valley
area of Pennsylvania
. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings
Inc., Montgomery, Ala.
Printed at the CNHI-owned West Penn Printing plant near New Castle in neighboring Lawrence County, Pennsylvania
, The Herald also publishes a twice-weekly newspaper, Allied News, covering outlying areas of eastern Mercer County; and Hubbard Press, a weekly newspaper covering nearby Hubbard, Ohio
.
West Penn Printing, built on a brownfield on Sampson Street outside New Castle, replaced an aging Goss Metro offset press that had been installed in 1968 at the News' downtown headquarters.
, began publication April 14, 1864, founded by R.C. and James Frey. It was converted to a daily newspaper nearly 45 years later, April 12, 1909.
The newspaper's office at the foot of Pitt Street in Sharon was washed into the Shenango River during a flood in March 1913. The newspaper missed only four issues and resumed publication with temporary production first in Farrell and then for about a month at the printing plant of the New Castle News before a new office and pressroom were set up on Chestnut Street in Sharon.
The Herald merged with its main competitor, the Sharon News-Telegraph, May 13, 1935. The News-Telegraph incorporated the old Farrell News (founded 1925) and Sharon Telegraph (a daily since 1893). The new newspaper kept The Sharon Herald as its name but production moved to the News-Telegraph building two blocks away on South Dock Street.
The newspaper diversified during the mid-20th century, founding and owning Sharon radio station WPIC
from 1938 to 1959; purchasing four eastern Mercer County weeklies in 1965, eventually merging them into the now-twice-weekly Allied News in Grove City; and founding a weekly newspaper, Hubbard Press, in Hubbard, Ohio
in 1997.
On Feb. 23, 1970, The Herald dropped "Sharon" from its nameplate to reflect its countywide audience. The next year, it was bought by Ottaway Newspapers, Inc., a division of Dow Jones & Company
. Outside ownership brought the first Sunday edition, on September 9, 1990, and the launch of sharonherald.com in May 1996, making it one of the first Ottaway papers to be online. The Herald's Digital Edition (http://pdf.sharonherald.com), a subscription-only facsimile of the print edition available as Adobe Acrobat PDF pages, debuted in November 2001 as one of the first of its kind in the country. Both the website and digital edition were developed by in-house talent.
In 1981, printing was moved from an aging Scott letterpress at the main office on South Dock Street (which was bought used from Dayton, Ohio, in 1969) to the new Dow Jones & Company offset printing plant six miles away in Shenango Township that was built to print regional editions of the parent company's The Wall Street Journal
. Page negatives photographed of pasted-up pages – and later, paginated pages sent directly to an imagesetter that produced page negatives – were driven to the plant for platemaking.
CNHI, the current owners, bought The Herald effective March 29, 2002. In the fall of 2002, The Herald switched to morning publication; it had published as a daily in the afternoon since 1909. It was not the first time the newspaper was printed in New Castle nor as a morning publication. Ironically, The Sharon Herald had been published both as a morning daily and at the New Castle News' printing plant as a professional courtesy (and transported to Sharon by train) for about a month after the flood of 1913 until The Herald re-established a pressroom in downtown Sharon and an afternoon publication cycle.
Sharon, Pennsylvania
Sharon is a city in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, in the United States, northwest of Pittsburgh. It is part of the Youngstown–Warren–Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
, covering Mercer County
Mercer County, Pennsylvania
Mercer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 116,638. Its county seat is Mercer; Sharon is its largest city....
and the greater Shenango Valley
Shenango River
The Shenango River is a principal tributary of the Beaver River, approximately 100 mi long, in western Pennsylvania in the United States. It also briefly flows through small portions of northeastern Ohio...
area of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings
Community Newspaper Holdings
Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. is a publisher of newspapers and advertising-related publications throughout the eastern part of the United States. The company was formed in 1997 by Ralph Martin, and is based in Birmingham, Alabama. The company is financed by the Retirement Systems of...
Inc., Montgomery, Ala.
Printed at the CNHI-owned West Penn Printing plant near New Castle in neighboring Lawrence County, Pennsylvania
Lawrence County, Pennsylvania
Lawrence County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. In 2010, its population was 91,108. The county was added to the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area in 2003. The county seat is New Castle....
, The Herald also publishes a twice-weekly newspaper, Allied News, covering outlying areas of eastern Mercer County; and Hubbard Press, a weekly newspaper covering nearby Hubbard, Ohio
Hubbard, Ohio
Hubbard is a city in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. It is formed from part of Hubbard Township, which was formed from the Connecticut Western Reserve. The population was 8,284 at the 2000 census...
.
West Penn Printing, built on a brownfield on Sampson Street outside New Castle, replaced an aging Goss Metro offset press that had been installed in 1968 at the News' downtown headquarters.
History
The Sharon Herald, a weekly newspaperWeekly newspaper
A weekly newspaper is a general-news publication that is published on newsprint once or twice a week.Such newspapers tend to have smaller circulations than daily newspapers, and are usually based in less-populous communities or small, defined areas within large cities; often, they may cover a...
, began publication April 14, 1864, founded by R.C. and James Frey. It was converted to a daily newspaper nearly 45 years later, April 12, 1909.
The newspaper's office at the foot of Pitt Street in Sharon was washed into the Shenango River during a flood in March 1913. The newspaper missed only four issues and resumed publication with temporary production first in Farrell and then for about a month at the printing plant of the New Castle News before a new office and pressroom were set up on Chestnut Street in Sharon.
The Herald merged with its main competitor, the Sharon News-Telegraph, May 13, 1935. The News-Telegraph incorporated the old Farrell News (founded 1925) and Sharon Telegraph (a daily since 1893). The new newspaper kept The Sharon Herald as its name but production moved to the News-Telegraph building two blocks away on South Dock Street.
The newspaper diversified during the mid-20th century, founding and owning Sharon radio station WPIC
WPIC
WPIC is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Sharon, Pennsylvania, USA, the station serves Mercer County, Pennsylvania, though its signal covers much of the Youngstown radio market from its facility on North Stateline Road in Masury, Ohio...
from 1938 to 1959; purchasing four eastern Mercer County weeklies in 1965, eventually merging them into the now-twice-weekly Allied News in Grove City; and founding a weekly newspaper, Hubbard Press, in Hubbard, Ohio
Hubbard, Ohio
Hubbard is a city in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. It is formed from part of Hubbard Township, which was formed from the Connecticut Western Reserve. The population was 8,284 at the 2000 census...
in 1997.
On Feb. 23, 1970, The Herald dropped "Sharon" from its nameplate to reflect its countywide audience. The next year, it was bought by Ottaway Newspapers, Inc., a division of Dow Jones & Company
Dow Jones & Company
Dow Jones & Company is an American publishing and financial information firm.The company was founded in 1882 by three reporters: Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser. Like The New York Times and the Washington Post, the company was in recent years publicly traded but privately...
. Outside ownership brought the first Sunday edition, on September 9, 1990, and the launch of sharonherald.com in May 1996, making it one of the first Ottaway papers to be online. The Herald's Digital Edition (http://pdf.sharonherald.com), a subscription-only facsimile of the print edition available as Adobe Acrobat PDF pages, debuted in November 2001 as one of the first of its kind in the country. Both the website and digital edition were developed by in-house talent.
In 1981, printing was moved from an aging Scott letterpress at the main office on South Dock Street (which was bought used from Dayton, Ohio, in 1969) to the new Dow Jones & Company offset printing plant six miles away in Shenango Township that was built to print regional editions of the parent company's The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
. Page negatives photographed of pasted-up pages – and later, paginated pages sent directly to an imagesetter that produced page negatives – were driven to the plant for platemaking.
CNHI, the current owners, bought The Herald effective March 29, 2002. In the fall of 2002, The Herald switched to morning publication; it had published as a daily in the afternoon since 1909. It was not the first time the newspaper was printed in New Castle nor as a morning publication. Ironically, The Sharon Herald had been published both as a morning daily and at the New Castle News' printing plant as a professional courtesy (and transported to Sharon by train) for about a month after the flood of 1913 until The Herald re-established a pressroom in downtown Sharon and an afternoon publication cycle.