The Desert Sun

History

On August 5, 1927, the first edition of The Desert Sun was published by Carl Barkow and Harvey Johnson, owners of the Banning Record. By 1938, the paper had a staff of four and a circulation of 1,700. Barkow eventually gained sole ownership and sold the paper in 1946 to Oliver B. Jaynes. Soon Jaynes expanded the Sun from a weekly to a twice-weekly. He was joined by Ward J. Risvold as a partner in 1952.

The Desert Sun Publishing Co. incorporated in April 1955 and oil millionaire George E. Cameron Jr. joined Jaynes and Risvold as a joint owner. Cameron served as president, Risvold as publisher and Jaynes as editor. The paper expanded into a five-daily paper on October 4, 1955. In 1957, Jaynes retired. In 1962, the circulation had grown to 10, 607.

In 1967, Leonard K. Firestone, president and general manager of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, bought the paper from Cameron. Two year's later a flood destroyed the paper's printing plant. In 1974, The Evening News Association, owner of the Detroit News, bought the company.

In 1985, The Evening News Association, which owned the Palm Springs Desert Sun, Indigo Daily News, was acquired for $717 million by Gannett. At that time the Desert Sun had 30,871 subscribers and the Daily News had 9,116. A few years later the paper broke ground on a new $21 million printing plant. The Daily News was merged into the Sun in 1990.

On, September 20, 2020, The Desert Sun ran its printing presses for the final time. Print editions of paper are now printed in Phoenix at Gannett's co-owned Arizona Republic. On March 1, 2024, the paper's newsroom union went on strike to protest what it called bad faith bargaining from Gannett. The work stoppage was the first indefinite strike in the paper's history. The next day the union ended its strike after reaching a tentative contract agreement.

References

References

1. Makinen, Julie. (May 21, 2021). "Desert Sun wins 35 prizes in California Journalism Awards". The Desert Sun.
2. Kratzer, Emily. (August 5, 1977). "Your Desert Sun Is Fifty Years Old - Today". The Desert Sun.
3. (September 6, 1946). "Oliver B. Jaynes Takes Over as Sun co-publisher". The Desert Sun.
4. (July 31, 1952). "Risvold New Partner In P.S. Publishing Co.". The Desert Sun.
5. (April 14, 1955). "Desert Sun Publishing Co. Incorporation Announced with Plans for Daily Issue". The Desert Sun.
6. Rashall, Bill. (October 4, 1955). "First Issue of Desert Sun as Daily Published Today". The Desert Sun.
7. (December 19, 1967). "Firestone buys Desert Sun newspapers". The Peninsula Times Tribune.
8. (March 15, 1974). "Desert Sun Becomes Part Of Detroit News Group". The Desert Sun.
9. (August 30, 1985). "Gannett purchases Evening News Association". The San Bernardino County Sun.
10. Chaffee, Kevin. (July 28, 1988). "Desert Sun breaks ground for new plant". The Desert Sun.
11. Goolsby, Denise. (August 24, 2022). "The Desert Sun: Looking back on 90 years of our Coachella Valley history".
12. Adams, Dan. (September 20, 2020). "Stop the Presses! The Desert Sun Ceases Printing at Its Palm Springs Headquarters". [[KMIR-TV.
13. Fu, Angela. (2024-03-01). "Update: Unionized Desert Sun journalists reach agreement after first open-ended strike in paper's history".