The Salinas Californian

History

In 1869, J. Selwyn Brittain founded the Salinas Valley Standard, the first paper in Salinas and first in Monterey County outside the city of Monterey. It was quickly sold to prominent druggist E.M. Reading, followed in 1871 by Harry V. Morehouse, who was a teacher in Blanco. Around that time Melville Byerly moved his plant to town and started a successor to the Standard called the Salinas City Weekly Index. He died in 1876, and the paper was then passed on to his brother-in-law, county school superintendent Samuel M. Shearer.

In October 1876, William J. Hill relaunched the paper as the Salinas Daily Index. Hill published it for 33 years. In 1909, a company formed called The Salinas Index Publishing Company, headed by former mayor D.A. Madeira, and acquired the Index from Hill. In 1919, Madeira sold the Index to Fred Weybret. In 1928, Weybret purchased the Salinas Morning Journal from Paul P. Parker and merged it with the Index to form the Salinas Index-Journal.

In 1932, Weybret sold the paper to E.L. Sherman, of Modesto. In 1936, Merritt C. Speidel and Graham M. Dean bought the Salinas Index-Journal from E.L. Sherman and the Salinas Daily Post from Frank Cornell. In 1942, the two papers were merged to form The Salinas Californian due to the economic conditions amid World War II. In 1977, Speidel Newspapers was sold and merged into Gannett.

In 2015, the Californian decreased it's print schedule to three days a week: Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. At that time the paper had a circulation around 7,000.

As of December 2022, the newspaper had no reporters on staff, with all remaining content sourced from other Gannett newspapers, notably the Record Searchlight in Redding, 300 miles north. El Sol de Salinas was also shut down due to a lack of content. One reporter was hired on staff in August 2024.

References

References

1. (21 December 1976). "Speidel Newspapers Agrees in Principle to Join With Gannett in a $173 Million Deal". The New York Times.
2. (May 11, 1977). "Speidel, Gannett Merger OK". The Fresno Bee.
3. (July 19, 1942). "Salinas Journalism". Oakland Tribune.
4. (November 28, 1946). "Salinas Californian Goes Back 75 Years to Founding Of The Salinas City Index by Melville Byerly in 1871". The Californian.
5. (February 3, 1876). "Pacific Slope News". The Solano-Napa News Chronicle.
6. (October 28, 1876). "Salinas City Daily Index.". Merced Sun-Star.
7. (June 12, 1909). "Salinas Index Changes Hands.". Gonzales Tribune.
8. (June 17, 1909). "More Newspaper Changes In Salinas". The Pajaronian.
9. (August 23, 1919). "Salinas Index Changes Hands". Hollister Advance.
10. (June 30, 1928). "Salinas Journal Changes Hands". Petaluma Daily Morning Courier.
11. (July 1, 1932). "Salinas Index-Journal sold to E.L. Sherman, Former Publisher of Modesto Paper". Pacific Grove Tribune.
12. (March 20, 1936). "Salinas Papers Are Bought And Consolidated". Porterville Recorder.
13. (June 30, 1942). "Papers Combine". Santa Maria Times.
14. Goudreau, Paula. (August 26, 2015). "We're a 7-day digital news company that prints 3 days".
15. Duan, Mary. (September 10, 2015). "The Salinas Californian is slashing its print schedule. What's next?".
16. Rainey, James. (2023-03-27). "The California newspaper that has no reporters left".
17. "Roseann Cattani".