Guy Gannett Communications

Guy Gannett Communications -- no relation to the larger Gannett communications chain -- was a family-owned business consisting of newspapers in Maine and a handful of television stations in the eastern United States. The company was founded by its namesake, Guy P. Gannett, in 1921, and managed by a family trust from 1954 to 1998, when it sold most of its properties to The Seattle Times Company and Sinclair Broadcast Group.

History

William Howard Gannett, of Augusta, Maine, first published Comfort magazine in 1888 -- an eight-page advertisement for a patent medicine -- but it was his son, Guy P. Gannett, who headed the push into daily journalism. After a stint helping with the magazine after his 1901 graduation from Yale University, the junior Gannett went into local politics. By 1920, he was a prominent citizen in Portland and two daily newspaper owners -- representing the Portland Herald and the Portland Daily Press -- had asked him to buy them out. Gannett invested in both companies.Wickenheiser, Matt. . Portland Press Herald, June 8, 2004. Accessed October 29, 2007.

In 1921, he completed his purchase of the two Portland papers, merging them into one Portland Press Herald, and also bought the Waterville Morning Sentinel in Waterville, Maine. In 1925 he added, for US$550,000, the Portland Evening Express and Daily Advertiser and Portland Sunday Telegram. Four years later, Guy Gannett Publishing Co. tacked on the Kennebec...... ...
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