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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