The Press: Chattanooga’s Third

Ever since the late great Publisher Adolph Ochs used the Chattanooga Times as a stepping stone to the New York Times and fame, Tennessee’s third city has borne a reputation as a lively newspaper town.

Last week, this reputation was well sustained when the Chattanooga Free Press emerged from gangling adolescence as a full-fledged rival of Chattanooga’s two established dailies—the morning Times and afternoon News.

The name Free Press is no misnomer.

For some two years after its founding in May 1933, the sheet was a weekly give-away appearing on Thursday afternoons. It was started by a 35-year-old groceryman named Roy McDonald who built up a chain of 50 stores in Chattanooga, wanted to advertise them but thought space rates in the Times and News too high. For some reason, his little Free Press caught the public fancy. Last year it got a real boost when the Times fired Managing Editor William G. Foster to take on Pulitzer Prize Winner Julian Harris (TIME, Aug. 19, 1935). Hired by the Free Press, Editor Foster built up an able staff, last spring brought out a Sunday edition selling for 5¢. Last week, the Free Press took the last step to maturity, began appearing weekdays (except Saturday) and Sunday.

Publisher McDonald hopes to steal readers on weekdays from the News (circ. 36,000), on Sundays from the Times (circ. 36,300). He declares that Chattanooga is tired of the radical policies of the News, whose Editor George Fort Milton (The Age of Hate) is notably “agin” the local power company. The Free Press is as ardently pro-Landon as the nearby Knoxville Journal, which three months ago got out of receivership with the help of Republican money. According to Publisher McDonald, he owes only $60,000 for the modern presses and equipment he has installed. Delivery of the enlarged Free Press requires no new outlay of funds. Publisher McDonald uses Groceryman McDonald’s trucks.