Everything about The Kansas City Star totally explained
The Kansas City Star is a
McClatchy newspaper based in
Kansas City, Missouri, in the
United States. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight
Pulitzer Prizes. The Star is most notable for its influence on the career of President
Harry Truman, and for being central to government-mandated divestiture of radio and television outlets by newspaper concerns in the late 1950s.
History
Nelson family ownership (1880-1926)
The paper, originally called
The Kansas City Evening Star, was founded Sept. 18, 1880 by
William Rockhill Nelson and Samuel E. Morss. The two moved to Missouri after selling the newspaper that became the
Fort Wayne News Sentinel (and earlier owned by Nelson's father) in Nelson's Indiana hometown, where Nelson was campaign manager in the unsuccessful Presidential run of
Samuel Tilden.
Morss quit the newspaper business within a year and a half because of ill health.
At the time there were three daily competitors – the
Evening Mail, The
Kansas City Times and the
Kansas City Journal.
Competitor Times editor
Eugene Field wrote this about the new newspaper:
» Twinkle, twinkle, little Star
Bright and gossipy you are; » We can daily hear you speak
For a paltry dime a week.
Nelson's business strategy called for cheap advance subscriptions and an intention to be “absolutely independent in politics, aiming to deal by all men and all parties with impartiality and fearlessness.” .
He purchased the
Kansas City Evening Mail (and its
Associated Press evening franchise) in 1882. The paper name was changed to
The Kansas City Star in 1885. Nelson started the
Weekly Kansas City Star in 1890 and the
Sunday Kansas City Star in 1894. .
In 1901 Nelson also bought the morning paper
The Kansas City Times (and its morning Associated Press franchise). Nelson announced the arrival of the "24 Hour Star."
President
Harry S. Truman worked two weeks in August 1902 in the mailroom, making $7.00 the first week and $5.40 the second. In 1950 Truman half joked in an unmailed letter to
Star editor Roberts, "If the
Star is at all mentioned in history, it'll be because the President of the U.S. worked there for a few weeks in 1901."
The Star opened at its current publishing location at 18th and Grand in 1911.
Nelson died in 1915. Nelson provided in his will that his newspaper was to support his wife and daughter and then be sold.
Ernest Hemingway was a reporter for the
Star from October 1917 to April 1918. Hemingway credited Star editor C.G. "Pete" Wellington with changing a wordy high-schooler's writing style into clear, provocative English. Throughout his lifetime he referred to this admonition from The Star Copy Style, the Star's
style guide:
» "Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative."
Nelson's wife died in 1921; his daughter Laura Kirkwood died in a
Baltimore hotel room in 1926 at the age of 43.
Employee ownership (1926-1977)
Laura's husband Irwin Kirkwood, who was editor of the paper, led the employee purchase. Kirkwood in turn died of a heart attack in 1927 in
Saratoga Springs, New York, where he'd gone to sell thoroughbred horses. Stock in the company was then distributed among other employees.
Virtually all proceeds from the sale and remains of Nelson's $6 million personal fortune were donated to create the
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art on the site of Nelson's home, Oak Hall.
Both papers were purchased by the employees in 1926 following the death of Nelson's daughter.
The
Star enjoyed a pivotal role in American politics beginning in the late 1920s when Iowa-native
Herbert Hoover was nominated at the 1928 Republican convention in Kansas City, and continuing through 1960 at the conclusion of the presidency of Kansas favorite
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Editor
Roy A. Roberts (1887-1967) was to make the newspaper a major force in Kansas politics. Roberts joined the paper in 1909 and was picked by Nelson for the Washington bureau in 1915. Roberts became managing editor in 1928. He was instrumental in pushing Kansas Governor
Alf Landon for the Republican nomination in 1936; Landon was defeated in the general election by
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1942 the Journal, the last daily competitor, ceased publication. The Journal had offered unwavering support of
Tom Pendergast's political machine; once Pendergast had fallen from power, the paper suffered.
In 1945 the paper bought the Flambeau Paper Mill in
Park Falls, Wisconsin to provide newsprint. The mill was to be cited for pollution problems and have labor problems, and the Star was to eventually divest itself of the mill in 1971.
Roberts was elevated to president of the
Star in 1947. The
Star wasn't particularly kind to hometown
Democrat Harry Truman, who had been backed by famed big city Democratic Machine boss
Tom Pendergast. In 1953, the Truman administration in its closing days filed antitrust charges against the
Star over its ownership of
WDAF-TV. The Star launched radio station
WDAF May 16, 1922, and television outlet WDAF-TV on October 19, 1949. The
Star lost its case and had to sign a consent decree in 1957 that led to the sale of the broadcast stations.
With the influence of the Star in Truman's hometown, the newspaper and Roberts were the subject of a April 12, 1948 cover issue of
Time Magazine.
In 1954, Topeka correspondent Alvin McCoy won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles questioning the business dealings of the Republican national chairman. Roberts reported the Pulitzer Prize in a four paragraph item.
Roberts semi-retired in 1963, officially retired in 1965 and died in 1967.
Corporate Ownership (1977-Present)
Capital Cities/Disney (1977-1997)
Local ownership of the newspapers ended in 1977 with their purchase by
Capital Cities. In 1990 the
Star became a morning newspaper taking the place of what was then the larger
Kansas City Times. The
Walt Disney Company acquired Capital Cities/ABC in January, 1996. Disney sold the paper to
Knight Ridder in May 1997 as Disney moved to concentrate on broadcast rather than newspaper investments. Under Capital Cities ownership the newspaper won three Pulitzer Prizes.
Knight Ridder/McClatchy (1997-Present)
Knight Ridder's legacy is a massive $199 million, two-block long, glass-enclosed printing and distribution plant on the northeast side of the
Star's landmark red brick headquarters at 1729 Grand Avenue. The plant began printing in June 2006. It took nearly four years to build, and is considered a major part of the effort to revitalize downtown Kansas City. The plant contains four 60 foot high presses. On June 4, 2006, the first edition of the
Star came out from the new presses with a major redesign in the sections and the logo. The new paper design involved shrinking its
broadsheet width from 15 to 12 inches and shrinking the length from 22 3/4 to 21 1/2 inches. Other broadsheet newspapers across the country, including the
Wall Street Journal, are moving to the smaller standard size.
The McClatchy Company bought
Knight Ridder in June 2006.
Pulitzer Prizes
The newspaper has won eight
Pulitzer Prizes:
Country song
Country musician
Roger Miller had a Top Ten country hit in 1965 called "Kansas City Star"
(External Link
) about a local television
rhinestone cowboy personality who would rather stay in the safety and security of his success in
Kansas City than try to become a bigger star--or risk failure--in
Omaha. The title was presumably a
double entendre inspired by the newspaper's title:
» Kansas City star, that's what I are
Yodel-leedle lay-dee, you oughta see my car
Famous Columnists
Joe Posnanski
Jason Whitlock
Joe McGuff
William E. VaughanFurther Information
Get more info on 'The Kansas City Star'.
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