In the summer of 1898, Gannett joined the
Syracuse Herald news staff, and quickly decided to forgo this job in favor of returning to
Cornell University for his master's degree. Upon his return, Gannett was bombarded with requests for his news about Cornell from the newspapers clients he had served as an undergraduate. Gannett became so busy meeting these demands that he never found time to register for graduate classes that fall. He returned to Cornell University the following year determined to complete his graduate degree, but did not stay long. In the early weeks of 1899, Gannett was offered the secretarial position for
William McKinley's Commission to visit the
Philippines, and by March he arrived in
Manila. Gannett stayed in the Philippines for a year, learning of foreign politics and culture. Upon his return, he accepted a job as city editor for the
Ithaca News. He also became editor of the
Pittsburg Index in 1905. In 1906, Gannett became half owner of the daily newspaper the
Elmira Gazette. Within the year, Gannett merged the
Elmira Gazette and
Elmira Star forming the Elmira
Star-Gazette, which is still in circulation. Throughout his career, Gannett was known as "The Great Hyphenator". The media magnate was known to buy and merge money-losing dailies to create profit. Six years later, in 1912 the partners also purchased the
Ithaca Journal. Gannett left Elmira in 1918, when he and his partner, Erwin Davenport turned their sights to
Rochester, New York where a "politico-journalistic dog fight" between three evening newspapers caught their eye. Gannett and his partner sought to buy
The Union and Advertiser and the
Times, but they required $250,000 in cash. The two partners raised the money through friends and bank loans. Once purchased, the newspapers were merged into the
Rochester Times-Union. Gannett moved his headquarters to
Rochester, New York, to supervise the news end of his newly acquired newspaper. The company's headquarters remained in Rochester until 1986, when it was relocated to
Arlington County, Virginia. Gannett and Davenport lived in a hotel walking distance from their offices. Gannett spent his time tracking down news while Davenport searched for advertisers. While in Rochester, Gannett met his wife, Caroline Werner; they married in March 1920. By 1922, Gannett and Davenport were seeing signs of success. The
Times-Union had downed its competition, the
Post-Express, and was beginning to turn a profit. This success, though, did not anticipate the arrival of fellow newspaper businessman
William Randolph Hearst.
William Randolph Hearst rivalry William Randolph Hearst, another media magnate of the time, is often portrayed as Gannett's rival. The pair's rivalry came to head particularly in the 1920s. Up until that point, Rochester had been monopolized by the Gannett Corporation while the
Albany newspapers were mostly under the control of Hearst. This changed in 1922, when William Randolph Hearst attempted to break into the Rochester newspaper business. This proved to be highly unsuccessful, as it was reported that Hearst began losing $100,000 a year. To combat Hearst's entrance to the Rochester newspaper business, Gannett brought the
Knickerbocker Press and
Albany Evening News in 1928. The
Knickerbocker Press was circulated in the morning while the
Albany Evening News was circulated in the evening and was a direct competitor of
Albany Times Union, Hearst's newspaper. By 1937, Gannett monopolized not only the Rochester newspaper business but the Albany one as well. It was at this time that Hearst and Gannett struck a deal. William Randolph Hearst pulled out of Rochester, where at one point he was bribing citizens with new cars in order to attract new customers. In exchange Gannett consolidated the
Knickerbocker Press and
Albany Evening News into a single evening newspaper called the
Knickerbocker Press. Hearst then transferred the
Times Union to the morning field unopposed. The deal left Hearst disappointed yet feeling wiser and sounder. Hearst felt "sounder because he was putting his financial house in order all along the line and had just concluded a constructive deal in Rochester and Albany, N. Y." Ever the businessman, Hearst continuously offered to buy the
Times-Union from Gannett, Davenport, and their friend Woodard J. Copeland. By 1923, this seemed to be an appealing deal to Davenport and Copeland, as both were in poor health. If the two went through with the deal, it would ultimately leave Gannett out in the cold. So he decided to make his friends an offer they could not refuse. If given enough time to raise $250,000, Gannett would buy both of their stakes in the
Times-Union, making him the sole owner. In order to obtain these funds, Gannett formed a new corporation, Gannett Co., Inc. So, at age 48, Frank Gannett became the owner of six newspapers in five upstate New York cities. In 1928, Gannett purchased the Rochester
Democrat and Chronicle, the paper for which he first worked as a paperboy.
Political involvement Throughout his life, Gannett was active in politics. A majority of Gannett's newspapers were in solid
Republican territory. Gannett always sent his pronouncements to his editors with a note, "For your information and use, if desired", and editors were free to ignore them. Gannett backed
Franklin D. Roosevelt during his early years of his presidency but by the late 1930s withdrew his support. Gannett, amongst others, took a publicly neutral stand to the
New Deal in 1936, though he privately disapproved of it, and actively campaigned against it later in the decade. He was a founding member of the
National Committee to Uphold Constitutional Government and organized opposition to President Roosevelt's
court-packing scheme of 1937, as well as the bulk of Roosevelt's proposed responses to the
1937 recession. Frank Gannett briefly ran for the 1940 Republican presidential nomination, but lost to
Wendell Willkie.
Gannett growth Gannett spent the rest of his life tirelessly working to build his corporation. He expanded his company to include both TV and radio stations. Though he never founded a paper, he "bought with an auditor's sure eye; in all, Publisher Gannett acquired 30 papers (plus a string of TV and radio stations) in 51 years, merged ten, and unloaded only three." Gannett was able to acquire more papers than any other American publisher has without the help of an inheritance. Though he suffered from
diabetes, the publisher refused to slow down. In 1948, when Gannett suffered from a stroke, he slowed down. Due to a
spinal fracture in 1955, Gannett transferred management duties and the presidency of Gannett Co. to
Paul Miller. ==Death==