Van Nuys News (1911-1981) The
Daily News began publication in
Van Nuys as the
Van Nuys Call on October 13, 1911. E.R. Elkins founded the weekly newspaper, and sold it after six weeks to Frank M. Keffer, a reporter from
Pittsburgh, who renamed it to the
Van Nuys News. In 1920, Walter Mendenhall became a co-owner. In 1922, the paper expanded to a twice weekly. In 1927, the
News had 799 paying subscribers. In 1932, Keffer sold his stake to William Colfax Markham and his children. In the 1940s, the paper began producing its front page on green colored paper to set itself apart from the competition. The
News expanded to three days a week in 1954, and four days in 1959. In August 1961, Walter Mendenhall died. In September 1961, Markham died. The paper was inherited by his children and the other owner's son Ferdinand Mendenhall, who in 1970 was elected president of the
California Newspaper Publishers Association. In 1973, the
Tribune Company acquired the
News from the Markham and Mendenhall families. At that time, the paper had a circulation of 276,000. The sale price was $25 million. A few years later, federal regulators forced Tribune Co. to sell the
Daily News as a condition of its acquisition of
KTLA. The winning bid went to
Jack Kent Cooke for $176 million. At that time Cooke owned the
Washington Redskins and the
Chrysler Building.
That December, his estate sold the Daily News'' to
MediaNews Group, at that time headed by
William Dean Singleton. The paper was consolidated with other Southern California titles into a subsidiary called the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, which later became the
Southern California News Group. All papers in the group are local editions of the
Daily News. ==Similarly titled earlier newspapers==