The paper was first published in 1865 as a weekly tabloid-style newspaper under the name
San Antonio Express. At that time, the city had already had a number of other newspapers in a number of different languages. However, all the other publications went out of business, leaving only the
Express to serve the city. In December 1866, the
Express made the move from a weekly paper to a daily newspaper, and expanded into a full newspaper by the early 1870s. The early days of the
Express was marked by several leadership changes which almost doomed the paper, until a brand new company, the Express Printing Company, took control in 1875. The
Express eventually became a daily morning newspaper in 1878. In January 1881, a new rival newspaper, the
Evening Light, was first published by A. W. Gifford and
J. P. Newcomb, who had been an early investor in the
Express. The
Evening Light was published as an afternoon paper, as opposed to the morning
Express. At first, the editors of the
Express chose to ignore the upstart paper, but the
Light soon grew in popularity at the turn of the 20th century. In 1906 the
Daily Light was sold to E. B. Chandler, and in 1909 the Daily Light Publishing Company bought the
San Antonio Gazette. From then until 1911 the paper was referred to as the
Light and Gazette. Edward S. O'Reilly, known as Tex, was at one time managing editor. In 1911 Harrison L. Beach and Charles S. Diehl, veteran correspondents of national standing, moved to San Antonio and bought the
Light and Gazette. Once again it was known as the
Light. Diehl was a founder of the AP wire service. Beach and Diehl installed leased wire news service and published the first full stock market reports in a San Antonio paper. The
Light became liberal-Democratic in its political views. While Beach and Diehl ran the paper, circulation increased from 11,000 to 25,000 copies daily. In 1918, the
Express ownership, now renamed Express Publishing Company, launched its own afternoon paper, the
San Antonio Evening News. Soon thereafter, a rivalry developed between workers of the
Express and the
News. In fact, some
News workers dubbed a new office building as the
News-Express building. In 1924, however,
William Randolph Hearst bought the
Light and instituted Hearst policies, and by 1945 the circulation was approximately 70,000. The 1920s was marked by expansion by Express Publishing as the company started one of the city's first radio stations,
WOAI, in 1922. As the two rival publishers entered the 1950s, the
Express and the
News both had higher readership numbers than the
Light. However, the
Light skyrocketed to the top of the market when it acquired a number of popular comic strips, like
Dick Tracy. The Express Publishing Company diversified further, acquiring two more radio stations and a television station, which they renamed
KENS-TV. Those call letters were intended to stand for, K-Express News Station. In the 1960s, Express Publishing was sold to the
Harte-Hanks newspaper group. In 1973, with the
Light beating both the
Express and the
News in circulation numbers, a new ownership group emerged. Australian native
Rupert Murdoch of
News Corp bought the
Express and the
News from Harte-Hanks. Murdoch re-formatted the
News as a more tabloid-styled paper, while the
Express retained its original, conservative format. The
Light was now forced to compete against two different styles of newspaper while at the same time trying to combat the growing costs of an afternoon circulation. By September 1984, the
Express and the
News merged into the
San Antonio Express-News and afternoon service was slowly discontinued, while the
Light started getting into the morning circulation business in order to keep up. But under
News Corp., the
Express-News adopted a more mainstream format and expanded its services to communities outside
Bexar County. As a result, the
Express-News became San Antonio's leading newspaper for good. By 1992, News Corp had diversified into movies and television and was looking to sell the
Express-News. The Hearst Corporation, which still owned the
Light, agreed to either sell or close the newspaper and acquire the
Express-News in order to keep its stake in the San Antonio market. The
Light never found a buyer and published its final edition on January 28, 1993. In 2019, the
Express-News sold its downtown headquarters building. The planned move to another downtown property was delayed as the
COVID-19 pandemic led to the staff working remotely. In 2022, the paper relocated to the top two floors of the Light Building, which is named after its former tenant and Hearst property, The San Antonio Light. Following this move, employees began transitioning back to in-person work, and the news organization now operates under a hybrid model. == See also ==