The current paper is the result of a 2005 merger between the afternoon
Scranton Times and morning
Scranton Tribune. The
Times was founded in 1870. It struggled under six owners before E. J. Lynett bought the paper in 1895. Within 20 years, the
Times was the dominant newspaper in northeastern Pennsylvania, and the third-largest in the state (behind only the
Philadelphia Inquirer and the
Pittsburgh Press). In January 1923, Lynett founded one of Scranton's first radio stations, WQAN. The Lynett family still owns the station today under the calls
WEJL. Lynett died in 1943. His three children took control of the paper with William R. Lynett, the oldest, as publisher and editor. He died in 1946; siblings Edward J. and Elizabeth R. Lynett took over as co-publishers, with Edward J. as editor. Edward J. Lynett died in 1966, and his four children took over. Shortly after they took over, the
Times expanded to a full week with the appearance of
The Sunday Times. In 1990, the
Times bought the remains of its principal rival, the morning
Scrantonian-Tribune. This paper had been founded in 1891 as the
Scranton Tribune. In 1910, it merged with Scranton's first newspaper,
The Morning Republican, and changed its name to the
Scranton Republican. After
Louis A. Watres and
Laurence Hawley Watres sold the
Republican in 1934, it became the
Scranton Tribune once again in 1936. In 1938, Richard Little, owner of Scranton's Sunday paper,
The Scrantonian (founded 1897), teamed up with Morris L. Goodman to buy the
Tribune as well. The Goodman-Little family partnership continued for almost half a century, until Richard Little III sold his interest to the Goodmans in 1986. Only a year later, Media One Corporation (no relation to the
cable company) bought out the Goodmans and merged the two papers into one seven-day morning paper,
The Scrantonian-Tribune. However, Media One was unable to turn the paper around. In 1990, it shuttered the paper. That August, Times-Shamrock Communications sold the
Times-Tribune and three other daily newspapers to
MediaNews Group, ending the Lynetts' 128-year ownership. ==Endorsements==