Frederick News-Post Printing Single Morning Edition

This name change was made in preparation of the merger into a single morning edition under the combined name, which began April 19 when all delivery routes were converted and the company stopped printing and distributing an afternoon paper. The Frederick News-Post name has been in use for more than 10 years on section fronts and special sections in both editions.

Advertising content of the two editions has been identical for the past 15 years, while news and sports content has been updated in the afternoon editions on a daily basis, but to a limited degree.

The merger into a morning edition follows a national trend in the daily newspaper business. Since 1977, the number of afternoon newspapers in the United States has fallen almost 50 percent, while the number of morning newspapers has more than doubled, according to industry sources.

The News dates to 1883 under the current ownership of the Randall family, who are descendants of the newspaper’s founder, William T. Delaplaine. The Frederick Post, founded in 1910, has been under the family’s ownership since 1916. The Randall family is very proud of the fact that The News has not missed the publication of a regularly scheduled edition since its founding, and hopes to continue that tradition under the new flag.

– excerpted from a letter from George E. Randall, president and publisher of The Frederick News-Post