The Cowles Company is a diversified media company in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the ...

, in the US. The company owns and operates ''

The Spokesman-Review ''The Spokesman-Review'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Spokane, Washington, the city's sole remaining daily publication. It has the third-highest readership among daily newspapers in the state, with most of its readership base i ...

'' in Spokane, founded in 1894, and owned the '' Spokane Daily Chronicle'' until it was shut down in 1992. Built by William H. Cowles, the publishing business eventually constructed striking buildings in downtown Spokane for both papers. The Chronicle Building was eventually converted into offices and then residential. The company also owned several other papers and operates Inland Empire Paper Company,

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

stations, and interests in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

and

financial Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...

services. William Stacey Cowles, the publisher of ''The Spokesman-Review'', is the great-grandson of the company's founder, William H. Cowles, and the fourth generation of the Cowles family to run the paper. His sister, Elizabeth A. Cowles, is chairwoman of the parent company.

Rob Curley Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ( ...

is the editor.

History

William H. Cowles came to Spokane at age 24 to be the business manager of the ''Spokesman'', which was founded less than two years before, and excelled at local news coverage. He had experience as a police reporter for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' and was the son of the ''Tribune'' treasurer, Alfred Cowles Sr. He soon bought the ''Spokesman'' from his partners. In 1893, he bought a rival paper, the ''Review'', and merged the two papers into ''The Spokesman-Review''. He acquired the ''Spokane Chronicle'' in 1897. According to ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' in 1952, he was a "determined man" who had an artificial leg yet walked two miles to the office each day. Cowles set the ''Chronicle'' on a course to be independent, and ''The Spokesman-Review'' to support

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

causes. ''Time'' magazine related the paper's success gaining lowered rates for freight carried to the

Northwest United States The Northwestern United States, also known as the American Northwest or simply the Northwest, is an informal geographic region of the United States. The region consistently includes the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming ...

and an improved park system and that helped the region. Increasing its reputation for comprehensive local news and by opposing "gambling, liquor and prostitution", ''The Spokesman-Review'' gained popularity. The paper's opposition to building the

Grand Coulee Dam Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had two powerho ...

was not quite so universally applauded and when it opposed the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...

and the

Fair Deal The Fair Deal was a set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in 1945 and in his January 1949 State of the Union address. More generally. the term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administr ...

, it so disturbed President of the United States Harry Truman that he declared the Spokesman-Review to be one of the "two worst" newspapers in the United States. The ''Scripps League's Press'' closed in 1939, making Cowles the only newspaper publisher in Spokane. Cowles created four weeklies, the ''Idaho Farmer'', ''Washington Farmer'', ''Oregon Farmer'' and ''Utah Farmer''. Cowles died in 1946. When William H. Cowles Jr. succeeded his father as publisher, James Bracken received much more news and editorial control as managing editor. The original Review Building, designed by Seaton & Ferris in 1891 in a style closest to

Richardson Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

, is ten stories with a tower that reaches . In 1975, it was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Television

Cowles' television operations are centered around the two NBC affiliates in eastern Washington. The flagship is KHQ-TV in Spokane, which was founded by Cowles as Washington's second television station. Cowles also owns KNDO in Yakima and its

Tri-Cities Tri-Cities most often refers to: *Tri-Cities, Tennessee, United States *Tri-Cities, Washington, United States Tri-City, Tricity or Tri-Cities may also refer to: Populated places Americas Canada *Tri-Cities (British Columbia), consisting of Co ...

semi-satellite KNDU (licensed to Richland). As of September 2007, Cowles planned to acquire two CBS affiliate television stations for US$41 million from

Newport Television Newport Television, LLC was a television station holding company founded by Providence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale in 2007 to acquire the television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications. History In September 2007, Newport agre ...

, one of the holding companies formed by

Providence Equity Partners Providence Equity Partners L.L.C. is a specialist private equity investment firm focused on media, communications, education, technology investments across North America and Europe. The firm specializes in growth-oriented private equity investme ...

when Providence planned to acquire the television stations owned by

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

. They are KCOY-TV in Santa Barbara- Santa Maria-

San Luis Obispo, California San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...

and KION-TV in

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under b ...

. KION carries

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

on a separate digital channel. Cowles would also have a management agreement with KCBA, the Fox affiliate serving Salinas, Monterey and Santa Cruz, California, and would acquire two low power stations, KKFX-CA, also Fox in

and the

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

affiliate KMUV-LP in Monterey. The deal closed on May 7, 2008. On September 20, 2013, News-Press & Gazette Company announced that it would purchase Monterey stations, KION-TV and KMUV-LP, as well as San Luis Obispo station KKFX-CA. NPG will also take over some of the operations of Santa Maria sister station KCOY-TV, which Cowles will retain, under a shared services agreement (as NPG's holdings in the area already include

KEYT-TV KEYT-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Santa Barbara, California, United States, serving the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California as an affiliate of American Broadcasting Company, ABC, CBS, and MyNetworkTV. It ...

in Santa Barbara). The existing LMA for KCBA was terminated on December 1, 2013, as that station's operations were assumed by Entravision Communications through a joint sales agreement (the license was retained by Seal Rock Broadcasters). On September 30, 2013, Cowles announced that it would acquire

Max Media Max Media is a company that owns radio stations throughout the United States. It is based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. History Max Media was founded in 2001. Prior to this, some of the company's management had run the TVX Broadcast Group from 197 ...

's Montana television station cluster for $18 million. The sale was finalized on November 29. In October 2022, Cowles introduced the standardized branding ''NonStop Local'' for all of its stations' news programming, as part of an effort to promote them as multi-platform news sources.

Current

(**) - ''indicates a station built and signed on by Cowles''.

Cowles Montana Media Company

Other Notes: * ¹ Owned by Marks Radio Group, Cowles operated KYUS as a satellite of KULR.

KHQ, Incorporated

Former

*¹ Cowles operated KCBA through a shared services agreement (SSA). *² From 2014 to 2015, News-Press & Gazette Company operated KCOY under an SSA.

Other Affiliations

* Basic Financial Solutions * Citizens Realty * Inland Empire Paper Company * ''

Spokane Journal of Business The ''Spokane Journal of Business'' is an independent business newspaper founded in February 1986 which covers news primarily in Eastern Washington State and Northern Idaho including Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and co ...

'' *

River Park Square River Park Square is a shopping mall and entertainment complex in Spokane, Washington. The shopping center was originally opened in 1974. Following years of decline, the center was redeveloped in 1999 using public and private funds in an effort ...

* Nickels Worth Publications * Northwest Farmer-Stockman * Print Marketing Concepts * ''

'' ** '' Spokane Daily Chronicle'' * SWX Right Now

Cowles family

The Cowles family of Spokane is descended from Elizabeth (1827–1910) and Sarah Hutchinson (1837–1884) of Cayuga County, New York. The two sisters married two brothers, Alfred Cowles Sr. and Edwin Cowles of

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S ...

. Edwin published the ''

Cleveland Leader ''The Cleveland Leader'' was a newspaper published in Cleveland from 1854 to 1917. History The ''Cleveland Leader'' was created in 1854 by Edwin Cowles, who merged a variety of abolitionist, pre-Republican Party titles under the ''Leader''. F ...

'' and Alfred moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

where he purchased one third of the ''

''. and Feminist and educator

Betsy Mix Cowles Betsy Mix Cowles (February 9, 1810 – July 25, 1876) was an early leader in the United States abolitionist movement. She was an active and influential Ohio-based reformer, and was a noted feminist and an educator. She counted among her friends ...

was Alfred and Edwin's paternal aunt. Edwin's sons Alfred and Eugene were chemists and metallurgists who invented and operated electric arc smelters to extract aluminum. Alfred Cowles, 3rd—the grandson of Alfred Sr.—founded the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics following the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Distantly related, the Cowles family of Spokane are about sixth cousins of the family of Gardner Cowles Sr. of

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

and

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origi ...

who owned

Cowles Media Company Cowles Media Company ( ) (1935–1998) was a newspaper, magazine and information publishing company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The company operated Cowles Business Media, Cowles Creative Publishing, and Cowles ...

. Both Cowles publishing families are descendants of Hannah Bushoup (c.1613-1683) of

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

and John Cowles (1598–1675) of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Gallery

File:Alfred Cowles Sr-Tribune Co.jpg, Alfred Cowles Sr. of the ''

'', father of William H. Cowles File:Edwin-Cowles-small.jpg, Edwin Cowles of the ''

'', brother of Alfred Cowles. Sr.

References

External links

Cowles Company

Company Overview of Cowles Company
{{Authority control American companies established in 1894 Companies based in Spokane, Washington Manufacturing companies based in Washington (state) Mass media companies of the United States Television broadcasting companies of the United States 1894 establishments in Washington (state)