The ''Philadelphia Bulletin'' was a daily evening

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

published from 1847 to 1982 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the

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. Its widely known slogan was: "In Philadelphia, nearly everybody reads ''The Bulletin''." Describing the ''Bulletin''s style, publisher William L. McLean once said: "I think the ''Bulletin'' operates on a principle which in the long run is unbeatable. This is that it enters the reader's home as a guest. Therefore, it should behave as a guest, telling the news rather than shouting it." As ''

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'' magazine later noted: "In its news columns, the ''Bulletin'' was solid if unspectacular. Local affairs were covered extensively, but politely.

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was frowned upon."

History

1847 to 1895

''The Bulletin'' was first published by

Alexander Cummings Alexander Cumming FRSE (sometimes referred to as Alexander Cummings; 1733 – 8 March 1814) was a Scottish watchmaker and instrument inventor, who was the first to patent a design of the flush toilet in 1775, which had been pioneered by Sir Jo ...

on April 17, 1847, as ''Cummings’ Evening Telegraphic Bulletin''.''Cummings’ Evening Telegraphic Bulletin'', April 17, 1847, p. 1, reprinted in ''The Philadelphia Bulletin'', January 18, 1984 When Cummings sold in 1860, James S. Chambers succeeded him as publisher. It made history with its inaugural edition by publishing the first telegraph report in a U.S. newspaper, a dispatch from the Mexican War. Cummings lost control of the ''Bulletin'' to stockholders in the 1850s. From 1859 until 1895, the paper was edited by Gibson Peacock. ''The Bulletin'' was last in circulation of Philadelphia's 13 daily newspapers for the remainder of the 19th century.

1895 to 1975

Upon Peacock's death, the paper was bought by businessman William L. McLean. When McLean bought the last-place ''Bulletin'' in 1895, it sold for 2 cents, equal to $ today. McLean cut the price in half and increased coverage of local news. By 1905 the paper was the city's largest. In 1912, the ''Bulletin'' was one of a cooperative of four newspapers, including the ''

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Doughert ...

'', ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', and ''

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'', to form the

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syndicate. McLean's son Robert took over in 1931. Later in the 1930s, the paper bought WPEN, one of Philadelphia's early radio stations. In 1946, it acquired a construction permit for Philadelphia's third television station. In 1947 the ''Bulletin'' bought out a morning competitor, ''

The Philadelphia Record ''The Philadelphia Record'' was a daily newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1877 until 1947. It became among the most circulated papers in the city and was at some points the circulation leader. History ''The Public Record'' ...

'', and incorporated features of the ''Record''s Sunday edition into the new ''Sunday Bulletin''. By 1947 the ''Bulletin'' was the nation's biggest evening daily, with 761,000 readers. Along with the ''Record'', it also acquired the rights to buy Philadelphia's third-oldest radio station, WCAU. In a complex deal, the ''Bulletin'' sold off WPEN and WCAU's FM sister, changed WPEN-FM's call letters to WCAU-FM, and the calls for its under-construction television station to

WCAU-TV WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jerse ...

. The WCAU stations were sold to

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in 1957. The ''Bulletin''s understated brand of journalism won Pulitzer Prizes in 1964 and 1965. James V. Magee, Albert V. Gaudiosi and Frederick Meyer won the 1964

Pulitzer Prize for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting has been awarded since 1953, under one name or another, for a distinguished example of investigative reporting by an individual or team, presented as a single article or series in a U.S. news publica ...

for their expose of numbers racket operations with police collusion in

South Philadelphia South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west. J.A. Livingston won the 1965

Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs, including United Nations correspondence. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic R ...

for his reports on the growth of economic independence among

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's Eastern European satellites and his analysis of their desire for a resumption of trade with the West.

Decline in circulation

As readers and advertisers moved from the city to the suburbs, the ''Bulletin'' attempted to follow. It introduced regional editions for four suburban counties and leased a plant in southern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

to print a state edition. Reporters attended school and county meetings, but their efforts could not match the combined resources of the smaller suburban dailies. The ''Bulletin'' also faced difficulties that plagued all big-city evening newspapers: Late afternoon traffic made distribution more costly than for morning papers. The ''Bulletin'' faced even greater competition from television evening newscasts. The ''Bulletin''s biggest problem, however, may have been the morning ''Philadelphia Inquirer''. ''The Inquirer'' was on the verge of extinction until Eugene L. Roberts Jr. became executive editor in 1972 and

William Boyd Dickinson William Boyd Dickinson, Jr. (born May 18, 1908 Kansas City, Missouri; died September 12, 1978, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was United States war correspondent for United Press International during World War II. He was born into a family with a t ...

retired as executive editor of ''The Bulletin'' in 1973. Under Roberts, ''The Inquirer'' won six consecutive Pulitzer Prizes and gained national reputation for quality journalism. ''The Inquirer'' grabbed the circulation lead in 1980. By 1982, ''The Inquirer'' was receiving 60 percent of the city’s newspaper advertising revenue, compared to ''The Bulletin'''s 24-percent share. ''The Bulletin'' launched a morning edition in 1978, but by then the momentum had shifted decisively.

Final months

In 1980, the ''Bulletin'' was acquired by the

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a conglomerate which would spend most of the 1980s in various financial troubles. In December 1981, Charter put it up for sale. ''The Bulletin'' continued publishing while speaking with prospective buyers. City residents organized a “Save Our Bulletin” campaign. On January 18, 1982, 300 loyal supporters sporting S.O.B. buttons held a candlelight vigil in front of the paper's offices in subfreezing weather. Philadelphia Mayor William Green offered tax breaks and low-interest loans to help finance a purchase. With no prospective buyers, Charter attempted to give the newspaper away. No publisher, however, would assume the paper's $29.5 million in

promissory notes A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...

and $12 million in severance costs to the paper's 1,943 employees. Four groups of buyers did come forward, but each found the newspaper's prospects too discouraging. After losing $21.5 million in 1981, ''The Bulletin'' was dropping nearly $3 million per month when it published its final edition on January 29, 1982. Said Charter Company President J.P. Smith Jr.: "In the final analysis, the paper was unable to generate the circulation and additional advertising revenues ... it needed to survive." The headline of the final edition read "Goodbye: After 134 years, a Philadelphia voice is silent" and the paper’s slogan was changed to "Nearly Everybody ''Read'' The Bulletin" (emphasis added). A front-page message to readers appeared " below the fold" in which Publisher N.S. (“Buddy”) Hayden stated: "It’s over. And there’s very little left to say, except goodbye."''The Philadelphia Bulletin'', January 18, 1982 The ''Bulletin''s internal newsclipping files (approximately 500,000 pieces), card indexes, and photographs (''ca.'' 3 million) are now held in the

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

Libraries. Thousands of ''Bulletin'' photographs have been scanned and have been made available by the Temple Libraries for online study. A limited sampling of clippings are also available online.

Relaunch: ''The Bulletin''

In 2004 Philadelphia investment banker Thomas G. Rice bought the ''Bulletin'' naming rights from the McLean family. Rice's new newspaper, which began circulating on November 22, 2004, was known as '' The Bulletin''. On June 1, 2009, the paper suspended print publication, but continued publishing stories on its website. By early 2011, the website was offline as well.

References

Notes

Sources

* Binzen, Peter, ed., ''Nearly Everybody Read It: Snapshots of the Philadelphia Bulletin'', Camino Books (Philadelphia 1997)

External links

Liberman, Mark. "Everybody in Philadelphia," Language Log, Saturday, July 21, 2007.

Temple University Libraries Digital Collections, ''Philadelphia Evening Bulletin'' Photographs.

Temple University Libraries Digital Collections, ''Philadelphia Evening Bulletin'' Clippings.
{{Authority control Defunct newspapers of Philadelphia Newspapers established in 1847 Publications disestablished in 1982 1847 establishments in Pennsylvania 1982 disestablishments in Pennsylvania