The ''Rockford Register Star'' is the primary

daily 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 poli ...

of the

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, Winnebago and Ogle County, Illinois, Ogle counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in far northern Illinois on the banks of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock River, Rockfor ...

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

. The fifth-highest circulation newspaper in Illinois, the Register Star takes its name from the 1979 merger of two predecessors, the ''Register Republic'' (founded , daily since ) and the ''Morning Star'' (founded ). The Register Star is currently owned by

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...

, which reacquired the paper upon merging with

GateHouse Media GateHouse Media Inc. was an American publisher of locally based print and digital media. It published 144 daily newspapers, 684 community publications, and over 569 local-market websites in 38 states. Its parent company, New Media Investment Group ...

in 2019. Gannett had previously owned the paper and its predecessors from 1967 to 2007.

Headquarters

The newspaper is published from the Register Star Tower at 99 East State Street in Downtown Rockford,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. Printing operations moved to West Milwaukee in April 2020 at the Gannett owned Milwaukee Journal Sentinel printing press. On March 14, 2022, Gannett closed the West Milwaukee printing press and production of the Register Star was moved to the Peoria Journal Star printing press in Peoria. The tower was built in 1930 and remains a Rockford landmark to this day, as it is still recognized as one of the most appealing buildings in downtown. It was designed to be similar in appearance to the

Tribune Tower The Tribune Tower is a , 36-floor Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic skyscraper located at 435 Magnificent Mile, North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The early 1920s international design competition for the tower bec ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Format

The publication's general format is customary to that of most papers around the nation; it contains a front page and an "A" section, followed by local and state news,

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

, and

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

throughout the

work week The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week, devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most o ...

. On Sundays it publishes the ''Sunday Register Star'', where ads for national chains in the area are promoted along with the insertion of

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

, the "Go" section, and

USA Weekend ''USA Weekend'' was an American weekend newspaper magazine published from 1953 to 2014. Founded as ''Family Weekly,'' it was purchased in 1985 by the Gannett Company, which turned it into a sister publication to Gannett's flagship newspaper '' ...

magazine. In 2003, the newspaper formed an alliance with

WREX-TV WREX (channel 13) is a television station in Rockford, Illinois, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Allen Media Group, it is the market's only full-power VHF station and is Rockford's second oldest television station. WREX's studios a ...

. Newspaper reporters are seen on WREX-TV's newscasts on a daily basis promoting stories found in the ''Rockford Register Star'', and the newspaper's website contains many videos of WREX's telecasted stories. In January 2024, the paper announced it was switching from carrier to mail delivery via the U.S. Postal Service.

Sources

GateHouse buys Rockford Register StarRockford Register Star

References

Newspapers established in 1855 Newspapers published in Illinois Mass media in Rockford, Illinois Gannett publications 1855 establishments in Illinois {{Illinois-newspaper-stub