The Morning Call
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''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in
Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, it is the List o ...
. Founded in 1883, it is the second-longest continuously published newspaper in the
Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...
, after '' The Express-Times''. The newspaper is owned by Alden Global Capital, a
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
based
hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...
. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its Allentown headquarters after allegedly failing to pay four months of rent and citing diminishing advertising revenues.


History


19th century

''The Morning Call'' was founded in 1883. Its original name was ''The Critic''. Its original editor, owner and chief reporter was Samuel S. Woolever. The newspaper's first reporter was a
Muhlenberg College Muhlenberg College is a private liberal arts college in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg College is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is named for Henry Muhlenberg, the German pat ...
senior, David A. Miller. The newspaper was subsequently acquired by Charles Weiser, its editor, and Kirt W. DeBelle, its business manager. In 1894, the newspaper launched a reader contest, offering $5 in gold to a school boy or girl in Lehigh County who could guess the publication's new name. The identity of the lucky winner is lost to history. But on January 1, 1895, Allentown City Treasurer A.L. Reichenbach, who supervised the contest, announced that the newspaper would be renamed ''The Morning Call''. The same year, David A. Miller and his brother Samuel Miller began purchasing private shares in ''The Morning Call'', ultimately acquiring the newspaper completely in 1904.


20th century

By 1920, the newspaper's circulation was 20,000. That year, Harry Clay Trexler acquired the newspaper from the Miller brothers. In 1922, Charles Clarence Curtis joined the paper's advertising department; he soon became the department's manager, and remained in the post until his death in 1960, in addition to pursuing a military career ion which he attained the rank of major general. A year following Trexler's death in 1933, David A. Miller returned to the newspaper. In 1935, ''The Morning Call'' acquired a competing Allentown newspaper, ''The Chronicle and News'', renaming it ''The Evening Chronicle''. In 1938, ''The Sunday Call-Chronicle'' was first published. In 1951, David A. Miller assumed the official title of president of the Call-Chronicle newspapers, maintaining that role until his death in 1958 at age 88. In September 1951, Miller's two sons, Donald and Samuel, were appointed the newspaper's publishers. After Samuel Miller's death in 1967, Donald P. Miller continued to run the newspaper along with his son Edward D. Miller, who was appointed executive editor and publisher in the late 1970s. In 1980, ''The Evening Chronicle'' ceased publication. The following year, in 1981, Edward D. Miller left the newspaper, and Donald P. Miller returned as its chairman. Bernard C. Stinner was appointed the newspaper's publisher and chief executive officer. In 1984, the newspaper was sold to the
Times Mirror Company The Times Mirror Company was an American newspaper and print media publisher from 1884 until 2000. History It had its roots in the Mirror Printing and Binding House, a commercial printing company founded in 1873, and the ''Los Angeles Times'' ...
. Gary K. Shorts was appointed the newspaper's publisher and chief executive officer in 1987. He was succeeded by Guy Gilmore in 2000. Susan Hunt was named publisher in June 2001. On December 30, 1996, an online service of the Morning Call began being published, titled ''mcall.com''.


21st century

In 2000, Times Mirror Company's media assets, including ''The Morning Call'', were acquired by
Tribune Media Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...
. In May 2021, ''The Morning Call'' was again acquired, this time by Alden Global Capital, a
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
based hedge fund, which already had acquired nearly a third of Tribune Media. The acquisition was opposed and then criticized by the guild representing journalists at the newspaper. In the first half of 2024 ''The Morning Call'' moved all online content behind a paywall.


Controversies


Rape and sexual assault allegations against columnist

In 2020, Paul Carpenter, a ''Morning Call'' bureau chief and ''Morning Call'' columnist for 25 years from 1984 until 2019, was sued by his daughter, who charged Carpenter with "repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting" her for a decade from age nine until age 19."Daughter of former columnist wants to add mother to civil suit over alleged sexual abuse"
WFMZ, August 18, 2021 and updated August 19, 2021


Rent arrears and headquarters closure

In 2020, the landlord for ''The Morning Call''s offices at 101 N. Sixth Street in
Center City Allentown Center City Allentown is the downtown and central business district of Allentown, Pennsylvania, the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It has a dense population and is currently undergoing an urban revitalization process. ...
sued ''The Morning Call'', alleging it had failed to pay rent for the headquarters for four consecutive months in April, May, June, and again in July 2020. On August 12, 2020, the newspaper's interim general manager Timothy Thomas sent an email to employees, announcing that ''The Morning Call'' was permanently closing its headquarters, which the newspaper had maintained for a century since 1920, as it searched "for ways to save money as advertising revenue dwindled." The newspaper's roughly 100 employees were asked in the email to "retrieve personal items from the office by September 15," the newspaper reported.


See also

* Media in the Lehigh Valley


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morning Call, The 1883 establishments in Pennsylvania Daily newspapers published in Pennsylvania Mass media in Allentown, Pennsylvania Publications established in 1883