The Anchorage Times, founded with its city 77 years ago, rolled off the presses for the last time Wednesday.
Bill Allen, the newspaper's owner, announced Tuesday he had closed the paper and sold some of its assets to McClatchy Newspapers Inc., owner of the crosstown rival Anchorage Daily News.The closing reduced the number of American cities with competing newspapers to 60.
The two Anchorage papers had been locked in a bitter circulation war for 20 years, and Allen said he lost more than $10 million since buying the Times in 1989.
"It's a sad day and a good day," he said. "The way the economics are, it's real hard for two newspapers to make it economically."
About 67,000 copies of the final edition were printed to accommodate souvenir hunters. The normal daily press run was 54,000.
Wednesday's paper carried the banner headline "FAREWELL." Its front news section dedicated a full page to a letter from Allen to readers, and the editorial page included a farewell editorial and columns by five top editors.
The purchase price for the Times assets was not disclosed. A severance package equivalent to two months' wages was offered to Times employees, Allen said. The Times employed about 470 people.
Three Times editors will be retained to oversee a new op-ed feature in the Daily News that will continue the Times' generally pro-development editorial stance. The feature was included at Allen's insistence.