Daily Sun to close; Telegraph to expand Houston edition

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Posted 8:12AM on Saturday, January 4, 2003

WARNER ROBINS - Knight Ridder Inc. is shutting down The Daily Sun of Warner Robins and expanding the Houston County edition of The Macon Telegraph. The publisher of The Telegraph announced the plans Thursday. The Sun's final edition will be Feb. 1, ending 54 years of publication. The Telegraph's improved Houston County edition, to be launched Feb. 3, will feature increased military, education, business, government, high school sports and neighborhood news coverage. The moves follow the Nov. 5 newsroom merger of the Telegraph's Houston bureau and The Daily Sun. Knight Ridder, one of the nation's largest newspaper groups, owns both newspapers. ``We already feel at home in Houston County,'' said Telegraph publisher Jeanie Enyart. ``These changes are exciting and allow us to publish better newspapers that resonate with readers. We continue to improve both news coverage and advertising content.'' Enyart said the new Telegraph edition will retain a very local flavor. ``We took a comprehensive inventory of all unique aspects of The Daily Sun and made a conscious decision to retain or not retain,'' said Enyart. ``We looked at columnists, cartoons. We looked at everything.'' The Telegraph's Houston bureau will remain at its present site in Warner Robins. Enyart said the paper will invest $350,000 to upgrade its bureau and improve its presence in the area. Telegraph officials said fewer than 10 people will lose jobs because of the merger, and the company hopes to reduce that number by placing some of those people in other jobs within the Middle Georgia Newspaper Group. There will be no layoffs in the newsroom. The Sun, founded by former Warner Robins Mayor Foy Evans, first began as a weekly paper in 1949. It went to twice weekly in 1968 and became a daily in November of the following year. Evans sold The Sun in 1972. After ownership changed hands several times, Knight Ridder purchased the publication in 1997. The Daily Sun's circulation is 6,300 daily and 7,000 for the weekend edition. The Telegraph's circulation is 65,000 daily and 87,000 on Sundays.