The Redding Record Searchlight is a newspaper serving Redding, California. It has a daily print circulation of under 15,000 and has between 100,000 and 400,000 unique visitors per month to its news website, Redding.com.[3]
History
In December 1894, A. R. Bowen & Co. published the first issue of The Searchlight in Redding. At that time the morning newspaper was affiliated with the People's Party.[4] It's founder was M. E. Dittmar who owned the paper for five years.[5]
In October 1899, the paper was purchased by Mel G. Johnson and J. W. Brackett.[6] In 1905, Johnson sold his half-interest in The Searchlight to his business partner Brackett.[7] In 1909, Brackett retired and sold the paper to Herbert Lyle Moody,[8][9] who ran the paper for over a decade until selling it in 1925 to his son Herbert G. Moody.[10] At that time the Shasta Sun, owned by the younger Moody and founded 18 months prior, was absorbed into The Searchlight.[11][12] In 1936, he sold the paper to Walter H. Fink, owner of the Courier-Free Press.[13]
On October 17, 1938, the John P. Scripps Newspaper Group published the first edition of the afternoon newspaper Redding Record.[14][15] In April 1941, Scripps bought The Searchlight and Courier-Free Press from Fink and consolidated the three papers together to form the Redding Record Searchlight.[16]
In 2014, Scripps purchased Journal Media Group and transferred ownership of the Record Searchlight to the company.[17] It then sold the newspaper group in April 2016 to Gannett and the Record Searchlight became part of the USA Today network.[18] In May 2024, the newspaper announced it will switch from carrier to postal delivery.[19]
^"Three Redding Daily Papers Consolidated | John Scripps Buys W. H. Fink Interests, Merge With Record". The Sacramento Union. Sacramento, California. Associated Press. April 22, 1941. p. 3.
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