EDWARD WYLLISS SCRIPPS

(1854-1926),

Youngest half-brother of James E. Scripps: E. W. and his wife Nackie Holtsinger, whom he married in 1885.

Residence: Miramar Ranch in San Diego. The main house, now known as Scripps Castle, was completed in 1898. Originally 400 acres, the ranch expanded to 2,100 acres in the 1930’s. The main house included 47 rooms and a 32 room bunkhouse for servants. Today the ranch is divided between the community or neighborhood of 20,000 + residents known as Scripps Miramar Ranch and the Marine Corps Miramar Naval Air Station, home of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School and the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program (popularly known as “TOP GUN” ).

Founded UNITED PRESS (UP) news wire service, rival US news wire service to THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (AP) in 1907. In 1909 The UP merged with the Hearst owned International News Service and changed its name to UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL (UPI). E. W. Scripps founded the United Press because he did not believe that a news wire service should restrict who could purchase news from a wire service to only member newspapers.
Chairman of the Board E.W. Scripps Publishing and Scripps-Howard Broadcasting

Scripps Publishing Company (now the The E.W. Scripps Company) newspapers:

• Founded by Edward W. Scripps with John Scripps Sweeney in 1878 with $10,000 borrowed from the Detroit Evening News…..CLEVELAND (Penny) PRESS
• 1883 CINCINNATI (Penny) POST acquired from brother James E. Scripps
• Then the move to the west coast: starts the SAN DIEGO SUN in 1892
• expands starting newspapers in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago (Journal?), San Francisco, Denver (Rocky Mountain News), Philadelphia, Dallas, and Nashville, and many more.

Scripps through its broadcast division Scripps-Howard developed major market television stations in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, and other markets as well as a large presence in cable television with a partnership with Telecommunication, Inc. (TCI) and a number of cable programming channels.

NOTE: On April 1, 2015, Scripps merged its broadcast operations with those of Journal Communications (formerly The Milwaukee Journal Company, founded 1882) and the two companies spun off their respective newspapers to form a new public company, Journal Media Group. Through the transactions Scripps nearly doubles its television station portfolio and re-enters radio, acquiring 34 radio stations. It also marks the exit of the newspaper business after 137 years. Next, Scripps sold all 34 radio stations in 2018 and purchased more local television stations in Texas and Florida increasing its television station portfolio to 60 stations serving 42 markets. In addition, on January 7, 2021, Scripps acquired the ION television news and entertainment network becoming the nation’s largest holder of broadcast spectrum and creating a new national networks business. The E. W. Scripps trust is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

NOTE: Charles Edward Scripps, a grandson of E. W. Scripps, who resided in Cincinnati, Ohio, became Chairman of the E.W. Scripps Corporation. He was a first cousin to Edward W. Scripps, Jr., Chairman of the smaller Scripps League of Newspapers,
The Scripps League of Newspapers was a separate media company built by Ed and Betty Scripps. The flagship newspaper was the Provo (Utah) Daily Herald. In total the League operated over twenty small town daily newspapers all over the country with a combined daily paid subscriptions of over 220,000 plus a number of weekly shoppers. The Edward Scripps lived at Eagle Hill Farm in Charlottesville, Virginia.
For more on the development of the Scripps League of small town newspapers as founded by Edward W. Scripps, Jr. and his wife Betty, see SCRIPPS THE DIVIDED DYNASTY, A History of the First Family of American Journalism, by Jack Casserly, 1993, New York, Donald I. Fine, Inc. ISBN 1-55611-378-1.

Edward W. Scripps died in 1926 at sea on his yacht, the “Ohio”, off the coast of Liberia, Africa, after a world circumnavigation voyage. He was buried at sea.