The Roanoke Times

The Roanoke Times

The July 27, 2005 front page of The Roanoke Times
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner	Landmark Media Enterprises
Publisher	Debbie Meade
Editor	Carole Tarrant
Founded	1886
Headquarters	201 West Campbell Avenue Roanoke, Virginia 24010-2491  United States
Circulation	97,000 Morning 106,000 Sunday[1]
Official website	roanoke.com

The Roanoke Times is the primary newspaper in Southwestern Virginia and is based in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It is published by Landmark Media Enterprises. The Roanoke Times has an office in Richmond, Virginia, and maintains a bureau in Christiansburg, covering the eastern New River Valley and Virginia Tech.

According to Scarborough’s “Ranker Report,” produced every six months, The Roanoke Times ranks first in the country in terms of percentage of adults reading a newspaper on weekdays in that newspaper's coverage area.

On January 3, 2008, it was reported that the family-owned Landmark Communications, parent company of the Times, may be for sale.^[2] A subsequent sale by Landmark Communications of its wildly successful Weather Channel gave rise to reports that the rest of the parent company of The Roanoke Times might be dismembered.

History

Started in the late 1800s, earlier paper names included Big Lick, Roanoke Leader 1882 -1886 "Roanoke Times" started 1889, "Roanoke Evening News" 1903 - 1912 name changed to "Roanoke World News" 1913 - 1991 From 1991^[3], the newspaper was known as The Roanoke Times & World-News. Prior to 1991, the morning Roanoke Times and the afternoon Roanoke World-News published separate editions.

Notable stories

As the major daily newspaper for Roanoke and much of Southwest Virginia, The Roanoke Times has extensively covered news events from the area that have gained national media exposure. Some examples include:

• International Marketing & Engineering Inc., investigated by The Roanoke Times, 1979, subsequently featured by Harry Reasoner in a CBS 60 Minutes report on the company engaged in deceptive sales practices, whose officers were later sentenced to federal prison. The Roanoke Times was awarded the Virginia Press Association's W. S. Copeland Award for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service, its highest, for the investigation.
• The November 4, 1985, flood that caused extensive damage around Roanoke and left 10 people dead.
• The September 22, 2000, shooting at the Backstreet Cafe in downtown Roanoke motivated by the assailant's hatred of the establishment's gay and lesbian clientele.
• The April 16, 2007, shooting at Virginia Tech, which claimed 32 lives.
• The February, 2008 resignation of Roanoke City councilman Alfred Dowe. Dowe resigned after The Roanoke Times obtained documents showing the he billed taxpayers twice for some of the nearly $15,000 he spent in 2007 on meals and travel.

Notable writers, columnists and editors

• Bill Brill, writer and columnist 1956-1991, sports editor 1960-1991
• Ben Beagle, columnist
• John Walter Eure, longtime 20th-century editor 1946-77

New River Valley Current

The Roanoke Times also publishes The New River Valley Current, a daily insert to the Roanoke Times distributed in the New River Valley communities of Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Montgomery County, Virginia.

References

1. ^ "Landmark Metro Newspapers: The Roanoke Times". Landmark Communications, Inc.. http://www.landmarkcom.com/businesses/publishing.php#roanoke. Retrieved 2006-11-14. 
2. ^ "Battens may sell The Roanoke Times' parent company". The Roanoke Times. 2008-01-03. http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/145644. Retrieved 2008-01-03. 
3. ^ Roanoke Public Library VARoom

External links

• The Roanoke Times