The Fort Worth Star was founded in 1906 and merged with the Fort Worth Telegram in 1909 to become the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The newspaper bears a rich and colorful legacy tied to the Old West. Its founding publisher, Amon G. Carter Sr., was a renowned booster of Fort Worth and West Texas. In fact, the newspaper was known by a phrase that still resides on its masthead: “Where the West Begins.”
Under Carter’s leadership, the paper served 84 counties in Texas, some by stagecoach. In 1922, the paper began the first Fort Worth radio station, WBAP, “We Bring a Program.” The Star-Telegram also established the first television station in the southern half of the United States in 1948.
The paper was sold in 1974 to Capital Cities Communications, Inc. Under Capital Cities, which later became Capital Cities/ABC, Inc in 1986, the Star-Telegram won two Pulitzer Prizes. The first was in 1981 for photographer Larry Price’s photos of Liberian officials being slain by a firing squad. The second, 1985, was the coveted gold medal Pulitzer for meritorious public service. It was awarded for a news series that exposed a flaw in Bell helicopters that was a factor in numerous crashes over a 17-year period.
In the 1980s the Star-Telegram pioneered an electronic information service: StarText. The “electronic newspaper” started in 1982 and was available on a computer. Star-Telegram Operating, Ltd. was sold to Knight Ridder in 1997. McClatchy acquired the newspaper in 2006 with its acquisition of Knight Ridder.
About the Star-Telegram
808 Throckmorton Street,
Fort Worth, TX 76102-6315,
800-776-7827
Publisher: Sean Burke
Editor: Lauren Gustus
2014 Print Circulation
Daily: 198,747
Sunday: 279,218
2013 Digital Traffic:
Avg. Monthly Unique Visitors: 2.2 million
Avg. Monthly Page Views: 20.9 million