Rapid City Journal

Rapid City Journal
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner(s)	Lee Enterprises
Publisher	Ben Rogers
Editor	A.J. Etherington
Managing editor	Nathan Thompson
Founded	5 January 1878; (as the Black Hills Journal)
Language	English
Headquarters	507 Main Street; Rapid City, South Dakota 57701; USA
Circulation	15,557 Daily (as of 2023)
Sister newspapers	Chadron (Neb.) Record
ISSN	1079-3410
OCLC number	2250546
Website	rapidcityjournal.com

The Rapid City Journal (formerly the Black Hills Journal and the Rapid City Daily Journal) is the daily newspaper of Rapid City, South Dakota. As of 2021, it is the largest newspaper in South Dakota by total subscriptions, according to the United States Postal Service Statement of Ownership and the South Dakota Newspaper Association. It covers Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The newspaper also publishes two special supplements: the Sturgis Rally Daily, which is published during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally; and Compass, which is the weekly shoppers tab.

The Rapid City Journal Media Group also publishes one weekly newspaper, The Chadron Record in Chadron, Nebraska. Nathan Thompson is the executive editor and Mark Dykes is the managing editor of The Chadron Record.

History

The Rapid City Journal began on January 5, 1878, as the Black Hills Journal. Publisher Joseph P. Gossage produced the first edition of the Black Hills Journal, which was four pages and had 250 subscribers. Printed in a log cabin on Rapid Street, the first newspaper was laboriously cranked out on a Washington hand printing press.

The newspaper printed its first daily paper and changed its name to the Rapid City Daily Journal on February 2, 1886. It continued to publish as both a daily and a weekly newspaper until 1929.

It has acted as a historical record for western South Dakota, covering major events like the 1972 Black Hills flood, the annual Buffalo Roundup and auction in Custer State Park, Crazy Horse Memorial's annual volksmarch, and the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. As of January 2022, Ben Rogers is the publisher and A.J. Etherington is the executive editor. For the newsroom, Nathan Thompson is the managing editor.

Starting June 13, 2023, the print edition of the newspaper will be reduced to three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Also, the newspaper will transition from being delivered by a traditional newspaper delivery carrier to mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.^[2]

Publishers

Joseph P. Gossage - January 1878 to April 1925
Alice Gossage - April 1925 to June 1925
Charles Mitchell - June 1925 to April 1926
E.F. "Ted" Lusk - June 1925 to April 1939
R.W. Hitchcock - April 1939 to February 1961
Jean Hitchcock Mitchell - February 1961 to December 1964
Willis Brown - December 1964 to September 1968
Joyce A. Swan September 1968 to May 1971
James W. "Rusty" Swan - May 1971 to November 1985
David C. Sharp - November 1985 to April 1993
Loretta Lynde - May 1993 to September 1994
John Van Strydonck - October 1994 to September 2000
Bill Masterson, Jr. - September 2000 to September 2006
Rosanne Cheeseman - November 2006 to October 2007
Brad Slater - October 2007 to June 2011
Shannon Brinker - November 2011 to May 2017
Eugene Jackson - May 2017 to March 2018
Matthew Tranquill - January 2019 to January 2021
Bill Masterson, Jr. - January 2021 to January 2022
Ben Rogers - January 2022 to present

References

^ Lee Enterprises. "Form 10-K". investors.lee.net. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
^ Etherington, A. J. (2023-05-13). "Your expanded Rapid City Journal coming soon". Rapid City Journal. Retrieved 2023-07-19.