The Olympian

For the novel by James Oppenheim, see The Olympian (novel).
The Olympian
The July 27, 2005 front page of
The Olympian
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)The McClatchy Company
Founder(s)John Miller Murphy
Founded1860 (as The Washington Standard)
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters400 Union Ave. SE, Suite 200
Olympia, WA 98501
United States
Circulation13,153 Daily
15,454 Sunday (as of 2020)[1]
ISSN0746-7575
OCLC number10253415
Websitetheolympian.com

The Olympian is a daily newspaper based in Olympia, Washington, in the United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company and publishes a daily printed edition.

History

Olympia was home to the first newspaper to be published in modern-day Washington, The Columbian (unrelated to the modern publication), which published its first edition on September 11, 1852.[2][3]

The Olympian started in 1860 as The Washington Standard, a weekly paper. It was founded by John Miller Murphy, and its first issue was released on November 17, 1860.[4] The paper became The Daily Olympian in February 1889 when it began publishing daily. Many people in Olympia still refer to The Olympian by its former name, or as "The Daily O."

The Daily Olympian and another Olympia newspaper, The Daily Recorder, merged in 1928.[5] The Daily Olympian moved from its original home, on Legion Way and Washington Street, to the Capitol Press Building at the corner of Capitol Way and State Avenue.

The Gannett Company purchased The Daily Olympian in 1971 and shortened its name to The Olympian in 1982.[6] The Olympian moved to its location at 111 Bethel Street in 1972.[5]

In September 2005, The Olympian was traded by Gannett Company, Inc., along with The Bellingham Herald and Boise newspapers, to Knight Ridder in exchange for the Tallahassee Democrat.[5] In 2006, Knight Ridder was acquired by The McClatchy Company.[7]

In June 2017, The Olympian announced that it would move to an office in downtown Olympia, on the corner of Legion Way and Franklin Street.[8] The building on Bethel Street was to be occupied by the Olympia School District's administrative office.[9]

In 2019, printing of the paper was moved to the press of The Columbian in Vancouver, Washington. Before that, it had been printed for many years in Tacoma on a press originally part of The News Tribune. The age of that press made it too costly to maintain.[10] Starting on Jan. 25, 2020, The Olympian ceased producing a printed newspaper on Saturdays and replaced it with expanded newspapers on Fridays and Sundays.[11]

In July 2023, The Olympian switched from delivering physical papers by local carrier to using the U.S. Mail.[12] In March 2024, the paper announced it would decrease the number of print editions to three a week starting May 6.[13]

Olympics trademark dispute

McClatchy submitted a trademark application for The Olympian in 2006, which was disputed by the United States Olympic Committee under the terms of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, amended in 1998, which gives the USOC exclusive control of various names derived from the name "Olympic Games". But the 1998 law makes an exception to protect businesses and services in Washington state that were not named for the Olympic Games, but rather the geographic locations sharing the name.[14] The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted The Olympian its requested trademark in 2011.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ "McClatchy | Markets". 2022-02-09. Archived from the original on 2022-02-19. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  2. ^ Katz, William A. (March 1963). "The Columbian: Washington Territory's First Newspaper". Oregon Historical Quarterly. 64 (1): 33–40. JSTOR 20612722.
  3. ^ Dougherty, Phil (September 2, 2017). "The Columbian, Washington's first newspaper, is published in Olympia on September 11, 1852". HistoryLink. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  4. ^ Himes, George H. (August 11, 1912). "John Miller Murphy Closes Long Career". The Sunday Oregonian. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c "About Us". The Olympian.
  6. ^ "Newspaper has colorful history". The Olympian. January 31, 2002. p. 39. Retrieved October 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Media shakeup: McClatchy to buy Knight Ridder". The Cascadia Advocate. March 13, 2006. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  8. ^ Demarest, Dusti. "Executive Editor". The Olympian. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  9. ^ "School Improvement Bond Projects". osd.wednet.edu. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  10. ^ Cockrell, Debbie; Kidd, Sue; Driscoll, Matt (February 3, 2019). "They stopped the presses. Printing of The News Tribune and The Olympian outsourced". The News Tribune. Archived from the original on February 10, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  11. ^ "The News Tribune, The Olympian to stop printing Saturday newspapers". FOX13 News | Seattle & Western Washington | Formerly Q13 News. 2019-10-23. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  12. ^ Demarest, Dusti (May 11, 2023). "Changes coming to The Olympian's print, digital products". The Olympian. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  13. ^ Demarest, Dusti (1 March 2024). "The Olympian to change print days as digital transition evolves". The Olympian. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  14. ^ Hill, Christian (October 6, 2009). "Newspaper trademark bid challenged by U.S. Olympic Committee". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on October 9, 2009. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  15. ^ Feder, J. Lester; Geidner, Chris (November 18, 2013). "International Olympic Committee Won't Challenge Russian Anti-Gay Broadcast Under Olympic Banner". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved January 19, 2022.