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SUBURBAN SALT LAKE PAPERS STRUGGLED brought about the division of Utah State Press Association, a wound which required several years to heal. The last substantial attempt to create another paper in Ogden came in 1926 when William P. Epperson of Kaysville launched the Ogden Post. A weekly, it had the full title, Ogden Post and Theatre-Grams. It became the property of his son, Clyde, and son-in-law, Charles V. K. Saxton, after his death in 1930. They sold it early in 1934 to 0. 0. Davis, a Wyoming newsman, but competing with the established Standard-Examiner in a depression-era economy proved too formidable for the Post, which quietly expired. Ogden, however, has another newspaper, though it's not of general circulation, that has been quite successful. It's the Weber State Signpost, a tri-weekly publication on the campus of the university located within the city's boundaries. Established in 1939, the Signpost is, its masthead announces, "A student publication, written, edited and drafted by WSU students. " It is a member of Utah Press Association and its publisher, P. Larry Stahle, served as the 1992 president and was honored with the Master Editor and Publisher Award in 1995. A grandson of Hall of Fame newsman John Stahle, he was the owner of the Ephraim Enterprise and the Manti Messenger from 1960 until 1972. The most recent newspaper venture in Salt Lake and Davis counties was begun in 1981 by another grandson of the UPA founding member from Bountiful, R. Gail Stahle. At the time it was initiated, he was publisher of the daily Color Country Spectrum, based in St. George. A "TMC" (total market coverage) product, the Spectrum Newspaper was a free circulation publication mailed to approximately 265,000 households in the two counties. It began with marginal success but after 18 months' operation, its publisher had posted losses of $1.5 million. Ultimately, the instability of the metropolitan area paper caused "shock-wave" financial distress for its down-state namesake and in 1982 Stahle was forced to discontinue the suburban venture and begin the process which led to the 1984 sale of the southern Utah daily. A somewhat unique paper which has been on the Utah 131 |
