From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Chino Champion
Chino Champion
Chino Champion After Rhodes sold the Champion in 1906 to become a
Chino Hills Champion banker, two important changes were made. "Valley" was
Type Weekly newspaper dropped from the title and an electric motor was hooked
Format Broadsheet up to the 13x19 Peerless Press, taking advantage of the
electrification of the town.
Owner Champion Publications of Chino, Inc. Ralph Homan, who operated a local store with his fa-
(Champion Newspapers
Champion Newspapers)
ther, bought the newspaper in 1909. He installed a new
Publisher Bruce Wood Babcock flatbed press and brought in automatic typeset-
Allen P. McCombs (Publisher Emeritus and ting equipment that took much of the labor out of the
Chairman) production.
Editor Mel Ewald In 1920, Homan went into law, selling to a Nebraska
newspaperman, Elmer Howell Sr. Howell was later joined
Founded November 11, 1887
by his brother-in-law, Charles Frady, and then by nephew
Headquarters 13179 Ninth Street E.R. (Bob) Frady, who was the editor until 1949. The
Chino, California 91710 Champion published twice a week in the 1920s.
United States Between 1949 and 1956, the Champion had three sets
Circulation 42,600 of publishers. A larger flatbed press, called a No. 1 Meihle,
was purchased.
Official ChampionNewspapers.com
In 1956, Allen P. McCombs came to town, right out of
website
navy service. The young college-educated outsider from
The Chino Champion along with the Chino Hills Champion
Champion, Champion, Berkeley completed 50 years as editor and publisher on
is a weekly newspaper serving the Chino Valley area of October 1, 2006. In 1958, a weekly Shopping News was pub-
Southern California. The Champion is a legally adjudicated lished on Wednesday and sent to non-subscribers. The
general interest newspaper publishing local Chino Valley Champion continued to publish on Thursday. The need for
news and advertising. speedier printing led to the purchase of a used roll-fed
The Champion publishes every Saturday morning and Duplex press that printed and folded eight pages at once.
is zoned into Chino and Chino Hills editions to meet the During the 1960s, to keep up with trends in the newspa-
needs of the residents of both cities. The newspaper is de- per industry, the Champion converted from "hot type" to
livered by carriers and by mail to subscribers and others offset. By 1970, the Duplex had been scrapped and the
reaching over 90% of Chino Valley homes. Copies are al- printing was "farmed out" to a larger printing firm in
so available for sale at newsstands and stores throughout Riverside.
the Chino Valley. Less than a year later two-thirds of the building was
gutted by fire, started by a Molotov cocktail thrown dur-
ing a period of ethnic strife. The Champion continued
History publication from temporary quarters until a fast-working
Richard Gird, the founder of the City of Chino, also found- local contractor had the building repaired four months
ed the Champion in 1887. John Wasson, the first editor, later.
put out the first issue of the Champion Valley Champion on The community was doubling in population every 10
Nov. 11, 1887. Wasson later wrote, "The first number ap- years. The opening of the Pomona Freeway brought new
peared before there was but one dwelling north of Chi- business. In 1972, the Chino Valley News was put out on
no Creek, and only four or five other buildings, including Wednesday and sent to everybody. The paid-subscription
barns." Mr. Wasson ran 600 to 2000 copies a week. This Champion was moved to Friday. In 1978, the South Ontario
was tough work, because each piece of type had to be set News was started, and in 1980, a Sunday Champion was
by hand. Two pages were printed at a time on a foot-pow- published, but it lasted only eight months. In 1988, the
ered press. Chino Hills News was added, three years before the new
On the Champion’s tenth birthday, its second owner city incorporated.
and publisher, Edwin Rhodes, wrote, "it is a veritable fact The disappearance of the hometown weekly from the
that in the case of Chino a newspaper was started and the Southern California scene led the Champion to strengthen
town built around it." its position. On August 4, 1994, the Champion combined
its paid and free newspapers into the once a week Chino
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Chino Champion
and Chino Hills editions, distributed on Thursday to On October 7, 2006, McCombs announced he had
everybody. named his co-publisher, Bruce Wood, as publisher of
This delivery was changed to Saturday in 1999 to ac- Champion Newspapers. He would be stepping down as
commodate a new classified ad linkup with the Press En- publisher after 50 years. He would remain active in the
terprise of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, which newspaper, however, as Publisher Emeritus and Chair-
was now printing the Champion. man of Champion Publications of Chino, Inc., the parent
In 2000, Bruce M. Wood, a former Champion general company. He commented that "Mr. Wood has the desire
manager, returned as co-publisher. By 2002, the Champion to continue the concept of local control and community
had grown significantly in advertising and income. service that this newspaper has had since its founding by
The prepress production of the Champion evolved Richard Gird in 1887."
again in July 2004 when it converted to digital pagina- The Champion is one of the few independent weekly
tion. Over a period of several weeks, the Champion con- newspapers left in Southern California, and one of the
verted to digital output of pages using computers and largest. As a result, Chino Valley is one of the few com-
new software and delivered them electronically to the munities to have a hometown newspaper devoted to lo-
printer with a high speed internet connection. cal news and community affairs, a situation that was
Due to press capacity limitations, the printing of the widespread forty years ago.
Champion was switched from the Press-Enterprise to the
San Bernardino Sun/USA Today printing facility in April
2005. This allowed for an increase in the use of full color
External links
photography in the presentation of news and advertis- • Champion Newspapers website
ing. Total circulation had reached nearly 42,800 homes by • Newspaper profile at the California Newspaper
October 2006. Publishers Association
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chino_Champion&oldid=333046691"
Categories:
• Californian newspaper stubs
• Newspapers published in California
• San Bernardino County, California
• Weekly newspapers published in the United States
• Publications established in 1887
• Chino, California
• Chino Hills, California
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