LOUISIANA TELEVISION BROADCASTING

Advocate file photo

The current Advocate newspaper building, in this October 2005 photo, is located at 7290 Bluebonnet Blvd. in Baton Rouge. The newspaper moved from its Lafayette Street building on the completion of the renovation of the building in 2005.

The Advocate newspaper, WBRZ and their journalistic ancestors have been a vital force in Louisiana's capital city and the surrounding communities for more than 160 years.

The Advocate is a morning newspaper published Monday through Friday since 1925, and includes SATURDAY, published each Saturday morning, and the Sunday Advocate, a newspaper of hundreds of pages filled with news, sports, photos and in-depth features, published every Sunday morning. An Acadiana edition with news pertaining to Lafayette and the parishes of Acadiana is published daily throughout the week.

Advocate file photo

The previous Advocate newspaper building, in this Feb. 27, 2000 photo, was located at 525 Lafayette Street in Baton Rouge. The newspaper moved from its Florida Street building on the completion of the building in 1953.

The newspaper is owned by Capital City Press, founded in 1909 by Charles P. Manship Sr. and James Edmonds. Manship purchased his partner's interest in 1912, and today the publishing company is owned and operated by the founder's four grandchildren: David Manship, who is the publisher of The Advocate; Richard Manship, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capital City Press and Louisiana Television Broadcasting (WBRZ), and a member of the Capital City Press board of directors; Dina Manship Planche, a member of the board of directors; and Douglas Manship Jr., member of the board of directors.

As of 2004, The Advocate had a daily circulation of 97,920, and the Sunday Advocate a circulation of 123,759.

NEWS PRINCIPLE

Advocate file photo

Capital City Press, STAMA Building, 1906 to 1912, southeast corner of Florida and Lafayette Streets. In the background, with the painted wall: Capital City, is the subsequent home of the newspaper from 1912-1916. This building was later used by the Greyhound Bus Station and was destroyed by 1953 when the site was a parking lot. (Photo by Ewing, Inc., no date.)

That initial editorial established a policy that continues today - almost a century later.

Today's Advocate traces its publishing history back to The Democratic Advocate, a newspaper founded in 1842 with an agenda of defeating the local candidates of the rival Whig political party. The newspaper scene was in constant flux during the period of the Civil War, with newspapers, and editors in transition. The Louisiana Capitolian appeared in 1868, and soon merged with the re-named Weekly Advocate. By 1889 the Advocate was being published daily, and in 1904 a new owner, William Hamilton, renamed it The Baton Rouge Times, and the paper became The State-Times. The newly formed Capital City Press owned by Manship and Edmonds purchased the State-Times in 1909.

Advocate file photo

Capital City Press, STAMA Building, 1923-1938, located at 334 Florida St. The building was later used as the "Varsity Shop" and has been restored by attorney Danny McGlynn. (Photograph by Ewing, Inc.; dated May 5, 1923)

The State-Times, an afternoon publication with emphasis on local news, was published until October 1991, when television news, and the public's changing reading habits forced its closure. Capital City Press had created The Morning Advocate in 1925 to provide a growing population with an early edition of the news provided by the local reporting staff and wire services, a vital source of local, national and international information in those days prior to radio and television. The new publication was an immediate success, enjoying a wide circulation in the towns and rural communities surrounding Baton Rouge.

HUEY P. LONG ERA

During the turbulent era of the Huey P. Long leadership in the 1920s and 1930s, Charles Manship maintained the independence of his newspapers, continuing to publish an objective view of the news, and criticizing the administration on certain issues, despite extreme pressure, at times, from the Huey long forces.

Advocate file photo

Capital City Press, STAMA Building, 1938-1953, located at 352 Florida St. (Photograph by Francis Julais of the Rembrandt Studio.)

In 1934, Manship established WJBO, the first radio station in Baton Rouge, and the first of several media ventures that would eventually include an FM radio station, WFMF, and WBRZ-TV. (For a chronicle of WBRZ through the decades, read WBRZ History.)

From the beginning, the Manship family has played a direct role in the policy, operation and development of the Capital City Press publications. Charles Manship's son, Charles Manship Jr., became editor and publisher of the two newspapers on his father's death in 1947. Under his guidance, the publishing company grew. The newspaper moved from its Florida Street building on the completion of the building at 525 Lafayette St. in 1953. In 1970, Charles Manship Jr. became president of Capital City Press, and his only sibling, Douglas Manship Sr., became editor and publisher.

Advocate file photo

Doug Manship Jr. starts the presses at the Lafayette Street location in 1953. Next to Manship are his brothers, Richard Manship, center, and David Manship, right. Behind them is the pressroom superintendent Andrew Borne.

During Douglas Manship's leadership, the old hot-lead printing presses were replaced by a computerized production center at 6700 Bluebonnet Blvd., doubling its printing capacity with two 12-unit presses, along with the newest technology for inserting pre-printed advertising material and circulation needs. Also, the newspapers' coverage was expanded with the opening of news bureaus at Louisiana's nearby State Capitol and in Washington, D.C. News bureaus with staffs are also located in Lafayette, the Westside, the River Parishes, the Florida Parishes, Baker-Zachary and in New Orleans.

In 1989, David C. Manship, one of Douglas Manship's four children, was named associate publisher. After the closure of the State-Times in 1991, Douglas Manship Sr. became president of Capital City Press, and David Manship was named publisher. Charles Manship died in 1994.

In 1996, Douglas Manship Jr., who had worked as Capital City Press's correspondent in Washington, and later as news feature editor and editorial writer for the two newspapers, was named director of the company's newly formed online operations. Douglas Manship Sr. died in 1999. Later that year Douglas Manship Jr. became publisher of The Advocate.