Cowles Media Company

The Cowles Media Company was formed in 1935 when the Cowles family purchased the Minneapolis Star — the family and its patriarch Gardner Cowles Sr. previously owned the Des Moines Register. At that point Gardner Cowles Sr. handed control of the family's media business to his sons John Cowles Sr. and Gardner "Mike" Cowles Jr.[1] In 1939, the company purchased the Star' main competitor, the Minneapolis Evening Journal, merging them into the Star-Journal. The following year, the company bought the Minneapolis Tribune, giving it ownership of the major newspapers on the western side of the Twin Cities. The Tribune became Minneapolis' morning newspaper, the Star-Journal (shortened to the Star in 1947) was the evening newspaper, and they published a joint Sunday edition. A separate evening newspaper (the Times) was spun off, which published until 1948.[2][3]

They published Harper's Magazine from 1965 to 1980.

In 1955, Cowles entered television as majority owner of what is now KCCI in Des Moines, Iowa. Cowles became the station's sole owner shortly after its launch. Over the years, Cowles acquired several television stations in medium-sized markets. These stations were sold off by the mid-1980s.

In 1986, Cowles sold the Register and Tribune Syndicate to Hearst Communications for $4.3 million.[4]

The McClatchy Company purchased Cowles Media in 1998.[5] McClatchy kept the Star Tribune newspaper, which by then was the primary asset in the $1.4 billion deal, and sold the other business units to Primedia Inc. and to a management team.[6]

As of September 1971 Cowles Media's leader was John Cowles Jr. , Cowles Magazines (1946–1965), and Cowles Communications, Inc. (1965–1971),[7] run by Gardner Cowles Jr., John Jr.'s uncle. From 1969 to 1971 Cowles Communications sold Family Circle and other publications, retaining five broadcasting stations, a travel magazine, and a marketing service.[8] Look magazine (1937-1971) was published by an unrelated company[8] known as Look, Inc. (1937–1945).

Notes:

• ¹ Cowles also owned KHON-TV's satellite in Wailuku, KAII-TV. Another KHON-TV satellite, KHAW-TV in Hilo, was owned by a third party but leased to Cowles. The Hawaii stations were NBC affiliates under Cowles.
• ² Cowles owned a majority share of this station when it first signed on and became its sole owner shortly thereafter.

• Cowles Company
• King Features Syndicate
• Office of War Information
• Primedia
• Simba Information
• The Des Moines Register

• Cowles family archives at Drake University's Cowles Library