Capital Press: Ag news with a Capital A

Capital Press, the agricultural weekly based in Salem, started out in 1928 as the Hollywood Press, named for a pastoral section of North Salem. The founder was A.M. Church. Four years later, the paper became Capital Press and called itself a statewide weekly paper.

In 1946, Church sold the paper to Henry Hanzen, a Portland lawyer, and Dewey A. Rand Sr., a native of Baker County and Portland insurance agent who had been active in Democratic politics in the 1930s. In that post-World War II time, Rand and Hanzen focused Capital Press more and more on the diverse, small-scale agriculture of the Willamette Valley and built a thriving classified ad business.

Rand eventually bought out Hanzen and officially retired in 1985 at age 86.

Rand’s son, Dewey A. Rand Jr., joined Capital Press in 1955 and worked in all phases of the paper — advertising, circulation, reporting and editorial writing. He eventually succeeded his father as publisher. With his longtime general manager, Bill Anderson, Dewey Jr. stretched Capital Press coverage into the Washington side of the Columbia Basin and, in the late 1980s, into Idaho.

Whereas Dewey Sr. was known as crusty and highly opinionated, Dewey Jr. spread good cheer throughout the newspaper’s territory. He started college scholarships for agriculture students at Oregon State University, Washington State Univeristy, University of Idaho and University of California at Davis as well as support for FFA, 4-H, Ag in the Classroom and other aspects of the industry.

In 1991, Dewey Jr. sold the paper to the Forrester and Aldrich families of the East Oregonian Publishing Co. Mike Forrester became the editor of the Capital Press in 1990, leaving his post as editor of the East Oregonian. He then became publisher a few years later. Rand died in 1998. Mike Forrester retired in 2003 and Elaine Shein became publisher and editor.

The Capital Press, which underwent an extensive building remodeling two years ago, has operated from a site in North Salem since 1963. Before that, the plant was downtown. The ag paper had its own press until about 1980, but growth in pages moved the Rands to start contracting with the Statesman Journal for printing.

Today, Capital Press goes to almost 40,000 subscribers in nearly every state. Of that 40,000, some 20,000 are in Oregon, some 12,000 are in Washington, about 3,000 are in Idaho, and nearly 4,000 are in California. The staff replates at least the first five pages four times a week. One edition goes to subscribers in Western Oregon and Western Washington, one to Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington, one to Idaho, and one to California. A California edition was started in the early ‘90s.

Capital Press has about 50 employees, 13 of whom live and work outside of Salem in the four states. News reporters are based in Sedro-Wooley, Ellensburg and Spokane, Wash., in Boise and Twin Falls, Idaho, in Medford, and in Sacramento. Their news stories and photos are supplemented with those of dozens of free-lance journalists. Ad sales reps are based in Seattle, Spokane, the Tri-Cities and Boise and in California. After an ad sales rep retired recently in California, the paper hired two ad reps: one in Sacramento and one in the Fresno area.

Staff members have wrestled with the Capital Press name because of its lack of reference to agriculture. In opinion surveys, they have found that the name can be a hindrance in first-time sales, but those who subscribe or advertise accept the name.