George James

• The Athens Banner-Herald's roots go back to the Athens Banner, first published on March 20, 1832, by Albon Chase and John Nisbet. In 1921, the Banner merged with the afternoon Herald, and was operated by Publisher Earl B. Braswell for the next 44 years. • In 1965, The Advertiser -- an Athens weekly published by local businessman Claude Williams -- was being converted to a daily newspaper to challenge the Banner-Herald. The owners knew that the Banner-Herald would be up for sale soon (because of a stipulation in the owner's will). On June 17, 1965, the first edition of the Athens Daily News rolled off the press. • Just 32 days later, William and Charles Morris, who owned newspapers in Augusta and Savannah, purchased the Banner-Herald, and they immediately made an offer to also purchase the Daily News, but were rebuffed, and a newspaper battle emerged between the morning Daily News and afternoon Banner-Herald. • But within a couple of years, the financial burden being carried by the owners of the Daily News forced them to sell the Daily News to the Morrises. The transaction was announced on Christmas Eve 1967. The papers continued to compete editorially, but eventually the staffs merged to provide content for both papers. • Athens Magazine, a bi-monthly full-color magazine featuring the people and places in Northeast Georgia, was started in spring 1989. • In June 1996, the papers started a Web site, originally called Athenaeum, which was changed to Online Athens in 1997. The site takes more than 5 million page views each month. • In May 2001, the afternoon Banner-Herald and morning Daily News were merged into one morning paper published under the Banner-Herald name. The paper is owned by Morris Communications Corp. of Augusta. Morris owns daily and non-daily newspapers along with several radio stations, magazines, an outdoor advertising company and several other media properties, stretching across the nation and into Europe.