It is a joint venture between Capital Newspapers and Lee Enterprises that produce the digital-only Capital Times (also known as Cap Times) in Madison, Wisconsin (NYSE: LEE). Depending on the year, The Capital Times used to print a paper edition from Monday through Saturday. With the April 26, 2008 edition, the print version was no longer published daily (Monday–Saturday). While still printing a weekly tabloid, it transitioned to a digital-only operation. It is delivered along with the Wisconsin State Journal and available for pick-up from racks all over Madison on Wednesdays.
For a long time:
They began daily publication on December 13, 1917, the same day as the Wisconsin State Journal. After the Wisconsin State Journal, the Capital Times quickly rose to the occasion. As the State Journal’s managing editor and business manager, William T. Evjue was responsible for overseeing the newspaper’s operations. They were fans of Robert La Follette, a man Evjue regarded as a role model. Since he refused to go to war, the pro-war State Journal abandoned La Follette. In response to this development, he left the State Journal and founded The Capital Times, a more liberal publication. The newspaper’s motto was “Wisconsin’s Advanced Newspaper”.
Because Evjue was an anti-war La Follette supporter, many assumed that the new paper was pro-German. As a result, almost immediately after publication, advertising in The Capital Times was prohibited. Evjue went door-to-door selling $1 memberships to ward residents to discourage them from boycotting. Advertisers could resume their support of the journal once its readership surpassed 10,000 in 1919. The Sunday version was in existence for a time but only began publication in November 1927. the La Follette family-owned The Progressive, a left-leaning journal published in the early 1920s by the Capital Times.
Competition
There was a energetic rivalry among the Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times until 1948, when they couldn’t repair their aging equipment. It was only after a long battle for advertising and circulation between the newspapers that they agreed to unite in the hopes of saving both publications. Madison Newspapers, Inc. ( known as Capital Newspapers) was created on November 15, 1948, by Lee Originalities, the owner of the Wisconsin State Journal, and Evjue’s Capital Times Company, the owner of the Capital Times, following contentious negotiations.
On February 1, 1949, the Wisconsin State Journal became the partnership’s only Sunday newspaper when printing in the mornings.
The Capital Times continues to print on weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
The Evjue Foundation:
Because William T. Evjue died in 1970, the Evjue Foundation, set up a few years earlier to make minor gifts for charitable causes, received the majority interest in the company. Funds left in wills “must be used for organizations exemplifying [the] ideas he championed throughout his lifetime,” according to a section of The Capital Times ‘ website dedicated to the Foundation’s past. Residents of Dane County should be able to live happier lives. Capital Times Company became a key shareholder in The Capital Times Company when it bought the Evjue Foundation’s bequest (worth $13,450). Since it was founded, it has given out more than $70 million in grants.
