Montgomery Advertiser history

The newspaper began publication in 1829 as The Planter's Gazette.

By the turn of the century, the Advertiser was a major voice in the state.In 1903, R.F. Hudson, a young Alabama newspaperman, joined the staff of the Advertiser and began moving up through the ranks of the Company.

The first came in 1928 after the Advertiser waged war on the resurgent Ku Klux Klan.

In 1963, the newspapers were purchased by Carmage Walls as the largest property in his growing list of Southern newspapers.

Harold Martin, editor and publisher, won the Pulitzer in 1970 with a series that ran in both papers on drug experimentation in state prisons.

In 1975, the newspaper investigated the shooting of Bernard Whitehurt by police and wrote news stories that questioned the original police reports.

And in 1988, The Journal, under the leadership of publisher Dick Amberg and editors Bill Brown and Jim Tharpe, won the coveted award for its series on infant mortality in Alabama.

The Alabama Journal continued as a local afternoon paper until April 16, 1993, when it published its last issue before merging with the morning Advertiser.

The newspaper office moved in 2002 to new quarters at 425 Molton St The new office is in a building adjacent to the company's production and distribution facility.

In 2004, Wanda Lloyd became the Advertiser's first black executive editor.