News 12 Then: Celebrating the founding of the Chattanooga Free Press

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – The history of Chattanooga’s daily newspaper took a lot of twists and turns over the years.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press is actually the combination of three separate papers.

In 1998, the city had two dailies, The Times and the News-Free Press.

But in 1999 they merged into the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Years earlier the Free Press gobbled up the Chattanooga News.

But this fall, the right side of the paper (the conservative leaning Free Press) can mark it’s 80th birthday.

Our story from the News 12 Archives takes us back to 1986, for the celebration of their 50th anniversary.

That’s when Lee Anderson and Roy McDonald were still running things.