Times Union Center
200px
Former names	Knickerbocker Arena (1990–1997) Pepsi Arena (1997–2007)
Location	51 South Pearl StreetAlbany, NY 12207
Coordinates	42°38′55″N 73°45′17″W / 42.64861°N 73.75472°W / 42.64861; -73.75472Coordinates: 42°38′55″N 73°45′17″W / 42.64861°N 73.75472°W / 42.64861; -73.75472
Broke ground	February 5, 1987
Opened	January 30, 1990
Owner	Albany County
Operator	SMG
Surface	Multi-surface
Construction cost	$69.4 million ($123 million in 2012 dollars[1]) $1.6 millon (2010 renovation)($1.71 million in 2012 dollars[1])
Architect	Crozier Associates
Structural engineer	Clough Harbour & Associates
General Contractor	Beltrone/MLB
Capacity	15,357 (concerts) 15,229 (basketball) 14,236 (hockey) 13,785 (arena football) 17,500 (max)
Tenants
Albany Firebirds (AFL) (1990–2000) New York Kick (NPSL) (1990–1991) Albany Choppers (IHL) (1990–1991) Albany River Rats (AHL) (1993–2010) Siena Saints (MAAC) (1997–present) Albany Attack (NLL) (2000–2003) Albany Conquest (AF2) (2002–2008) Albany Firebirds (AF2) (2009) Albany Devils (AHL) (2010-present)

The Times Union Center is an indoor arena, located in Albany, New York, that can fit from 6,000-17,500 people, with a maximum seating capacity of 15,500, for sporting events.

The building, designed by Crozier Associates, engineered by Clough Harbour & Associates and built by Beltrone/MLB at a cost of $69.4 million.

The arena also has 25 luxury suites, each having 16 seats, cable T.V., private bathroom, and private refrigerator, and are located at the top of the inner bowl. Suites are rented on a three-year lease basis (suites are currently sold out).

The arena was opened on January 30, 1990 as the Knickerbocker Arena, with a performance by Frank Sinatra.^[2]

The naming rights of the arena were sold to Pepsi in 1997 and it was known as Pepsi Arena from 1997-2006.

In May 2006, the naming rights were sold to the Times Union, a regional newspaper, and the name of the arena became the Times Union Center on January 1, 2007.

The building is managed by SMG.

It is within walking distance from the city's Greyhound bus station, as well as being close to hotels, bars and restaurants.

Current tenants include Siena College's men's basketball team and the Albany Devils, of the AHL.

Previous tenants have included the Albany Firebirds (formerly Albany Conquest), of af2, the Albany Firebirds, of the AFL, the Albany Patroons, of the CBA, the Albany Choppers, of the IHL, the Albany River Rats, of the AHL, the Albany Attack, of the NLL and the New York Kick, of the NPSL II.

The University at Albany has used the facility for past games against Syracuse University and has been approached to use the facility for some dates in the future in the wake of their participation in the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.

The Times Union Center also regularly hosts exhibition games of major sports leagues.

The NBA, WNBA and NHL have all played games at the arena.

With the New Jersey Devils' AHL franchise relocating to this arena in the summer of 2010, the arena received a new scoreboard, LED ribbons above the luxury suites and new outside lighting, as well as an upgraded home team locker room.

AHL Hockey[link]

On April 24, 2008 the longest hockey game in the 72 year history of AHL Hockey took place at Times Union Center. The marathon lasted 8 hours, 33 minutes & 36 seconds as the Philadelphia Phantoms defeated the Albany River Rats 3-2. In the process, River Rats goaltender Michael Leighton set a modern day record by making 98 saves.

College Sports[link]

The Times Union Center hosts the ECAC Hockey championships every March and is often home to the annual Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference basketball tournament (1990–96, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008–10).

The Times Union Center's atrium

In 2003, the Times Union Center hosted the NCAA basketball East Regional, which was won by Syracuse University on their way to their first national championship. The arena also hosted the first and second rounds of the 1995 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament as the Knickerbocker Arena.

In 2008, the Times Union Center hosted the NCAA ice hockey East Regional tournament. The arena has hosted ice-hockey regionals in even-numbered years since 2004 and is scheduled to host again in 2010, which will be the eighth time the East Regional has been held at the site.

In 2000, the Times Union Center hosted a regional quarterfinal between St. Lawrence University and Boston University, which went into quadruple overtime; becoming the longest game in the history of the tournament and the second longest game in Division I men's college hockey history (it is currently the third longest game).

The Times Union Center also hosted the Frozen Four on two occasions, in 1992 (as Knickerbocker Arena) when Lake Superior State University defeated Wisconsin for the national championship, and again in 2001 as the Pepsi Arena when Boston College defeated North Dakota.

Music[link]

The Times Union Center and its parking garage, as viewed from the Empire State Plaza. The 1997-2006 Pepsi Arena signage is visible in this photo.

View of the TU Center from Pearl Street

Since its opening show, starring Frank Sinatra on January 30, 1990,^[3] the Times Union Center has become a popular concert venue, due to its proximity to larger cities like New York, Boston, and Montreal, where concert tickets tend to sell out faster.

The open parking lots near the arena provide an excellent tailgating area for fans before the show.

In 1990, The Grateful Dead recorded their 1996 release, Dozin' at the Knick, at the arena.

Notable Capacity Sellouts[link]

• Billy Joel - Record 9 straight times since 1990. A banner hanging from the rafters commemorates this.
• Billy Joel & Elton John
• Bruce Springsteen
• U2
• Phish
• Aerosmith - Only band to sellout arena in same year on two different tours (1998)
• Dave Matthews Band
• Grateful Dead - Hold record for most concerts played at arena (13) between 1990 & 1995.
• Pearl Jam
• Green Day
• Luciano Pavarotti - Highest single event gross revenue (1999)
• Red Hot Chilli Peppers
• Garth Brooks - The fastest gross income for any event when 51,000 tickets were sold in less than three hours for his 1997 three-day appearance. 283 tickets per minute.
• 2003 NCAA Men's Basketball East Regional - Syracuse, Auburn, Oklahoma & Butler.

Professional Wrestling[link]

The Arena has held numerous professional wrestling events and moments. Promotions such as the World Wrestling Federation has visited the arena quite often. From 1990-1998 189,833 WWF fans have walked through the Times Union Center doors. Three superstars won their first WWF Championship in this arena. 1992's Royal Rumble took place here, with an attendance of 16,307. The event is considered one of the most notable events in WWF History as Ric Flair went for almost an hour to win the Rumble, and claim the WWF Championship for the first time.

In 1999 the then Pepsi Arena, Stone Cold Steve Austin had a beer truck driven down the ramp to the ring and sprayed Vince McMahon, The Rock, and Shane McMahon with beer.

In 2000, the Pepsi Arena hosted the World Wrestling Federation's No Mercy, notable for the return of Steve Austin to active competition after being injured at the hands of Rikishi. This show also featured Kurt Angle winning the WWF Championship for the first time, defeating the Rock. The show was also sold-out with an attendance of 14,342

In 2002, the newly renamed World Wrestling Entertainment hosted the Tour of Defiance and in 2003 the WWE recorded a historic episode of SmackDown when the Undertaker took on the Big Show and Brock Lesnar in a handicap match. Also featured the return of Too Cool (Scotty 2 Hotty & Rikishi).

Edge also won his first WWE Championship in January 2006, when it hosted New Year's Revolution after cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on John Cena. The attendance was 11,000.

On August 28, 2007 the Times Union Center held the first live televised ECW on Sci Fi accompanied by the first WWE SmackDown taping after WWE Summerslam 2007. The SmackDown taping featured the return of Rey Mysterio to SmackDown after a knee injury. WWE Smackdown also had a double taping, on November 25, 2008 where it featured The Undertaker facing The Big Show in a Steel Cage match.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling held their first live event at the arena on September 7, 2008.

On September 28, 2009, WWE Monday Night Raw was held there with guest host, Al Sharpton. The show returned again on December 27, 2010 at the Times Union Center.

On April 12, 2011, WWE Friday Night SmackDown was once again held at the Times Union Center just one week after WrestleMania XXVII. It is also here where Edge vacated his World Heavyweight title, the day after he announced on WWE Monday Night Raw that he is forced to retire due to a career threatening injury.

Other Events[link]

The PBR hosted a Built Ford Tough Series event at the arena in January 2008.

In the Center's only tennis event, Andre Agassi played John McEnroe just three days after Agassi won the U.S. Open in 1994.

The New York State Democratic Convention nominated First Lady Hillary Clinton as the U.S. Senate candidate at their statewide convention at Times Union Center on May 16, 2000. Her husband, former President of the United States Bill Clinton, attended the event.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Media related to Times Union Center at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Albany, New York History General History (Prehistory–1664, 1664–1784, 1784–1860, 1860–1900, 1900–1942, 1942–1983, 1983–present) Architecture National Register of Historic Places listings 17th century Mohawks Mahicans Dutch West India Company (1621–1791) Fort Nassau (1614) Fort Orange (1624) Rensselaerswijck (1629–1840) Beverwijck (1652–1664) Stadt Huys (1635, 1646, or 1673) Fort Frederick (1676–1789) Dongan Charter (1686) 18th century Van Ostrande-Radliff House (1728) Quackenbush House (1736) Albany Plan of Union (1754) Schuyler Mansion (1765) 19th century Clermont (1807) Erie Canal (1825) Albany Basin (1825) Albany Lumber District (1830s–1908) City Hall (1832) Governor's Mansion (1856) City Hall (1883) New York State Capitol (1899) 20th century Albany Municipal Airport (1908) Miss Albany Diner (1941) W. Averell Harriman State Office Building Campus (1956–1994) Albany County Airport (1960) Empire State Plaza (1965–1978) Times Union Center (1990) Albany International Airport (1996–1998) 21st century Hudson River Way (2002) Albany Convention Center (proposed) Government Mayor of Albany (current: Gerald Jennings) Albany City Hall Coat of arms See also: Government of New York Neighborhoods Arbor Hill Buckingham Pond Center Square Delaware Avenue Dudley Heights Dunes Eagle Hill Helderberg Hudson-Park Melrose New Albany Normansville North Albany Park South Pine Hills Sheridan Hollow South End (Kenwood, Krank Park, Mansion District, Mount Hope, The Pastures, Second Avenue) University Heights Washington Park West Hill Whitehall People Thomas Dongan (1634–1715) Peter Schuyler (1657–1724) Erastus Corning (1794–1872) Daniel P. O'Connell (1885–1977) Erastus Corning 2nd (1909–1983) John McEneny (1943–present) Geography Land Albany Pine Bush Westerlo Island Water Buckingham Lake Hudson River (Valley) Normans Kill Patroon Creek Rensselaer Lake Tivoli Lake Washington Park Lake Education Secondary Academy of the Holy Names The Albany Academy Albany Academy for Girls Albany Free School Bishop Maginn High School City School District of Albany (Albany High School) LaSalle School See also: List of school districts in New York's Capital District Higher Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Albany Law School Albany Medical College College of Saint Rose Excelsior College Maria College Mildred Elley Sage College of Albany SUNY Albany See also: List of colleges and universities in New York's Capital District Religion Episcopal Diocese of Albany (Cathedral of All Saints, Bishop William Love) Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany (Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Bishop Howard Hubbard) Culture Culture in New York's Capital District Sports in New York's Capital District Transportation Adirondack Northway Albany–Rensselaer Rail Station Albany International Airport CDTA Interstate 87 Interstate 90 Interstate 787 New York State Thruway Port of Albany–Rensselaer Streets of Albany, New York Capital District Portal

The Times Union is a major daily newspaper, serving the Capital Region of New York, United States. Although the newspaper focuses on Albany and its suburbs, it covers all parts of the four-county area, including the cities of Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Springs. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation. The paper was founded in 1857, originally published as the Morning Times, and purchased by William Randolph Hearst in 1924.^[2] The newspaper has been online since 1996.

The editor of the Times Union is Rex Smith, who has held the post since July 2002.^[3] He was previously the paper's managing editor. George Hearst is the publisher.

The newspaper is printed in its Colonie headquarters by the Hearst Corporation's Capital Newspapers Division. The daily edition costs $1 and the Sunday/Thanksgiving Day edition costs $2.

The Times Union announced in May 2006 that it would pay $3.5 million over 10 years for the naming rights of the Pepsi Arena in downtown Albany. On January 1, 2007, the arena was renamed the Times Union Center.

Sections[link]

Daily[link]

• Front Section: The Times Union's A section contains national, world, state, and celebrity news, corrections, editorials, an editorial cartoon, commentaries, and letters to the editor. In 2007, the paper reorganized its daily sections and began placing late-breaking local news stories in the front section as well.
• Capital Region: The local section contains news relating to the Capital District, obituaries, a calendar of events, and the weather report. It also contains a daily column by Fred LeBrun. A subsection, Communities TU, has lighter news geared towards specific areas.
• Sports: The sports section covers local and national sports events at high school, college, and professional levels. Outdoor activities are also represented.
• Business: The business section contains local and national business news, stock and mutual fund tables, classified advertisements, and a crossword puzzle.
• Life: The life section covers entertainment, food, style, family, health, and science in a weekly cycle. Comics, Dear Abby, horoscopes, bridge, Sudoku, word games, a crossword puzzle, and the movie clock appear daily.

Thursday[link]

In addition to the above, the Thursday edition contains:

• Preview: A tabloid section covering movies, music, dance, theater, and other entertainment topics. It contains movie reviews in brief, a calendar of events, personals, and a review of an inexpensive restaurant.
• Autos Weekly: Formerly known as Automotive Weekly, this tabloid section contains automotive reviews, news of the industry, car maintenance columns, and many dealer and used car advertisements.

Sunday[link]

In addition to the daily sections, the Sunday edition contains:

• Perspective: Contains opinion commentaries, editorials, an editorial cartoon, letters to the editor, obituaries, and a report of Congressional votes.
• Home: A tabloid section with real estate listings and articles on housing topics.
• Travel/Books: A two-part section with the first portion covering travel and the second covering books. It contains travel articles, weekly airfares, book reviews, and the New York Times Bestseller List.
• Parade Magazine: The Sunday Times Union includes this national magazine covering lifestyle (food, health, fitness, family) and celebrity topics.
• Arts/Events: The arts section has articles on classical music, the visual arts, and theater. It also contains a calendar of events, museum and gallery listings, and a Broadway theater directory.

The Sunday paper also has numerous advertising circulars and coupon pages.

Editorial board[link]

The Times Union's editorial board consists of:

• George Hearst—Publisher
• Rex Smith—Editor
• Joann Crupi—Opinion Pages Editor
• John de Rosier—Editorial Cartoonist
• Jay Jochnowitz—Editorial Page Editor
• Jim McGrath—Chief Editorial Writer
• Harry Rosenfeld—Editor-at-Large

Source: TimesUnion.com

Capitaland Quarterly[link]

The Times Union also publishes the Capitaland Quarterly four times a year.

See also[link]

	Capital District portal
	New York portal
	Journalism portal

• Alan Chartock
• Glenn McGee
• The Media Project
• Times Union Center
• WAMC

References[link]

1. ^ "eCirc Circulation Averages for 6 Months ending 3/31/2011". Audit Bureau of Circulations. http://abcas3.accessabc.com/ecirc/newstitlesearchus.asp. Retrieved 2011-10-04. 
2. ^ "Albany Times Union". Hearst Corporation. Archived from the original on 2006-10-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20061030071403/http://www.hearst.com/newspapers/property/news_daily_albany.html. Retrieved 2006-10-27. 
3. ^ "Rex Smith". Hearst Corporation. Archived from the original on 2006-10-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20061030071411/http://www.hearst.com/biographies/new_bio_editor_albany.html. Retrieved 2006-10-27. 

• Guide to the Times Union opinion pages

External links[link]

• Official Web site
• Official mobile website
• Legacy of Change, History of the TU on its 150th anniversary
• Editor's Column
• Capitaland Quarterly - Times Union
• Hearst Corporation profile of the Times Union

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register (it became The Times on 1 January 1788). The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times (founded in 1821) are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News International, itself wholly owned by the News Corporation group headed by Rupert Murdoch. The Times and The Sunday Times do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have only had common ownership since 1967.

The Times is the first newspaper to have borne that name, lending it to numerous other papers around the world, including The Times of India (1838), The Straits Times (1845), The New York Times (1851), The Irish Times (1859), the Los Angeles Times (1881), The Seattle Times (1891), The Daily Times (Malawi) (1900), The Canberra Times (1926), and The Times (Malta) (1935). For distinguishing purposes it is therefore sometimes referred to, particularly in North America, as the "London Times" or "The Times of London".^[2][3]

The Times is the originator of the ubiquitous Times Roman typeface, originally developed by Stanley Morison of The Times in collaboration with the Monotype Corporation for its legibility in low-tech printing. In November 2006 The Times began printing headlines in a new font, Times Modern. The Times was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years, but switched to compact size in 2004 in an attempt to appeal more to younger readers and commuters using public transport. The Sunday Times remains a broadsheet.

Though traditionally a moderate newspaper and sometimes a supporter of the Conservatives, it supported the Labour Party in the 2001 and 2005 general elections.^[4] In 2004, according to MORI, the voting intentions of its readership were 40% for the Conservative Party, 29% for the Liberal Democrats, and 26% for Labour.^[5] The Times had an average daily circulation of 394,102 in March 2012.^[1] An American edition has been published since 6 June 2006.^[2]

History[link]

Front page of The Times from December 4, 1788.

1785 to 1890[link]

The Times was founded by publisher John Walter on 1 January 1785 as The Daily Universal Register, with Walter in the role of editor. Walter changed the title after 940 editions on 1 January 1788 to The Times. In 1803, Walter handed ownership and editorship to his son of the same name. Walter senior had spent sixteen months in Newgate prison for libel printed in The Times, but his pioneering efforts to obtain Continental news, especially from France, helped build the paper's reputation among policy makers and financiers.

The Times used contributions from significant figures in the fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its early life, the profits of The Times were very large and the competition minimal, so it could pay far better than its rivals for information or writers.

In 1809, John Stoddart was appointed general editor, replaced in 1817 by Thomas Barnes. Under Barnes and his successor in 1841, John Thadeus Delane, the influence of The Times rose to great heights, especially in politics and amongst the City of London. Peter Fraser and Edward Sterling were two noted journalists, and gained for The Times the pompous/satirical nickname 'The Thunderer' (from "We thundered out the other day an article on social and political reform.").The increased circulation and influence of the paper was based in part to its early adoption of the steam-driven rotary printing press. Distribution via steam trains to rapidly growing concentrations of urban populations helped ensure the profitability of the paper and its growing influence.^[6]

The Times was the first newspaper to send war correspondents to cover particular conflicts. W. H. Russell, the paper's correspondent with the army in the Crimean War, was immensely influential^[7] with his dispatches back to England.

In other events of the nineteenth century, The Times opposed the repeal of the Corn Laws^{[citation needed]} until the number of demonstrations convinced the editorial board otherwise, and only reluctantly supported aid to victims of the Irish Potato Famine. It enthusiastically supported the Great Reform Bill of 1832, which reduced corruption and increased the electorate from 400 000 people to 800 000 people (still a small minority of the population). During the American Civil War, The Times represented the view of the wealthy classes, favouring the secessionists, but it was not a supporter of slavery.

The third John Walter, the founder's grandson, succeeded his father in 1847. The paper continued as more or less independent, but from the 1850s The Times was beginning to suffer from the rise in competition from the penny press, notably The Daily Telegraph and The Morning Post.

During the 19th century, it was not infrequent for the Foreign Office to approach The Times and ask for continental intelligence, which was often superior to that conveyed by official sources.^[8]

1890 to 1981[link]

The Times faced financial extinction in 1890 under Arthur Fraser Walter, but it was rescued by an energetic editor, Charles Frederic Moberly Bell. During his tenure (1890–1911), The Times became associated with selling the Encyclopædia Britannica using aggressive American marketing methods introduced by Horace Everett Hooper and his advertising executive, Henry Haxton. Due to legal fights between the Britannica's two owners, Hooper and Walter Montgomery Jackson, The Times severed its connection in 1908 and was bought by pioneering newspaper magnate, Alfred Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe.

In editorials published on 29 and 31 July 1914, Wickham Steed, the Times's Chief Editor, argued that the British Empire should enter World War I.^[9] On 8 May 1920, also under the editorship of Steed, The Times in an editorial endorsed the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion as a genuine document, and called Jews the world's greatest danger. In the leader entitled "The Jewish Peril, a Disturbing Pamphlet: Call for Inquiry", Steed wrote about The Protocols of the Elders of Zion:

What are these 'Protocols'? Are they authentic? If so, what malevolent assembly concocted these plans and gloated over their exposition? Are they forgery? If so, whence comes the uncanny note of prophecy, prophecy in part fulfilled, in part so far gone in the way of fulfillment?".^[10]

The following year, when Philip Graves, the Constantinople (modern Istanbul) correspondent of The Times, exposed The Protocols as a forgery, 'The Times retracted the editorial of the previous year.

In 1922, John Jacob Astor, son of the 1st Viscount Astor, bought The Times from the Northcliffe estate. The paper gained a measure of notoriety in the 1930s with its advocacy of German appeasement; then-editor Geoffrey Dawson was closely allied with those in the government who practised appeasement^{[citation needed]}, most notably Neville Chamberlain.

Kim Philby, a Soviet double agent, was a correspondent for the newspaper in Spain during the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. Philby was admired for his courage in obtaining high-quality reporting from the front lines of the bloody conflict. He later joined MI6 during World War II, was promoted into senior positions after the war ended, then eventually defected to the Soviet Union in 1963.^[11]

Between 1941 and 1946, the left-wing British historian E.H. Carr was Assistant Editor. Carr was well known for the strongly pro-Soviet tone of his editorials.^[12] In December 1944, when fighting broke out in Athens between the Greek Communist ELAS and the British Army, Carr in a Times editorial sided with the Communists, leading Winston Churchill to condemn him and that leader in a speech to the House of Commons.^[13] As a result of Carr's editorial, The Times became popularly known during World War II as the threepenny Daily Worker (the price of the Daily Worker was one penny)^[14]

On 3 May 1966 it started printing news on the front page for the first time - previously the front page featured small advertisements, usually of interest to the moneyed classes in British society.^{[citation needed]} In 1967, members of the Astor family sold the paper to Canadian publishing magnate Roy Thomson, The Thomson Corporation merged it with The Sunday Times to form Times Newspapers Limited.

An industrial dispute prompted the management to shut the paper for nearly a year (1 December 1978 – 12 November 1979).

The Thomson Corporation management were struggling to run the business due to the 1979 Energy Crisis and union demands. Management were left with no choice but to save both titles by finding a buyer who was in a position to guarantee the survival of both titles, and also one who had the resources and was committed to funding the introduction of modern printing methods.

Several suitors appeared, including Robert Maxwell, Tiny Rowland and Lord Rothermere; however, only one buyer was in a position to meet the full Thomson remit, Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch.

1981 to present: Murdoch-era[link]

In 1981, The Times and The Sunday Times were bought from Thomson by Rupert Murdoch's News International.^[15] The acquisition followed three weeks of intensive bargaining with the unions by company negotiators, John Collier and Bill O'Neill.

After 14 years as editor, William Rees-Mogg resigned the post upon the completion of the change of ownership.^[16] Murdoch began to make his mark on the paper by appointing Harold Evans as his replacement.^[17] One of his most important changes was the introduction of new technology and efficiency measures. In March–May 1982, following agreement with print unions, the hot-metal Linotype printing process used to print The Times since the 19th century was phased out and replaced by computer input and photo-composition. This allowed print room staff at The Times and The Sunday Times to be reduced by half.^{[citation needed]} However, direct input of text by journalists ("single stroke" input) was still not achieved, and this was to remain an interim measure until the Wapping dispute of 1986, when The Times moved from New Printing House Square in Gray's Inn Road (near Fleet Street) to new offices in Wapping.^[18]

Robert Fisk,^[19] seven times British International Journalist of the Year,^[20] resigned as foreign correspondent in 1988 over what he saw as "political censorship" of his article on the shooting-down of Iran Air Flight 655 in July 1988. He wrote in detail about his reasons for resigning from the paper due to meddling with his stories, and the paper's pro-Israel stance.^[21]

In June 1990, The Times ceased its policy of using courtesy titles ("Mr", "Mrs", or "Miss" prefixes) for living persons before full names on first reference, but it continues to use them before surnames on subsequent references. The more formal style is now confined to the "Court and Social" page, though "Ms" is now acceptable in that section, as well as before surnames in news sections.

In November 2003, News International began producing the newspaper in both broadsheet and tabloid sizes. On 13 September 2004, the weekday broadsheet was withdrawn from sale in Northern Ireland. Since 1 November 2004, the paper has been printed solely in tabloid format.

The Conservative Party announced plans to launch litigation against The Times over an incident in which the newspaper claimed that Conservative election strategist Lynton Crosby had admitted that his party would not win the 2005 General Election. The Times later published a clarification, and the litigation was dropped.

On 6 June 2005, The Times redesigned its Letters page, dropping the practice of printing correspondents' full postal addresses. Published letters were long regarded as one of the paper's key constituents. Author/solicitor David Green of Castle Morris Pembrokeshire has had more letters published on the main letters page than any other known contributor – 158 by 31 January 2008. According to its leading article, "From Our Own Correspondents", removal of full postal addresses was in order to fit more letters onto the page.

In a 2007 meeting with the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications, which was investigating media ownership and the news, Murdoch stated that the law and the independent board prevented him from exercising editorial control.^[22]

In May 2008 printing of The Times switched from Wapping to new plants at Broxbourne on the outskirts of London, and Merseyside and Glasgow, enabling the paper to be produced with full colour on every page for the first time.

Some^[who?] allege that The Times' partisan opinion pieces also damage its status as 'paper of record,' particularly when attacking interests that go against those of its parent company – News International. In 2010 it published an opinion piece attacking the BBC for being 'one of a group of' signatories to a letter criticising BSkyB share options in October 2010.^[23]

In March 2012, it became the first British newspaper to formally endorse same-sex marriage.

Content[link]

Copies of The Times and supplements from December 2005

The Times features news for the first half of the paper with the leading articles on the second page, the Opinion/Comment section begins after the first news section with world news normally following this. The business pages begin on the centre spread, and are followed by The Register, containing obituaries, Court & Social section, and related material. The sport section is at the end of the main paper.

[edit] Times2

The Times's main supplement is the times2, featuring various lifestyle columns.^{[clarification needed]} It was discontinued on 1 March 2010 but reintroduced on 11 October 2010 after negative feedback. Its regular features include a puzzles section called Mind Games. Its previous incarnation began on 5 September 2005, before which it was called T2 and previously Times 2. Regular features include columns by a different columnist each weekday. There was a column by Marcus du Sautoy each Wednesday, for example. The back pages are devoted to puzzles and contain sudoku, "Killer Sudoku", "KenKen", word polygon puzzles, and a crossword simpler and more concise than the main "Times Crossword".

The supplement contains arts and lifestyle features, TV and radio listings and reviews.

[edit] The Game

The Game is included in the newspaper on Mondays, and details all the weekend's football activity (Premier League and Football League Championship, League One and League Two.) The Scottish edition of The Game also includes results and analysis from Scottish Premier League games.

Saturday supplements[link]

The Saturday edition of The Times contains a variety of supplements. These supplements were relaunched in January 2009 as: Sport, Weekend (including travel and lifestyle features), Saturday Review (arts, books, and ideas), The Times Magazine (columns on various topics), and Playlist (an entertainment listings guide).

Saturday Review is the first regular supplement published in broadsheet format since the paper switched to a compact size in 2004.

At the beginning of summer 2011 Saturday Review switched to the tabloid format

The Times Magazine features columns touching on various subjects such as celebrities, fashion and beauty, food and drink, homes and gardens or simply writers' anecdotes. Notable contributors include Giles Coren, Food and Drink Writer of the Year in 2005.

Online presence[link]

The Times and The Sunday Times have had an online presence since March 1999, originally at the-times.co.uk and sunday-times.co.uk, and later at timesonline.co.uk.^[24] There are now two websites: thetimes.co.uk is aimed at daily readers, and the thesundaytimes.co.uk site at providing weekly magazine-like content. There are also iPad and Android editions of both newspapers. Since July 2010, News International has required readers who do not subscribe to the print edition to pay £2 per week to read The Times and The Sunday Times online.^[25]

Visits to the websites have decreased by 87% since the paywall was introduced, from 21 million unique users per month to 2.7 million.^[26] In April 2009, the timesonline site had a readership of 750,000 readers per day.^[27] As of October 2011, there were around 111,000 subscribers to the Times' digital products ^[28]

Ownership[link]

John Walter, the founder of The Times

The Times has had the following eight owners since its foundation in 1785:

• 1785 to 1803 - John Walter;
• 1803 to 1847 - John Walter, 2nd;
• 1847 to 1894 - John Walter, 3rd;
• 1894 to 1908 - Arthur Fraser Walter;
• 1908 to 1922 - Lord Northcliffe;
• 1922 to 1966 - Astor family;
• 1966 to 1981 - Roy Thomson; and
• 1981 to present - News International (a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation, run by Rupert Murdoch).

Readership[link]

At the time of Harold Evans' appointment as editor in 1981, The Times had an average daily sale of 282,000 copies, in comparision to the 1.4 million daily sales of its traditional rival The Daily Telegraph.^[29] By November 2005 The Times sold an average of 691,283 copies per day, the second-highest of any British "quality" newspaper (after The Daily Telegraph, which had a circulation of 903,405 copies in the period), and the highest in terms of full-rate sales.^[30] By March 2012 The Times' average daily circulation had fallen to 394,102 copies, compared to The Daily Telegraph's 576,378, with the two retaining respectively the second-highest and highest circulations among British "quality" newspapers.^[1] In contrast The Sun, the highest-selling "tabloid" daily newspaper in the United Kingdom, sold an average of 2,614,725 copies in March 2012, and the Daily Mail, the highest-selling "middle market" British daily newspaper, sold an average of 1,952,524 copies in the period.^[1]

In a 2009 national readership survey The Times was found to have the highest number of ABC1 25–44 readers and the largest numbers of readers in London of any of the "quality" papers.^[31]

Typeface[link]

An example of the Times New Roman font

In 1908 The Times started using the Monotype Modern typeface.^[32]

The Times commissioned the serif typeface Times New Roman, created by Victor Lardent at the English branch of Monotype, in 1931.^[33] It was commissioned after Stanley Morison had written an article criticizing The Times for being badly printed and typographically antiquated.^[34] The font was supervised by Morison and drawn by Victor Lardent, an artist from the advertising department of The Times. Morison used an older font named Plantin as the basis for his design, but made revisions for legibility and economy of space. Times New Roman made its debut in the 3 October 1932 issue of The Times newspaper.^[35] After one year, the design was released for commercial sale. The Times stayed with Times New Roman for 40 years, but new production techniques and the format change from broadsheet to tabloid in 2004 have caused the newspaper to switch font five times since 1972. However, all the new fonts have been variants of the original New Roman font:

• Times Europa was designed by Walter Tracy in 1972 for The Times, as a sturdier alternative to the Times font family, designed for the demands of faster printing presses and cheaper paper. The typeface features more open counter spaces.
• Times Roman replaced Times Europa on 30 August 1982.^[36]
• Times Millennium was made in 1991,^[36] drawn by Gunnlaugur Briem on the instructions of Aurobind Patel, composing manager of News International.
• Times Classic first appeared in 2001.^[37] Designed as an economical face by the British type team of Dave Farey and Richard Dawson, it took advantage of the new PC-based publishing system at the newspaper, while obviating the production shortcomings of its predecessor Times Millennium. The new typeface included 120 letters per font. Initially the family comprised ten fonts, but a condensed version was added in 2004.
• Times Modern was unveiled on 20 November 2006, as the successor of Times Classic.^[36] Designed for improving legibility in smaller font sizes, it uses 45-degree angled bracket serifs. The font was published by Elsner + Flake as EF Times Modern; it was designed by Research Studios, led by Ben Preston (deputy editor of The Times) and designer Neville Brody.^[38]

Political allegiance[link]

The Times had declared its support for Clement Attlee's Labour at the 1945 general election; the party went on to win the election by a landslide over Winston Churchill's Conservative government. However, the newspaper reverted to the Tories for the next election five years later. It supported the Conservatives for the subsequent three elections, followed by support for both the Conservatives and the Liberal Party for the next five elections, expressly supporting a Con-Lib coalition in 1974. The paper then backed the Conservatives solidly until 2001.

For the 2001 general election The Times declared its support for Tony Blair's Labour government, which was re-elected by a landslide. It supported Labour again in 2005, when Labour achieved a third successive win, though with a reduced majority.^[39] For the 2010 general election, however, the newspaper declared its support for the Tories once again; the election ended in the Tories taking the most votes and seats but having to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in order to form a government as they had failed to gain an overall majority.^[40]

This makes it the most varied newspaper in terms of political support in British history.^[41]

Sponsorships[link]

The Times, along with the British Film Institute, sponsors the "The Times" bfi London Film Festival.

The Times sponsors the Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature at Asia House, London.

Notable people[link]

Editors[link]

Notable columnists and journalists[link]

Related publications[link]

[edit] Times Literary Supplement

The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) is a separately-paid-for weekly literature and society magazine.

[edit] The Times Science Review

Between 1951 and 1966 The Times published a separately-paid-for quarterly science review, The Times Science Review. Remarkably, in 1953 both the newspaper and its science supplement failed to report on the discovery of the structure of DNA in Cambridge, which was reported on by both the News Chronicle and The New York Times.

The Times started a new (but free) monthly science magazine, Eureka, in October 2009.

Times Atlases[link]

(Times Books Group Ltd)

• The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, 2007 ISBN 978-0-00-780150-3

In fiction[link]

• In the dystopian future world of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Times has been transformed into the organ of the totalitarian ruling party, its editorials—of which several are quoted in the book—reflecting Big Brother's pronouncements.
• Rex Stout's fictional detective Nero Wolfe is described as fond of solving the London Times' crossword puzzle at his New York home, in preference to those of American papers.
• In the James Bond series by Ian Fleming, James Bond, reads The Times. As described by Fleming in From Russia, with Love: "The Times was the only paper that Bond ever read."

See also[link]

Journalism portal

• List of newspapers by date

[edit] References

Further reading[link]

• Evans‏, Harold (1983). Good Times, Bad Times. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-78295-9  - includes sections of black-and-white photographic plates, plus a few charts and diagrams in text pages.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Times

Wikisource has original text related to this article: The Times

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Times

• Official website (Mobile)
• The Sunday Times site
• Times World Atlases official website including a History and Heritage section detailing landmark Times atlases
• Archive from 1785 to 2006 – full text and original layout, searchable (not free of charge, registration required)
• Neil, Andrew; Griffiths, Ian; Fitzpatrick, Barry (15 January 2006). "Three views of the industrial dispute twenty years on". The Observer (UK). http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1686500,00.html. 
• The Times editor Robert Thomson lecture online: From the editorial desk of The Times, RMIT School of Applied Communication Public Lecture series
• Anthony Trollope's satire on the mid-nineteenth century Times
• Journalism Now: The Times Winchester University Journalism History project on the Times in the nineteenth century