The Sunderland Echo

The Sunderland Echo Was founded and first published on 22nd December 1873. The Echo was launched by a group of men known simply as "The Seven they were Liberal activitists who felt the town needed its own evening newspaper.

The seven men were Samuel Storey, Principal proprietor of the Echo and other newspapers also an MP, Edward Backhouse, a Quaker banker, E.T. Gourley, shipbroker and MP, Charles Mark Palmer, shipbuilder and MP, Richard Ruddock, reporter and editor of the Newcastle Chronicle, Thomas Glaholm, rope maker and Thomas Scott Turnbull a draper. At first the Echo faced fierce competition from the two established weeklies in Sunderland, The Sunderland Herald and Sunderland Times.

Samuel Storey once wrote about how and why the Sunderland Echo was founded. He wrote, The Sunderland Herald and Sunderland Times were well conducted and well edited but were inadequate to supply the desires of a large population for more up to date news. The Shields Gazette, a liberal paper, sent 3,000 copies of its afternoon edition to Sunderland but it did not contain much Sunderland news. Tired of this situation Samuel Storey and his six partners decided to start their own newspaper to supply local as well as general news.

Of the seven only Richard Ruddock knew anything about newspaper management and the success of the Echo seemed remote, the infant paper struggled to survive, with initial investment quickly swallowed up. As failure loomed, three of the founders stepped down, E.T. Gourley, Charles Mark Palmer and Richard Ruddock and principal founder Samuel Storey took on their shares. In July 1876 after the Echo moved to new premises in Bridge Street, were it would stay for the next hundred years, it also had two new presses capable of producing 24,000 copies an hour it still hardly made a profit.

Two of the remaining founders died Edward Backhouse in 1879 and Thomas Scott Turnbull in 1880 then Samuel Storey became the main proprietor and his family held the reins of power for well over a century. The Sunderland Echo became the towns sole newspaper from 1914. Over the years, the Echo offices were enlarged and modernised, before being rebuilt in 1965 and a new press installed.

In 1976, the Echo moved to Pennywell Industrial Estate, and here the traditional method of newspaper production, using molten metal to produce type and printing plates, was replaced by photo composition and web off set printing. Rapid expansion followed until the company was taken over by current owners Johnston Press in July 1999. The Echo is the award winning evening newspaper for Sunderland and East Durham, serving a population of about 400,000. It publishes two editions a day and a Football Echo on Saturday, with a current daily circulation of around 54,299.