Dave Price (publisher)
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Dave Price (born 1962) is an American journalist who has edited, published and founded a number of free daily newspapers including the Palo Alto Daily News in Palo Alto, California, the Aspen Times Daily in Aspen, Colorado and the San Francisco Daily in San Francisco, California.
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[edit] Background
Price began his career at age 15 at the Boulder (Colorado) Daily Camera, where he worked in the composing room and advertising. While at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Price became a stringer for the Denver Post and had more front page bylines in 1983 than any other freelancer at the Post that year. In 1984, Price moved to Aspen, Colorado, and worked as a reporter at the Aspen Daily News. In 1987, Price became news director and morning anchor of KSNO-FM and KTYE-AM.
[edit] Newspaper publisher and editor
In 1988, Price returned to the newspaper business. He was asked by the publisher of the Aspen Times weekly, Bil Dunaway, to launch a free daily newspaper to compete against the Aspen Daily News. On November 9, 1988, he launched the Aspen Times Daily and was that paper's founding editor.
In 1990, Price covered the arrest of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson on sex assault charges. The charges were dropped after Price reported that the alleged victim was an undercover agent who fabricated the assault claim in order to give the district attorney a pretext for searching Thompson's Woody Creek ranch for drugs. Thompson reprinted some of Price's stories in his 1990 book Gonzo Papers, Vol. 3: Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream and included Price on the book's Honor Roll.
In 1992, Price moved to suburban Cleveland, Ohio, where he was city editor of the Morning Journal.
In 1995, Price relocated in Northern California and co-founded the Palo Alto Daily News, another free daily newspaper. Within nine months the Daily News was in the black. At first, the Daily News was ignored or ridiculed by its competitors in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, the Daily News expanded and opened additional editions in the nearby cities of Redwood City, Burlingame, San Mateo and Los Gatos. The success of the Daily News inspired four copycat free dailies in the Bay Area.
In 2005, the parent company of the rival San Jose Mercury News, Knight Ridder, purchased the Palo Alto Daily News and its four sister papers for an undisclosed amount. Price remained as publisher and, in May 2005, helped to start the East Bay Daily News, a free daily serving Berkeley, California, and surrounding areas. Price retired from the Daily News in December 2005.
In 2006, Price and Pavelich started a free daily newspaper in San Francisco, California, which they named, oddly enough, the San Francisco Daily. With an initial press run of 5,000 copies per day and a staff of eight, the new paper is using the same business model as the Palo Alto Daily News, which emphasized low cost, effective advertising for small businesses and, on the news side, aggressive local coverage coupled with a summary of news from outside the community.
Price lives in Saratoga, California, with his wife and their son.
[edit] Awards
- For two consecutive years (2003 and 2004), Price won the first place award for editorial writing from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for newspapers with a circulation between 25,001 and 75,000. In 2002, Price was second in this category.
- In 2001, Price won a first-place prize from the Peninsula Press Club for editorial writing, and his newspapers won nine awards from the PPC.
- In 2002, Price won a first-place prize from the PPC for page design, an honorable mention for another entry in the same category, and a second-place trophy for editorial writing. His newspapers won 20 awards from the club.
- In 2003, Price won a second-place award for editorial writing and an honorable mention for headline writing from the PPC. His newspaper won 10 PPC awards.
- In 2004, Price won a second-place award from the PPC for the web site www.paloaltodailynews.com and an honorable mention for editorial writing. His papers won 21 awards from the PPC.
