Staten Island Advance

The Staten Island Advance is a daily newspaper published in the borough of Staten Island in New York City. The only daily newspaper published in the borough, and the only borough to have its own major daily paper, it covers news of local and community interest, including borough politics. As of April 25, 2007, Monday-Friday circulation was down 3.9% from the previous year, to 59,461. Sunday dropped 4.6% to 73,203. It is the namesake and nominal flagship publication of Advance Publications.

History

The Advance was created in 1886 by printer John J. Crawford and businessman James C. Kennedy as the Richmond County Advance. The name was changed to the Daily Advance before it was changed to its current name. When the Advance began, there were nine competing daily newspapers in Staten Island. The circulation of the Advance surpassed these early competitors. Its circulation grew from 4,500 in 1910 to over 80,000 by the mid 1990s.

In 1908, Samuel Irving Newhouse, Sr. started working for New Jersey Democratic machine politician, Bayonne Times newspaper owner, and Judge Hyman Lazarus's law office as an office-boy, bookkeeper and rent-collector. By the time Samuel Newhouse Sr. was 21 in 1916, his boss, Judge Lazarus rewarded him with a salary of around $30,000 per year, and 25 percent ownership of the Bayonne Times, for loyal service.