The Mid Valley Times is a weekly newspaper, published on Thursdays, serving Reedley, California, Dinuba, California, Sanger, California, and surrounding communities in Fresno County and Tulare County. It was known as the Reedley Exponent until July, 2019, when it merged with the Dinuba Sentinel and the Sanger Herald. The Reedley Exponent was founded in 1891. It has a current circulation of 3,400 copies and it is edited by Jon Earnest. The paper is owned by Mid-Valley Publishing Inc. and published by Fred Hall, who runs an opinion column in the paper.
History
Reedley Exponent
The Reedley Exponent was founded in March 1891 by A.S. Jones. The first edition of the paper was printed in a room at the Knauer home and post office building. It moved to G st the following year; that office burned down and was later rebuilt. The paper was soon owned by W.W. Holland. John Fairweather, who also an active public political figure, was editor and proprietor of the Reedley Exponent for 20 years, starting in 1896. In 1897, Fairweather started a subscription list for the purpose of helping pay for the rights of way for the Valley road. He passed the paper on to his son, John Henry Fairweather, in 1915. John Henry Fairweather later became vice president of Fresno County Press Association. In 1920, J.H. Fairweather saved two women and a man from drowning. In 1914, Willie O. Besaw, a local photographer, experimented with self-cancelling stamp designs in the Exponent office. Besaw later applied for a U.S. patent for his design. In 1922, the paper became known as the Reedley Exponent and Ledger. In 1931, it was renamed back to Reedley Exponent. J.H. Fairweather became postmaster of Reedley in 1933, but remained with the paper. The first ad for the Model T Ford appeared in the Reedley Exponent in September 1927. Helen Fairweather Burke published and edited the paper in the 1930s. After then, John Henry Jr., John Henry Fairweather's son, took over the paper until he entered the U.S. Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. John Henry Jr.'s brother, James, took over the paper and continued publishing it until 1970. After publishing the paper for 79 years, the Fairweather family sold the Reedley Exponent to Mr. and Mrs. Glen Hage in 1970. John McGoff, president of Panax Corp.,purchased the Exponent in 1976. The paper was sold again in 1978 and purchased by Sierra Publishing Company. In 1982, the Exponent became part of Foothill Communications Corporation.
The Exponent struggled to compete with online news sources, and the decision was made to merge the local newspapers of Reedley, California, Dinuba, California. and Sanger, California to consolidate subscribers and cut costs. The merger went into place in July, 2019.
