The San Francisco Examiner
For 35 years starting in 1965, the "San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner" operated under a Joint Operating Agreement whereby the "Chronicle" published a morning paper and the "Examiner" published in the afternoon. The "Examiner" published the Sunday paper's news sections and glossy magazine, and the "Chronicle" contributed the features. Circulation was approximately 100,000 on weekdays and 500,000 on Sundays. By 1995, discussion was already brewing in print media about the possible shuttering of the "Examiner" due to low circulation and an extremely disadvantageous revenue sharing agreement for the "Chronicle".
San Francisco Independent
Under new ownership, the Independent quickly took a more aggressive approach to growth and that summer launched a challenge to the largest and oldest community paper, the San Francisco Progress, by submitting a bid to publish the public notices for the city and becoming the Official Newspaper of San Francisco. Although the Independent was ultimately not successful in securing that advertising contract, the next year the scrappy newspaper was successful in pulling the bulk of the real estate community’s advertising away from the Progress and into a new publication printed by the Independent. Then, on December 15, 1988 the San Francisco Progress shut its doors, ceased publication and filed for bankruptcy. In six days, on December 21, 1988, the Independent converted from a tabloid size to the traditional broadsheet newspaper size and increased circulation from 80,000 to 180,000.