Capital Press: History, Northwest Farm Coverage, Owners and Staff
Profile updated November 2026
Capital Press began in February 1928 as a neighborhood paper for the Hollywood district of north Salem, Oregon, and grew into what it calls the largest agricultural publication in the Northwest. The weekly broadsheet covers farming, ranching and agricultural policy across Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California. This profile traces its history, ownership, coverage and staff.
| Founded | February 1928 as the Hollywood Press; renamed Capital Press in December 1932 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Abner M. (A.M.) Church |
| Headquarters | 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem, Oregon |
| Format | Weekly broadsheet |
| Circulation | 20,090 print and 1,183 digital (2023) |
| Publisher | Joe Beach |
History of Capital Press
A.M. Church started the Hollywood Press in 1928 to serve the Hollywood area and the farms of north Salem. In December 1932 it took the name Capital Press and began describing itself as a statewide weekly. Church sold the paper in 1946 to Henry Hanzen, a Portland lawyer, and Dewey A. Rand Sr., a Portland insurance agent; Rand later bought out his partner.
Under the Rand family the paper turned steadily toward agriculture after World War II, and by the 1960s farming was its focus. Rand Sr. sold ads, edited and published, writing a column called Passing in Review until he retired in 1985. His son, Dewey A. Rand Jr., joined in 1955, succeeded him as publisher and, with general manager Bill Anderson, pushed coverage into Washington's Columbia Basin and Idaho. The paper also built a strong classified business around the diverse farms of the Willamette Valley.
In the early 1990s Rand Jr. sold Capital Press to the East Oregonian Publishing Co., owned by the Forrester and Aldrich families of Pendleton, the company now known as EO Media Group. The paper left downtown Salem for North Broadway in 1963 and stopped printing its own pages around 1980, contracting the work to the Statesman Journal. Circulation was about 38,000 in the 1990s.
Capital Press Today
Capital Press remains a weekly broadsheet with a focus on the West Coast and especially Pacific Northwest agriculture. In 2023 it reported 20,090 print and 1,183 digital subscribers. Its parent, EO Media Group, agreed in October 2024 to sell to Carpenter Media Group, a Mississippi-based newspaper company.
The paper's reach still follows the path the Rands set: from the small, diverse farms of the Willamette Valley out to Washington's Columbia Basin, Idaho and Central California, where it circulates as a regional farm weekly rather than a single-state paper.
What Capital Press Is Publishing Now
Commodity and regional news
Field reporting on wheat, cattle, dairy, hay, nursery crops, tree fruit, grass seed and specialty crops in four states.
Policy, water and land
Coverage of water rights, wolves and predators, public lands grazing, labor and state and federal farm policy.
Markets and classifieds
Market reports and the classified section that helped build the paper under the Rand family.
Capital Press Editors and Staff
Wikipedia names the publisher, and editorial contacts published in October 2026 list these staff:
- Joe Beach - Publisher
- Brad Carlson - Editorial contact
- Kyle Odegard - Editorial contact
- Dewey A. Rand Jr. - Former publisher
Who Reads Capital Press
Readers are farmers, ranchers, processors and agribusiness people in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California, from Willamette Valley nursery growers to Columbia Basin wheat farmers and Idaho cattle ranchers. The Oregon Department of Agriculture describes a farm economy unusually diverse in crops, which explains the paper's wide commodity coverage. Idaho's agriculture, summarized in USDA's 2022 Census of Agriculture state data, adds dairy, potatoes and cattle to the mix.
Capital Press readers handle everything from hazelnuts to hay to irrigation district meetings that run past midnight, so they have earned a laugh. farm.FM serves farm satire and farm humor that would fit any Northwest coffee shop, plus ranch humor for the high-desert cattle country east of the Cascades. Its farm jokes do not need a water right.
Part newsroom, part radio dial, farm.FM bills itself as America's first satirical farm site and plays Tractor Tunes, its country music for farmers. Browse a farm.FM writer's back catalog to see the style.
Capital Press Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Wikipedia: Capital Press - history, ownership and circulation.
- Willamette Heritage Center: Capital Press Newspaper - the paper's Salem history and the Rand family era.
- Wikipedia: EO Media Group - the parent company.
- Oregon Department of Agriculture: About Oregon agriculture - the state's farm economy.
- USDA FSA: Idaho 2022 Census of Agriculture - Idaho farm statistics.
Capital Press FAQ
When was Capital Press founded?
In February 1928, as the Hollywood Press in Salem, Oregon. It became Capital Press in December 1932.
Who owns Capital Press?
EO Media Group, which bought it in the early 1990s; EO Media agreed in October 2024 to sell to Carpenter Media Group.
What area does Capital Press cover?
The West Coast, with a focus on Pacific Northwest agriculture in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California.
How often is Capital Press published?
Weekly, as a broadsheet newspaper with a digital edition.
From a 1928 neighborhood sheet to a four-state farm weekly, Capital Press has spent nearly a century learning what Northwest agriculture needs to know.