San Antonio Express - News The San Antonio Express - News is the daily newspaper of San Antonio , Texas , USA . It is ranked as the fourth - largest daily newspaper in the state of Texas in terms of circulation , and is one of the leading news sources of South Texas , with offices in Austin , Brownsville , Laredo , and Mexico City . The Express - News is owned by the Hearst Corporation . History . The paper was first published in 1865 as a weekly tabloid - style newspaper under the name " San Antonio Express " . At that time , the city had already had a number of other newspapers in a number of different languages . However , all the other publications went out of business , leaving only the " Express " to serve the city . In December 1866 , the Express made the move from a weekly paper to a daily newspaper , and expanded into a full newspaper by the early 1870s . The early days of the Express was marked by several leadership changes which almost doomed the paper , until a brand new company , the " Express Printing Company " , took control in 1875 . The Express eventually became a daily morning newspaper in 1878 . In January 1881 a new rival newspaper , the " Evening Light " , was first published by A . W . Gifford and J . P . Newcomb , who had been an early investor in the " Express " . The " Evening Light " was published as an afternoon paper , as opposed to the Morning " Express " . At first , the editors of the " Express " chose to ignore the upstart paper , but the " Light " soon grew in popularity at the turn of the 20th century . In 1906 the Daily Light was sold to E . B . Chandler , and in 1909 the Daily Light Publishing Company bought the San Antonio Gazette . From then until 1911 the paper was referred to as the Light and Gazette . Edward S . O ' Reilly , known as Tex , was at one time managing editor . In 1911 Harrison L . Beach and Charles S . Diehl , veteran correspondents of national standing , moved to San Antonio and bought the Light and Gazette . Once again it was known as the Light . Diehl was a founder of the AP wire service . Beach and Diehl installed leased wire news service and published the first full stock market reports in a San Antonio paper . The Light became liberal - Democratic in its political views . While Beach and Diehl ran the paper circulation increased from 11 , 000 to 25 , 000 copies daily . In 1918 , the Express ownership , now renamed " Express Publishing Company " , launched its own afternoon paper , the " San Antonio Evening News . " Soon thereafter , a rivalry developed between workers of the " Express " and the " News " . In fact , some " News " workers dubbed a new office building as the " News - Express " building . In 1924 , however , William Randolph Hearst bought the Light and instituted Hearst policies , and by 1945 the circulation was approximately 70 , 000 . The 1920s was marked by expansion by " Express Publishing " as the company started one of the city ' s first radio stations , WOAI , in 1922 . Meanwhile , the company ' s future owners , in the form of William Randolph Hearst , purchased the " Light " . As the two rival companies entered the 1950s , the " Express " and the " News " both had higher readership numbers than the " Light " . However , the " Light " skyrocketed to the top of the market when it acquired a number of popular comic strips , like Dick Tracy . Over at " Express Publishing " , the company diversified further as they acquired a couple more radio stations , and a television station which they renamed KENS - TV . Those call letters were intended to stand for , K - Express News Station . In the 1960s , " Express Publishing " was sold to the Harte - Hanks newspaper group . In 1973 , with the " Light " beating the " Express " and the " News " in circulation numbers , a new ownership group emerged . Australian native Rupert Murdoch of News Corp bought the " Express " and the " News " from Harte - Hanks . Murdoch re - formatted the " News " as a more tabloid - styled paper , while the Express retained its original , conservative format . The " Light " was now forced to compete against two different styles of newspaper while at the same time trying to combat the growing costs of an afternoon circulation . By the mid - 1980s , the " Express " and the " News " merged into the " Express - News " and afternoon service was slowly discontinued , while the " Light " started getting into the morning circulation business in order to keep up . But under News Corp . , the " Express - News " adopted a more mainstream format and expanded its services to communities outside Bexar County . As a result , the " Express - News " became San Antonio ' s leading newspaper for good . By 1992 , News Corp had diversified into movies and television and was looking to sell the " Express - News " . The Hearst Corporation , which still owned the " Light " , agreed to either sell or close the newspaper and acquire the " Express - News " in order to keep its stake in the San Antonio market . The " Light " never found a buyer and it went out of business in January 1993 . Current business . Today , Mike Leary is the editor of the San Antonio Express - News . Jamie Stockwell is the managing editor . This Hearst Corp . newspaper is also led by Publisher and President John C . McKeon , Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration Susan Pape , Executive Vice President of Marketing and Advertising Ray McCutcheon , Senior Vice President for Technology and PrePress Nina Brooks and Senior Vice President for Circulation and Production Scott Frantzen . With a circulation of 139 , 005 weekdays and 356 , 401 Sundays and an editorial staff of 250 , it is the fourth - largest in Texas . For 2004 , the Express - News earned its first - ever Newspaper of the Year honors from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors . The Express - News was honored the best daily paper in its big - city circulation category , topping competitors in Houston , Dallas , Fort Worth and Austin .