Houston Comical (Houston Chronicle nickname)

The Houston Chronicle is a daily newspaper published in Houston, Texas. The Chronicle began in 1901 and now has the ninth largest newspaper circulation in the United States and the largest in Texas. The derogatory nickname Houston Comical is cited in print from at least 1990.
 
A longtime newspaper rival of the Chronicle was the Houston Post, nicknamed the “Houston Pest.” Until the Post folded in 1995, Houston’s newspaper readers had a choice between the “Pest” and the “Comical.” The alternative weekly Austin Chronicle is also sometimes nicknamed the “Comical.”
 
Other nicknames of the Houston Chronicle include the Houston Chronic (since at least 1997), the Houston Moronicle (since 2001), the Houston Barnacle/Barnicle (since 2002) and the Houston Crummyicle (since 2006).
     
         
Wikipedia: Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA. As of March 2007, it is the ninth largest newspaper in the United States. With the demise of its long-time rival the Houston Post, its nearest major competitors are located in Dallas-Fort Worth.
 
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily paper owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, a multinational corporate media conglomerate with $4 billion in revenues. The paper employs nearly 2,000 people, including approximately 300 journalists, editors, and photographers. The Chronicle has bureaus in Washington, D.C., Mexico, Colombia, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Beaumont and the Rio Grande Valley. Its web site averages 25 million hits per month.
 
1901: Marcellus E. Foster
The Houston Chronicle was founded in 1901 by a former reporter for the now-defunct Houston Post, Marcellus E. Foster. Foster, who had been covering the Spindletop oil boom for the Post, invested in Spindletop and took $30 of the return on that investment — at the time equivalent to a week’s wages — and used it to found the Chronicle.
 
The Chronicle’s first edition was published on October 14, 1901 and sold for two cents per copy, at a time when most papers sold for five cents each. At the end of its first month in operation, the Chronicle had a circulation of 4,378 — roughly one tenth of the population of Houston at the time. Within the first year of operation, the paper purchased and consolidated the Daily Herald.
 
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From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Dave Mack)
Date: 19 Jun 90 02:58:41 GMT
Local: Mon, Jun 18 1990 10:58 pm
Subject: Re: Houston Comical Slams Public Libraries as “pornography ring”
     
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From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Tom Fitzgerald)
Date: 27 Jul 90 00:22:05 GMT
Local: Thurs, Jul 26 1990 8:22 pm
Subject: Re: What happened to asb?
   
I do have a copy of the first Houston Comical article.  All things considered, I’m not sure what the fuss is about.  I didn’t think the article was all that bad. 
 
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From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (S. Spenser Aden)
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1993 14:43:14 GMT
Local: Fri, Mar 26 1993 10:43 am
Subject: Re: FYI - F1, Indycar and WC Driver Standings Update #2
     
I don’t envy the coverage this newspaper must give to IndyCar series.  I suppose I’ll stick with my poor Houston Comical or Pest 😊 
   
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From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Peter da Silva)
Date: 1996/01/17
Subject: Re: Hou Chronicle covering up
   
I don’t get the Comical and I didn’t get the Pest when it existed, but I’m surprised… the Comical has always seemed to be rather on the right of center, leaving the left to the Pest…
     
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From: Spirit

Date: 1999/04/16
Subject: Re: any Lobo fans??
   
The Chron doesn’t keep it’s archives all that long so I don’t know if the stories are still there. He made some extra $$ syndicating the story/stories to other papers as well. I saw the same article in LA and NY within days with his byline on them. I don’t even know if he still writes for the Comical anymore. He should just stick to gossip, it’s his forte. 
       
Houston (TX) Press
News Is Flat, But Yuks Are Up
By Tim Fleck
Published: May 20, 1999
(...)
But Hearst bubbas are bound to be looking on the bright side. Sunday comic pages are booming. Interest there spurted from 35 to 39 percent—an 11 percent jump. Chuckled one paper staffer: “Now you know why we call it the Houston Comical.”
     
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From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (E Right)
Date: 2000/05/18
Subject: Re: R.N.C. and GEORGE W.BUSH : ‘DUMB and DUMBEST’
 
”>(another reason people stopped reading the Comical)
”
“Is that why the Houston Chronicle has the 6th largest circulation of
“any daily newspaper in the US, EWrong?
   
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From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (First Maje)
Date: Sat, 03 Jan 2004 20:31:43 GMT
Local: Sat, Jan 3 2004 4:31 pm
Subject: Re: SUPERB LABOUR HUMILIATION
 
You don’t seem to realize that the Houston Comical is part of the Hurst chain, which is a charter member of the pinko commie media.
 
The only reason people buy the Comical is for the help wanted ads and to wrap fish. Since I am not interested in either, I haven’t read the Comical for over 15 years.
 
Houston Chronicle - SportsJustice blog
You of all people are not allowed on the bandwagon, especially with your backhanded comments. Wow, Colt and all his exploits againzt N. Texas did not translate against OSU, what a suprise. How does that crow taste? Hey, how is the 17th string punter at UT doing in his French Biology class? Shouldn’t that be a headline at the Comical???
Posted by: Cooga Scott at September 10, 2006 02:04 AM
   
The Clownvision Chronicles
Saturday, February 17, 2007
The Comical Comedy of the Comical Chronicle, Part the Even More Continued
As I wrote, here, and here, the Houston Chronicle wrote quite eloquently about the late Molly Ivins, but as I stated, the Comical failed to mention that it refused to run Ms. Ivins’ work while she lived.
 
Well, thanks to Houston’ s alternative weekly, the Houston Press, it’s learned that the Comical was angry with Ms. Ivins because, years ago, she dared to insult the publisher and editor of the Comical. So, even though the Comical has a new owner, and a new editor, it still refused to run her columns.
 
It was nice of the Comical to write politely about Ms. Ivins, but it would’ve been better if they would have acknowledged her while she was still alive.