Miami

Development

Development of Miami's modern media scene began with the incorporation of the city in 1896, pushed by growing investor interest in the then-sleepy Southern outpost. The Miami Metropolis (later, the Miami Daily News and then The Miami News) was founded that year. Frank Shutts, backed by railroad magnet Henry Flagler, bought the Miami Morning-News Record (an earlier version had been established in 1903) in 1910 and changed its name to the Miami Herald. Frank Stoneman became the editor, after a stint at a newspaper in Orlando. By 1913, Shutts was able to buy Flager's portion of the paper and the purchase proved to be financially fruitful, as a thriving real estate sector poured advertising dollars into the newspaper and circulation soared. Devastation wrought by a powerful hurricane in 1926 and the subsequent Great Depression curbed investor enthusiasm in the area to a certain extent. But the lure of beautiful beaches, exotic nightlife, cheap land, and little regulation continued to draw many. Indeed, Miami's later reputation as a sun-drenched Sin City had deep historical roots. Researcher Aurora Wallace (2005) characterizes Miami in the early part of the twentieth century as a glamorous tourism center lined with pristine beaches and steeped in a balmy climate, but stricken with corrupt governance, lawless behavior such as gambling, smuggling and prostitution, deep poverty, and racism.

Nevertheless, the regions' seemingly endless financial opportunities continued to beckon investors and spur industry development. A newspaperman from Ohio, John Knight, acquired the Miami Herald in 1937 for $2.25 million. Broadcasting began with the first radio stations in the early 1920s. Television operations first aired after World War II. WTVJ began broadcasting as a primarily CBS affiliate in 1949, the first local news station in South Florida (later becoming an NBC affiliate). South Florida's beautiful natural resources spurred [Page 897]change in terms of covering the environment: Frank Stoneman's daughter, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, had begun writing for The Herald. In 1947, she published her famous work The Everglades: River of Grass, which brought much publicity to Florida's lush natural life and made Douglas famous as one of the country's most-recognized environmental journalists.

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