SENTINEL ECHO CELEBRATES 150TH YEAR: Continuing the traditions started by the Dyche family

Nita Johnson, The Sentinel Echo, London, Ky.
·3 min read

Mar. 1—In recognition of The Sentinel Echo's 150th year, we will be running stories depicting its contributions to the community over its history. These stories will include excerpts from the Diamond Jubilee and Centennial editions which were produced by A.R. Dyche, Russell Dyche and Martin Dyche and are considered the founding family of London newspaper.

It was 1873 when The Mountain Echo, produced in Barbourville, served the area with local news of interest to residents.

Two years later, a London man merged The London Sentinel and The Mountain Echo and moved the operation to London.

Producing local news was the goal of Russell Dyche, who also believed that taking a stand on state and local issues was the duty of a local newspaper.

That belief was passed on to his son and granddaughters who worked in the business and ensured that the public was informed on issues that affected their daily lives.

Today, 150 years later, The Sentinel Echo continues to provide the news and events that highlight the community and continue the tradition that Dyche set long before computer technology, emails and social media dominated communication sources.

Over the years, ownership of The Sentinel Echo has changed hands numerous times, now being owned by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. (CNHI), which is operated from its headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama. CNHI owns more than 150 newspapers in 25 states with its realm stretching as far west as Oklahoma and northward to Wisconsin and New York. The southern states, however, host the most CNHI newspapers with several in Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. Formed in 1997, the company is now owned by Retirement Systems of Alabama.

The staff of the newspaper have come and gone over the years, but a significant tribute to the founding family was highlighted in the Centennial edition published in 1975.

This edition highlights the founding family of The Sentinel Echo as well as the dedicated employees who produced the 1975 Centennial edition.

A.R. Dyche served as editor for The Sentinel Echo for over 25 years. In the Centennial edition, his son Russell reprinted his father's farewell column after signing over ownership to his son. An excerpt of that column is below:

"For more than twenty-five years, day in and day out, week in and week out, year in and year out, I have each day, week, month and year performed the same routine work until my head has become silvery and my body and mind tired almost to exhaustion, to such an extent indeed that I deem it almost necessary to rest.....I have sold and transferred to my son R.S. Dyche the entire outfit and control of The Echo, to whom I commend the patronage of all, believing that a younger and more active man than myself will infuse more life into the paper than it has heretofore possessed.

"During the more than a quarter century that I have guided the destinies of The Echo, I am fully conscious that I have made mistakes. I, in common with all humanity am liable to err, and do err, but I want the public to know that whatever errors I have committed, have been of the head and not the heart.

"With these few incoherent sentences, snatched from a busy life when the mind and body are both tired, I bid you all an affectionate farewell. —A. R. Dyche"