A Texan Takes the Star

At a dinner party in Paris some time ago, an unobtrusive Houston banker named Joe L. (for Lewis) Allbritton listened quietly while a French Cabinet Minister told the story of how a rich Texan had bought a bank in Luxembourg for $5 million, cash in hand. When the Frenchman finished his tale, Allbritton spoke up with a grin: "I heard about that, and I know the fella involved."

Last week the fella from Houston turned up in Washington, this time with an even bigger bundle in hand. Allbritton signed an agreement to pay $25 million for a 37% interest in Washington Star Communications Inc., owner of the Washington Star-News plus three television stations, three radio stations and a syndication service. If stockholders and the Federal Communications Commission approve the deal, Allbritton will become chairman of both Star Communications and the paper.

Purchased in 1867 by Crosby S. Noyes, a Star editor, and several friends, and run as a tight family fiefdom ever since, the ailing Star-News badly needs an influx of cash and energy. Once the capital's leading paper, it began slipping behind the aggressive morning Post in both circulation and ad linage in the 1950s. The paper lost an estimated $6 million last year. Circulation jumped in 1972 when the Star bought the Washington Daily News, but only temporarily.

In the past year alone, daily circulation has dropped by nearly 13,000 copies, to 405,173, while the Post's has risen by more than 8,000 copies, to 543,084.

A shy, unostentatious Baptist who stands about 5 ft. 4 in. tall, Allbritton scarcely fits the image of a towering Texas wheeler-dealer. But he is justly credited for what a friend calls "an absolute genius for making money." Born in tiny D'lo, Miss., he founded a savings and loan association after receiving a law degree from Baylor University in 1949; eventually he built a fortune in land, insurance and banking.

Now a peppery 49, Allbritton is a Texas Democrat who has no love for Turncoat Republican John Connally, and was a major backer of the presidential ambitions of Senator Edmund Muskie--partly, friends say, because he has a hankering to swing some weight in big-time politics. Apparently with that ambition in mind, he tried to buy the archconservative Houston Chronicle in 1972, but was turned down because the owners considered him too liberal.

With a tighter budget and smaller staff than the Post, the Star-News has found itself behind its morning rival on the big national stories, especially in the years of Viet Nam and Watergate. Reporter James R. Polk did win a Pulitzer Prize this year for a series on the financing of the 1972 Nixon campaign. But the Star-News' most notable recent exclusive fell in its lap: an interview with the President right after his 1972 victory, granted in retaliation for the Post's Watergate digging.

Allbritton is known to be casting around for someone to succeed Newbold Noyes, 55, the Star-News' editor since 1963. Bill Moyers, former L.B.J. press secretary and a onetime publisher of Long Island's Newsday, is one of several possibilities. As for politics, Allbritton says only that his paper will be "objective and fair." Yet a me-too editorial stance would hardly help the Star-News gain much ground against the liberal Post; its best strategy may be to present itself as a strong conservative alternative. One thing seems certain: Allbritton plans a vigorous personal role. "I'm going to give the Post a run for its money," he says. "I think we can really make our presence felt."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.