Most staffers on the ailing Denver Post (circ. 227,000) had heard the rumors that their paper was for sale. So when the announcement came last week that the Los Angeles-based Times Mirror Co. had sold the paper for $95 million, few were shocked. What did surprise them was the buyer: William Dean Singleton, 36, a plump, boyish-looking Texan whose newspaper empire only a year ago consisted largely of small-town dailies.
Though Singleton may not yet rank with Gannett or Knight-Ridder, he is rapidly developing a knack for picking up troubled metropolitan papers at bargain prices. Only four days earlier, Singleton and...