LOUISIANA DAILY NEWSPAPER TO FOLD

The last city in Louisiana with separately owned and competing daily newspapers will become a single-paper town on March 30 when The Shreveport Journal shuts down, its owner announced Monday. Charles Beaird, who bought the Journal in 1976, cited dwindling circulation and revenues as the cause of the publication's demise.

Circulation had dropped from a high of 54,000 in the early 1970s to 16,000, according to a spokesman for the Times, the competing morning daily paper owned by Gannett.

The Journal and the Times shared the same building, presses, and advertising and circulation departments, even though the papers were independently owned.

In his announcement, Dr. Beaird said that the Times would publish a full editorial page, drafted by Beaird, containing editorials, national and local columns, editorial cartoons, and letters to the editor of the Journal on weekdays as long as Beaird remains The Journal's publisher.