The state’s unemployment rate had risen. Large employers were reducing their work forces or pulling out of the state altogether. Small business owners were seeing their markets erode.

Robert C. Payne, owner of Business Computer Service in Charleston, and his brother, Henry E. Payne III, owner of Payne Engineering in Putnam County — joined by Charleston attorney Fred F. Holroyd — decided to start a journal to cover the state business scene.

Robert Payne was aware that numerous tabloid-size business journals had emerged across the country at the time, especially in urban markets. He took the lead in establishing the newspaper enterprise, moving it into his Business Computer Service building at 1210 Smith St. in Charleston.

In the October 1984 inaugural issue, Robert Payne explained his reasons for starting The State Journal: “A statewide communications mechanism for West Virginia business does not exist. So why not make one?”

He said he found existing media coverage of West Virginia business lacking.

“Businessmen read voraciously,” Payne observed. “They read national publications — the Wall Street Journal and Inc. They read trade journals, like Coal Age. But nowhere is there a place for West Virginia businessmen to read about West Virginia business.

“West Virginia businessmen are married to West Virginia whether they like it or not,” he continued. “Where you are is the source of your well-being. And, frankly, my well-being isn’t well enough.

“And rather than complain, the typical businessman does something about it. Starting this newspaper is the most practical thing I can do.”

The State Journal hired an editor and advertising sales staff. News and sales staffs would expand during the first year of operation.

The State Journal debuted in October 1984 at the Charleston Chamber of Development and Commerce’s trade show, Cavalcade of Trade, at the Charleston Civic Center. The State Journal negotiated a printing agreement with Star Printing in Ravenswood and depended on the U.S. Postal Service for most of its delivery.

The inaugural 24-page issue had advertising largely from the Kanawha Valley. Advertisers included American Office Systems, Exutone, Kanawha Valley Bank, Jefferds, Prudential-Bache, New England Life, Business Computer Service, McDonough Caperton Insurance Group, Wesco Corp., National Travel Service, TAG Consortium, Syscon Systems Consulting Inc., The Computer Store, Parkline Inc. and Magnet Bank.

The profile of advertisers in the first issue was consistent with Payne’s goal to provide businesses a means to advertise their goods and services to other businesses.

An early advertising theme in The State Journal emphasized that the new publication offered a business-to-business, “rifle-shot” approach for advertisers. Payne believed general circulation newspapers and broadcast advertising missed the mark for business-oriented advertisers because those media serve readers and viewers who never would use a major insurance company, computer service provider or business equipment supplier.

The front page of the first issue included an index that previewed several inside stories, including interviews published in question-and-answer format with two gubernatorial candidates, Republican Arch A. Moore Jr. and Democrat Clyde See, and the two candidates for the U.S. Senate, former Gov. Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat, and John Raese, Republican Morgantown businessman. Moore and Rockefeller would win the November 1984 elections.

The inaugural issue also included a profile of the West Virginia Roundtable, a statewide business support organization made up of chief executive officers and presidents; a column by attorney Holroyd about employment at will, a column by Henry Payne about the benefits of power generation and a story about the Cavalcade of Trade, the Charleston Chamber of Development and Commerce’s trade show.

The State Journal published its second edition on Nov. 26, 1984. In its third issue, published Dec. 3, 1984, the newspaper said in a story on Page 1: “The State Journal, born only weeks ago, now is teething and coming out each week.”

During 1985, The State Journal pioneered the use of a new technology — desktop publishing. Robert Payne attracted interest nationally. In its March 15, 1986, issue, Editor & Publisher, a leading newspaper industry trade publication, published a story, “Using personal computers to put out a newspaper.” The story detailed the technology that Payne used in his publishing system.

It said:

“The monthly State Journal, a 40-page tabloid with a partially paid circulation of 10,000, is turning a small profit after about a year, thanks to the low cost of buying and operating computerized composition equipment, according to Payne, the publisher.

“Like a growing number of small newspapers around the nation, The State Journal is applying cheap new technology — personal computers and laser typesetters — to newspaper publishing.”

The newspaper operated as a weekly through most of 1985, but management announced late that year that it would adopt a monthly format.

Lorenelle White, an experienced advertising sales executive, joined the company in early 1990 and became sales manager. The newspaper continued as a monthly, but it eventually would add issues as sales grew.

White and her husband, Bill, bought the newspaper in early 1997 from the original ownership group. They announced in 1998 that it would resume a weekly publishing schedule.

The Whites sold the newspaper in late 2001 to West Virginia Media, which also owns television stations in four markets across the state.