On December 31, 1991, its last owner, the Persis Corporation of Honolulu, shuttered the paper at the end of its joint operating agreement (JOA) with the larger Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Captain William Rule launched The Knoxville Daily Journal on February 26, 1885, after previous experience in the Tennessee newspaper industry.

[4] The Journal, citing the uncertainty created by the advent of television, shuttered the station on April 15, 1949,[5] and sold its equipment to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (which started WUOT)[6] and its records to the general public.

It then put the Journal up for sale; one source believed Gannett had essentially used the Knoxville publication as leverage to improve its deal in another JOA with a Scripps newspaper in El Paso, Texas.

[8] Howard Baker considered a purchase, but Gannett ultimately found a buyer in a consortium of Journal editor Ron McMahan and William C. McKinney, publisher of the Gannett-owned The Reporter in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

[13] The Weekend Journal only ran until August 28, 1992, when it printed its last edition, citing weak advertising sales due to the early 1990s recession.