In 1903, Richard F. Hudson Sr., a young Alabama newspaperman, joined the staff of the Advertiser and rose through the ranks of the newspaper.

Hudson purchased the remaining shares of the company in 1935, and five years later he bought the Alabama Journal, a competitor founded in Montgomery in 1889.

[5] The Alabama Journal continued as a local afternoon paper until April 16, 1993, when it published its last issue before merging with the morning Advertiser.

[6] The newspaper won the first of its three Pulitzer Prize awards under the direction of Grover C. Hall (1888–1941), who came to the Advertiser in 1910 and served as editor from 1926 until his death.

The Advertiser waged war on the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s, and became nationally prominent for its coverage and editorial stance.