Chronicle Features was the syndication arm of the San Francisco Chronicle. Syndicating comic strips, newspaper columns, and editorial features, it operated from 1962 to c. 1998. The syndicate was known for the offbeat comic strips it championed, such as Gary Larson's The Far Side, Dan Piraro's Bizarro, and the editorial cartoons of Ted Rall. The service was acquired by Universal Press Syndicate in 1997 and went defunct soon after. Long-time Chronicle employee Stanleigh Arnold was the syndicate's first general manager, holding that job until his 1982 retirement. He brought on Phil Frank's Farley and Larson's Far Side. Stuart Dodds, an original employee of the syndicate, rose to sales manager and then editor/general manager, expanding the company's focus from columns to features and comic strips.
History
The Chronicle Features Syndicate was formed in 1962 to syndicate the San Francisco Chronicle's star columnists. Chronicle Features' first comic strips were Dan O'Neill's Odd Bodkins and Bill Weber's Doctor Funshine, both launched in 1963. Doctor Funshine lasted four years, but O'Neill's more successful Odd Bodkins had a tumultuous end in 1970 that coincided with O'Neill's activities with the underground comix group the Air Pirates. Phil Frank's Farley began in 1975 as Travels With Farley. Farley began as a nationally syndicated strip with Chronicle Features, but Frank missed the "timeliness and joy of doing local politics" and, dissatisfied with the four-to-six week lead time required of syndication, in 1985 switched to working exclusively for the Chronicle, which enabled him to quickly mine local events — usually overnight — for his satire. In 1985, Gary Larson left Chronicle Features for much larger rival Universal Press Syndicate. The Far Side was replaced with Dan Piraro's Bizarro, but in 1995 Piraro also left Chronicle Features for UPS. In 1995, Ted Rall's syndicated cartoons won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. A year later, however, Rall also left for UPS, prompting general manager Dodd to say, "There's sort of a path between us and Universal, and I'd like the grass to grow for a while." That same year, Chronicle Features turned down the chance to syndicate Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks, which went on to great success with UPS. In 1996 Chronicle Features outsourced their sales to UPS rival United Media; Dodd claimed, "We now offer the editorial intimacy of a small syndicate and the marketing power of a large one." Nonetheless, a year later Chronicle Features was acquired by the Universal Press Syndicate, and absorbed by UPS circa 1998..
