The Islands’ Sounder was founded in 1964 by Al and Nickee Magnuson as The Orcas Sounder. It later became The Orcas Island Booster; the Magnusons named it The Islands’ Sounder in 1974. It was a free tabloid that, after 1979, was distributed to every mail address in San Juan County. Ted and Kay Grossman bought the Sounder in November 1985 and converted it into a broadsheet with countywide paid circulation. The Grossmans sold the Sounder in 1994 to Sound Publishing Inc., which is based in Poulsbo, WA. Sound Publishing added a Friday Harbor edition of the Sounder and expanded the newspaper’s coverage of San Juan Island. When Sound Publishing purchased the Friday Harbor-based Journal of the San Juan Islands, the Sounder returned to its Orcas Island roots, although it continues to serve the entire county. The Islands’ Sounder also publishes islandssounder.com, an online news site devoted to coverage of Orcas Island and the surrounding area.
