E.W. Scripps CEO Richard Boehne thanked the hundreds of thousands of Rocky Mountain News subscribers who've read the high-energy tabloid paper for their support over the years, but said the growing recession and sharp drop in advertising revenues forced the closure of Colorado's oldest newspaper.

"It's a terrible tragedy for the paper, and it's a sad day for Denver as well," said Boehne said.

"This recession is nothing like anything any of us have lived through before," Beohne said. "It's dramatic and it's scary."

"We believe Denver deserves a great daily paper," he said. "I would have much rather that it had been the Rocky Mountain News."

Starting Saturday, readers will receive the Denver Post. The two dailies had functioned since 2001 under a partnership in which advertising, circulation and operations were handled by the Denver Newspaper Agency, while the two newsrooms operated independently.

Each paper published Monday through Friday, with the Rocky publishing the Saturday paper and the Post publishing the Sunday paper.

"I take my hat off to the Rocky Mountain News," said Dean Singleton, owner of the Denver Post.

The two newspapers have competed fiercely over the years. That Denver will now be served by just one daily is something "we take very seriously," Singleton said. "The competition that gave us an edge will be gone."

"Denver can support one newspaper," Singleton said. "It just can't support two."

Rocky Publisher John Temple said readers should expect a "spectacular" Friday edition and he repeated a phrase he offered to staffers when announcing the paper's closure and final edition early in the day.

"It's rare that you get to play the music at your own funeral," he said. "I'd like to play it well."

Scripps' stock price dropped nearly 9 percent after Scripps made its decision to print the final edition of the Rocky tomorrow.