The Express & Echo was established in 1904 as the result of a merger between the Western Echo and the Devon Evening Express, which was founded in 1864. It was published on green-tinted newsprint until 1930. It switched from broadsheet to tabloid format in 1979. It was published daily until September 2011, when it became a weekly newspaper.In 2012, Local World acquired previous owner Northcliffe Media from Daily Mail and General Trust.Local World was subsequently acquired by Trinity Mirror. From February 2015 the paper began publishing bi-weekly, with a smaller and more compact Monday edition alongside the Thursday edition.