Long Beach Downtown & Uptown Gazette Changes Distribution Day

The Downtown & Update Gazette, Long Beach (CA) will change its distribution day from Monday to Friday, effective July 2, 2010.  The last Monday edition will be June 28th. 

Selah Independent to Cease Publishing

The Selah Independent will cease publishing on May 26th, 2010 per owners Mike and Pat Lindsey.  They cite declining revenue as the primary cause.

The Selah Independent was launched on July 4, 2007 and is part of the Lindsey Group which includes the Toppenish Review Independent, Yakima Valley Business Journal and Penny Press.

Palo Alto Daily Post Adds Saturday Distribution

The Palo Alto Daily Post, a free daily newspaper covering Palo Alto and surrounding communities in California, recently added Saturday distribution in addition to its Monday through Friday distribution. 

The Daily Post was launched in May 2008.

Vinton Voice Closes

The Vinton Voice, a community publication covering Vinton, Virginia, ceased publishing on May 17th, 2010.  The Vinton Voice was launched August 26, 2009 by Chris Manning, to compete with the Vinton Messenger.

San Diego Union-Tribune Changes Page Size

The San Diego Union-Tribune has announced that it will change its page size to the standard 44" web width effective August 17, 2010.

As a result of this change, preprints may not exceed 11" x 11".

Muscatine Journal Changes to Morning Delivery

The Muscatine Journal, a daily newspaper covering Muscatine, Iowa, will be switching from evening distribution to morning distribution effective Monday, May 24th. 

Arrowhead Ranch Independent Re-Opens for Business

The Arrowhead Ranch Independent re-opened for business in January 2010, after closing in August 2007.  The Arrowhead Ranch Independent is now a monthly publication, with a distribution of 12,000.

Gilbert Independent Re-Opens for Business

The Gilbert Independent, a free community publication covering Gilbert, Arizona and other communities in Maricopa County, has re-opened for business. The Independent had closed down in August 2007.

The Independent will now have a weekly distribution of 15,000. However, the publication will have four different editions, and each week the distribution will be covering a different distribution area, so that over the course of four weeks the Independent will cover 60,000 homes.

Chandler Indepedent Re-Opens for Business

The Chandler Independent, a free community publication covering Chandler, Arizona and other communities in Maricopa County, has re-opened for business.  The Independent had closed down in August 2007.

The Independent will now have a weekly distribution of 15,000.  However, the publication will have four different editions, and each week the distribution will be covering a different distribution area, so that over the course of four weeks the Independent will cover 60,000 homes.

World Company Closes Three Publications

World Company, publisher of the Lawrence Journal World, closed three publications in March of 2010.  These included the shopper Piper Dispatch Ads, and two paid community papers, the DeSoto Explorer and the Eudora News.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser to debut June 7

Hawaii's two largest newspapers -- the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and The Honolulu Advertiser -- will publish separately for the last time June 6.

Star-Bulletin Publisher Dennis Francis says the newspapers will then merge June 7 to form the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The owner of the Star-Bulletin, Oahu Publications Inc., has purchased the larger Advertiser from Gannett Co.

Francis says the merger means about one-third of the Star-Bulletin's 300 employees and about half of the Advertiser's staff of 580 will lose their jobs.

He says under union contracts, Star-Bulletin members of the Hawaii Newspaper Guild will retain their newsroom jobs.

Francis says he expects the size of the Star-Advertiser newsroom to be between 75 and 120 workers.

Montreal Catholic Times Ceases Publishing

The Montreal Catholic Times will cease publishing immediately due to a cut in funding, per editor Eric Durocher. The Catholic Times is the only English-speaking Catholic publication in Montreal.  The Catholic Times recently had its operating budget cut in half after losing $30,000 in funding.  If the situation is not remedied, the Catholic Times will remain closed.

Cedar Rapids Gazette Changes TMC

The Cedar Rapids Gazette discontinued its Community News Advertiser TMC product on March, 31 2010, and replaced it with a Penny Saver Select TMC product.  The Penny Saver is an opt-in TMC product.  The TMC is still a Wednesday delivered product.

"Newspapers First" Closing Down in June

Newspapers First will close up shop next month. CEO Bob Termotto confirmed this morning that "June 4th will be the last day" for the newspaper advertising rep firm. A reorganization last July downsized Newspapers First from about 60 to the current 35 persons. "It's just changed that much, and needs a new direction," Termotto said of newspapers' current business environment and "how they're going to handle national advertising."

Dating back almost 50 years, to Million Market Newspapers, Newspapers First is the product of the combination of several large newspaper groups' sales companies over the years. It is owned by the owners of the newspapers it represents. The ad sales organization represented newspapers recently reaching 21 million readers weekdays and 29 million on Sunday, with local Websites accounting for more than a billion monthly page views.

Focused on newspapers in major markets, it represented 34 dailies, from Philadelphia to Houston to Honolulu, with almost half the U.S. population and retail sales in those markets.

Newspapers First promoted its customized buys and local expertise, offering a range of demographic, market-sales and product-usage data, supporting efforts such as developing geo/demographic targeting, and showing advertisers and agencies how to reach an entire DMA or select portions. It helped them target audiences by editorial and lifestyle interests, and assisted with database marketing, product sampling and online advertising.

Godfrey to Acquire Canwest

Canwest Global Communications has approved a sales of its newspaper chain to Paul Godfrey, president of the National Post.  The plan is for the deal to close on July 15th, following bankruptcy court approval on May 15th.  All existing papers in the group are expected to remain in business.

Canwest publishes 12 daily newspapers and 45 community and free papers.  The dailies include the Vancouver Sun, Montreal Gazette, and Ottawa Citizen.

Canwest had applied for reorganization back in January 2010.

Maddux Business Report to Cease Publishing

The Maddux Business Report, a business journal covering the Tampa Bay area of Florida, will cease publishing after its June 2010 issue, per editor and publisher Carlen Maddux.  The Maddux Business Report has been in print since 1983. 

The online version of the publication will continue publish.

Voice of the Hill Closing

The Voice of the Hill, a community paper covering local news in the Washington D.C. area, announced that it is closing due to declining revenues.

Chicago Free Press Closes

The Chicago Free Press, a gay and lesbian publication, ceased publishing on April 29, 2010 due to lack of funding from publisher David Costanzo, who is suffering from health problems.  The Free Press had a weekly distribution of approximately 23,000.

Freedom Communications Emerges from Bankruptcy

Freedom Communications announced on May 1st that they have formally emerged from Bankruptcy, with its dept decreased from $770 millon to $320 million.  Freedom Communications owns 32 daily newspapers across the country, including the Orange County Register, Colorado Springs Gazette and New Bern Sun Journal.

Freedom Communications had filed for bankruptcy on September 1st, 2009.

Brown Publishing Files for Bankruptcy

Newspaper publishers Brown Media Holdings Co. and Brown Publishing Co. filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection on April 30th.  An unnamed bidder plans to assume a substantial portion of the liabilities and assets.

Brown Publishing has publications in ten states: Ohio, New York, Texas, South Carolina, Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming, which includes fifteen daily publications, thirty two weekly publications, forty one shoppers / free publications and eleven business publications. The sale will include all the assets.

Some of the papers involved are the Delaware Gazette, Wilmington News Journal, Troy Daily News and Piqua Daily Call.