Blog has Moved

We have moved our blog.  Click on this link OR type http://info.acgmedia.com/thoughts/changing-world-of-print-media-blog/.  All of our previous content has been moved.

Thank you.

Blount Today and Knoxville Magazine Close

The Knoxville News Sentinel announced on October 10th, 2011 that it was discontinuing the publishing of the Blount Today and the Knoxville Magazine.  The Blount Today was distributed twice weekly, on Monday and Thursdays.  It's last day will be Thursday, October 13th.  The Knoxville Magazine is a monthly publication and will cease publishing after the November issue.

Perry County Good News

The Perry County Good News, a weekly publication in Perry County, Ohio, announced it has closed for business effective the week of 10/3/2011.

Ozaukee Sunday Post Closes

Lakeshore Newspapers closed the Ozaukee Sunday Post on September 25th, 2011, in order to focus on their Ozaukee Guide product.

McMinnville Village Advocate Closed

The McMinnville Village Advocate, a weekly free publication with approximately 28,000 circulation closed in August 2011.

Gay Chicago Switches to Bi-Weekly

Gay Chicago, an gay entertainment weekly in the Chicago area, switched from weekly distribution to bi-weekly distribution on September 21st, 2011.

Centralia Chronicle to Drop to Three Day Distribution

The Centralia Chronicle announced that effective November 1st, it will cease publishing Monday through Saturday, and will instead publish only on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Hemet Valley Chronicle Sold and to Remain Open

The Hemet Valley Chronicle has been sold to a Nevada newspaper group and will remain open.  Last week the Century Group had announced it was closing the publication.

Hemet Valley Chronicle to Close

The Hemet Valley Chronicle, a community paper owned by Century Group Newspapers, will cease publishing after its September 16th, 2011 edition.  The Valley Chronicle was launched in 2001, and has a weekly circulation of approximately 27,000.

[Editor Note: On September 15th it was announced the Hemet Valley Chronicle was sold and will remain open]

St. Augustine Underground Closes

Osteen Publishing acquired the Ponte Vedra Recorder, Clay Today and the St. Augustine Underground this week.  The Underground, a monthly publication, was then closed effectively immediately.

Osteen Publishing owns the Sumter Item.

Chicago Tribune Drops Tabloid Single Copy Version

The Chicago Tribune will discontinue its tabloid single copy edition effective September 2, 2011.  The Tribune had launched the tabloid version in 2009 to compete for the Chicago Sun-Times single copy readership.  It would return its single copy to the paper's standard broadsheet format.

CIPS to Deliver Vida en el Valle

CIPS Marketing has reached an agreement with the Fresno Bee to deliver the weekly Hispanic publication Vida en el Valle in the San Joaquin Valley.  It was also announced that CIPS will deliver some of the Fresno Bee's TMC product to the outlying areas.

Western Communications Files Bankruptcy

Western Communications field for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection per an article by David Nogueras at OPB News.  The company hopes to recover from bankruptcy in six months.

Western Communciations owns the Bend Bulletin, along with four other papers in Oregon and two in California.

Bay Area News Group Makes Changes in SF East Bay

The Bay Area News Group announced today The Oakland Tribune will be renamed the East Bay Tribune and their other properties in the San Francisco East Bay Area (West County Times, the Alameda Times-Star, the Daily Review of Hayward and the Argus of Fremont) will also be renamed East Bay Tribune.

The Contra Costa Times, Valley Times, Tri-Valley Herald, San Joaquin Herald, and East County Times will all become known as The Times.   Additionally, the San Mateo County Times will become an edition of the San Jose Mercury News, focusing on Peninsula issues.   The East Bay papers will all retain their own separate local news section that covers its community.  

As part of the consolidation and renaming, BANG says it will eliminate 120 news and production jobs.

Two new weekly newspapers will be launched in the East Bay:  The Valley Journal serving Alamo, Danville, and San Ramon; and the Times-Herald, covering Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton and Sunol.

Chicago Red Eye to Discontinue Saturday

Tribune Company has announced that it will discontinue the Saturday print edition of the Chicago Red Eye, effective September 3, 2011.  The free tabloid will continue to distribute Monday through Friday.

Franklin County Citizen and News Leader Merge

The Franklin County Citizen and the News Leader (Royston) have merged their publications to form the new Franklin County Citizen Leader effective August 25th, 2011.  The two publications both had covered Franklin County, Georgia.

New York Press to Close, Our Town Downtown to Relaunch

Manhattan Media has announced that it will close the alternative weekly the New York Press effective August 25th, 2011.  At the same time, it also stated it was re-opening the Our Town Downtown, a community weekly publication.

Two More Alaskan Newspapers Sold

A few weeks back Calista Corporation announced it was closing all six weekly newspapers in its Alaska Newspaper group.  Calista was able to sell four of the publications before they closed, and last week they announced that they were able to sell the final two, the Seward Phoenix Log and the Tundra Drums, thus allowing all six publications to remain open.

Aurora Sentinel and Metro East Announce Changes

The Aurora Sentinel will cease being a daily publication effective September 8th, 2011, and will convert to a weekly / Thursday-only publication at that time.  The online site will continue to have news for seven days a week.

On that same date, the Buckley Guardian (covering Buckley Air Force Base) will switch from Friday distribution to Thursday distribution.

The Aurora Sentinel will also launch a new publication called Life Science, covering the Fitzsimmons Life Science District in Aurora, Colorado. This publication will target the medical professionals in the area, with 5,000 weekly distribution each Thursday.

Four ASP Westward Publications to Merge

ASP Westward announced today that effective September 8th, 2011, four of its publications will merge together to form the new Cypress Creek Mirror.  The four publications are the Cypress Sun, Cy-Fair Sun, Champions Sun and Klein Sun.  Each of the four publications will last run on September 1st, 2011.

Johnson County Sun closes

The Kansas City Business Journal has reported that the Johnson County Sun closed for business permanently on Tuesday, August 16th, 2011.  The Sun was a weekly publication with distribution around 30,000.

Bluffton Today Changes Distribution Days & Subscription Status

Michael C. Traynor, the publisher of the Bluffton Today, announced that effective August 24th, 2011, the Today would switch to publishing just two days a week, Wednesday and Sunday. The publication would also change from a paid subscriber publication to a free delivered publication. 

The paper will also revert back to a broadsheet format.

The Bluffton today was launched in 2005 as a free publication, and converted to a subscriber based publication in December 2008.

LA Times Folds BrandX

It was reported two weeks ago in LAObserved that the L.A. Times would cease publishing its' youth arts & events-based free weekly tabloid, BrandX.  The last issue was published June 29, and the web site was shut-down July 8.    Staffers at the publication will be transitioned elsewhere in the organization.   The L.A. Times accompanied the announcement with news of expansion in Times Community News papers in Pasadena, Laguna Niguel and Aliso Viejo.

Three More Alaska Publications Survive

Calista Corporation has sold three more of its weekly publications that were scheduled to be closed on August 15th.  Jason Evans and Kiana Peacock have purchased the Dutch Harbor Fisherman, Artic Sounder and Bristol Bay Times from Calista, along with The Equipment Shopper and Bush Shopper.

New York Observer Changes Format

The New York Observer has announced that it will change its format to a mini-broadsheet on August 24th, 2011. 

Times Community Newspapers Launches Two New Publications

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Times Community Newspapers will launch two new publications later this week. On Friday August 5th, the Pasadena Sun will launch as a weekly publication, and on Sunday August 7th, the Sunday Valley Sun will launch, covering the San Gabriel Valley weekly.

Leesville Daily Leader Changes Distribution Days

The Leesville Daily Leader announced that effective August 1st, 2011, the publication would publish on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, instead of five days a week.

Cordova Times Stays Alive

Calista Corp has sold the Cordova Times to Jennifer Gibbins, which will allow the publication to remain open.  The Times had been one of six publications that Calista Corp has announced it was closing on  August 15th.

Monroe News-Star Shortens the Page

The Monroe News-Star announced that on August 1st, 2011 it reduced its page size by 3", changing it from a 6 col by 21.5" publication to a 6 col by 18.5".

Alaska Newspapers Inc. Closes

Calista Corporation has announced that it will close the Alaska Newspaper Inc newspaper chain which contain six publications, effective at some point in August 2011. 

The publications include the Artic Sounder, Bristol Bay Times, Cordova Times, Dutch Harbor Fisherman, Tundra Drums, and Seward Phoenix Log. 

Quick Closes

The Quick, an alternative weekly publication published by the Dallas Morning News, has closed for business effective the week of August 1st, 2011.

Aurora Daily Discontinues

The Aurora Daily, a daily publication covering Aurora, Colorado, ceased publication on May 4th, 2011.

Philadelphia Daily News to Cease Preprint Insertion

The Philadelphia Daily News has informed its customers that it no longer will insert preprints into its product effective October 1st, 2011.  The Daily News provided cost efficiencies as the problem, as they were no longer able to make it profitable enough to continue.

The Daily News feels it is still a robust ROP advertising product with a strong, loyal reader, but does not have enough insert revenue to justify the cost of inserting.

Sylvania Herald Closes

The Sylvania Herald has closed after 120 years of publishing per an announcement on their website.  The Herald was a weekly publication with approximately 12,500 distribution.

Boyle Heights Beat Launches

A new quarterly Hispanic publication, the Boyles Height Beat is launching this month, June 2011. The publication is a bilingual publication with a distribution of 22,000.  A unique aspect of the publication is that it is being published by fourteen teenagers.

Waller County News Citizen To Close

The Waller County News Citizen has announced it will stop publishing on July 28, 2011.  The News Citizen is owned by ASP Westward, and distributes weekly with approximately 1700 distribution.

Baltimore B Changes to Weekly

The Baltimore Sun's publication 'B', a youth oriented publication, has changed from daily distribution to weekly distribution effective the first week of July 2011.  'B' will now come out on Wednesdays, instead of Monday through Friday.

Two Rivers Tribune Closes

The Two Rivers Tribune, the last Native American owned newspaper in California, closed on Friday July 1st due to financial issues and content controversy, per an article in the MercuryNews.com.

The Tribune was operated by the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council, and operated for 20 years with weekly distribution.

Action Shopper Closes

Gannett Wisconsin Media announced that they discontinued publishing the Waupun Action Shopper effective June 15, 2011.  They will continue to publish the Action Advertiser, Action Sunday, and Action Sunday West, all in the Fond du Lac area.

El Hispano News Closes

The El Hispano News, covering the Hispanic community of Albuquerque, New Mexico for the past 45 years, closed the week of June 21st, 2011.

Less Noise in Lansing, Michigan

Gannett's 'faux' alternative-weekly NOISE was silenced last week in Lansing, Michigan as they published their final print issue, an online-only version will continue to reside on The Lansing State Journal web site.    Noise was first published in Lansing in 2002 as part of Gannett's roll-out of alternative-type weekly publications across the country. 

Gannett Ceases Publishing Metromix in Indianapolis

Gannett published it's last print issue of Metromix in Indianapolis on June 23, 2011.  The 'faux' alternative weekly was first introduced in the market as INtake in 2003, continued when they changed their name to Indy.com in 2008, and again when they changed the name finally to Metromix in 2009.

Gannett partnered with the Tribune publishing company to produce Metromix in 2007 in a strategic move that placed it among other Metromix products across 60 cities in the U.S.   Despite print closures in a number of markets, the digital network continues to grow with 63 current markets represented in the U.S.

Sedalia Democrat to Drop Sunday Edition

The Sedalia Democrat has announced that it will be discontinuing its Sunday edition effective July 2, 2011.  The Democrat will then publish Monday through Saturday, with Saturday representing its Weekend edition.

Great Plains Examiner Launches

The Great Plains Examiner, a free monthly publication covering local politics and business news, has launched in the Bismarck-Mandan area of North Dakota.  Publisher Matt Bunk expects to have a distribution of about 11,300, and will have an accompanying website www.greatplainsexaminer.com.

Fairfax County Times Changes Distribution Day

The Fairfax County Times, North and South editions, has changed its distribution day to Friday, and is now presenting itself as a weekend publication, per the Washington Suburban Press Network.  This change take effect immediately.

Vail Mountaineer Closes

The Vail Mountaineer, a free daily newspaper, closed on June 7, 2011, due to economic reasons.  The Mountaineer was launched in June 2008 by Jim Pavelich.

Denver Daily News Closes

The Denver Daily News closed on June 7th, 2011.  Publisher Kristie Hannon stated that the publication was not sustainable.

The Daily News was a free daily publication with a circulation of roughly 12,000.

Diario San Diego To Close

Diario San Diego, a Hispanic newspaper covering the San Diego market, has announced that it will close for business June 16th, 2011.  It's website www.diariosandiego.com will close at the end of the month.

Diario was launched in 2005, and had a peak circulation of 30,000 in 2009.

Inland Empire Closes Business Press

Inland Empire has announced it is closing the Business Press, effective June 6, 2011, after sixteen years of publication.

Columbia The State Changes TMC Delivery Method

The State (Columbia, SC) has announced that it will change the delivery method of its TMC product effective August 17th, 2011.  The State has reached an agreement with American Newspaper Solutions (ANS) to carrier deliver its TMC.

This will be a twelve week phased roll out starting with 35,000 households on August 17th. 

Overton Press Closing

The Overton Press, a weekly community publication covering the Overton and Kilgore areas of Texas, will be closing on June 2, 2011 per an article in the News-Journal.  The Press was founded in 1930, and is currently operated by Westward Communications.

Skirt! Magazine Closes Raleigh Edition

Skirt! Magazine announced it was ceasing publication of its Raleigh edition as of May 9th, 2011.

Two McClatchy Kansas City Publications to Close

The Blue Springs Journal and Belton Star Herald will close effective May 11th, 2011 and May 12th, 2011, respectively, per kansascity.com.  These two weekly publications are owned by McClatchy and cover Kansas City suburbs.

Enterprise Newspaper Renamed Weekly Herald

Sound Publishing renamed its Enterprise Newspaper the Weekly Herald effective April 20th, 2011.  This publication covers the Washington communities of Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, and Lynnwood, among others.

The Enterprise Newspaper was created in September 2009 when Sound Publishing consolidated six community edition Enterprise publications into the one publication.

Roswell Beacon Closes

The Roswell Beacon, covering North Fulton County in Georgia, announced its bankruptcy on April 8th, 2011, and ceased publishing immediately.

The Beacon launched in 2007 and was a weekly publication.

Wilmington Dialog to Close in Fall of 2011

The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington has announced that the Dialog, a weekly Catholic publication, will cease publishing effective the fall of 2011 as a cost cutting measure.  The Dialog has been distributing since 1965, reaches approximately 55,000 households in the Wilmington area.

Round Rock Leader to Discontinue Tuesday Distribution

The Round Rock Leader, part of Austin Community Newspapers, will discontinue its Tuesday distribution effective June 1st, 2011.  The publication will continue to distribute on Thursdays and Saturdays, with approximately 7400 circulation.

Tinley Park Pennysaver Closes

The Tinley Park Pennysaver, a Chicago Sun Times publication, ceased publishing on February 15th, 2011.  The Pennysaver had a weekly Tuesday distribution of approximately 64,000.

American Communications Group Celebrates 24th Birthday

American Communications Group (ACGMedia), one of the nation's premier print media agencies, and the largest independently owned, celebrated its 24th birthday on April 13th. The company, based on out of Torrance, CA, handles all aspects of print media management including media analysis, planning and budgeting, contract negotiations and management, print media placement, invoice management and reconciliation.

ACGMedia also handles digital advertising, including online advertising, mobile application advertising, e-mail blasts, and social networking opportunities.

ACGMedia specializes in retail advertising, though is not exclusive to that category. ACGMedia provides media placement solutions for the following companies: JCPenney, Michaels, Aaron Brothers, Family Dollar Stores, ShopKo, and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Savings Spree Launched

The Savings Spree was launched in March 2011. This is a new opt-in shopper program coordinated between four different Philadelphia newspaper companies to cover the Philadelphia market.  The Savings Spree includes efforts from the owners of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Bucks County Courier Times, Burlington County Times, Cherry Hill Courier Post, Delaware County Daily Times, Doylestown Intelligencer, Lansdale Reporter, Norristown Times Herald, Pottstown Mercury, West Chester Daily Local News and Wilmington News Journal.

The launch is four phase, with Phase I having approximately 158,000 distribution.  Phase II will be later this summer, with an expected additional distribution of 75k to 125k. 

Catholic Standard & Times Converts to Monthly

The Catholic Standard and Times, the official paper of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, will be converting to monthly distribution per David O'Reilly of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  The Standard and Times has been a weekly publication for the past 116 years, but the paid distribution has dropped to 31,000, necessitating the change.

Garner Citizen Closes Print Edition

The Garner Citizen, a weekly publication, ceased publishing on March 16th, 2011.  The publication had approximately 1,000 subscribers.  The Garner Citizen's website will continue to publish content.

Casemate to Close

The Casemate, a military publication covering Fort Monroe, will cease publishing on June 3, 2011 per Mark Bennett. senior advertising director of Military Newspapers of Virginia.  Fort Monroe, located in Hampton, Virginia, is scheduled for closure later this year.

Sun Publications Re-opened Clay County Sun Tribune Under New Name

Sun Publications had closed the Clay County Sun Tribune in February 2010.  They have subsequently re-opened that publication under the new name Gladstone Dispatch, per Susan, National/Major Accounts Advertising Manager at NPG Newspapers.

Emporia Shopper Closes

The Emporia Shopper, a 21,000+ circulation shopper covering Emporia, Kansas closed for business the last week of December, 2010.

Evening News and Journal to Merge

The Jefferson Evening News and the New Albany Tribune will merge to form one publication, the News And Journal, effective April 1, 2011.  Per Bill Hanson, publisher, the distribution footprint of the combined papers will remain the same as the two original dailies, and the shipping facilities remain the same.

Alice Newspapers Merge

Alice Newspapers (Alice, TX) has merged the Orange Grove Journal into the Alice Echo News-Journal effective 2010.

Metro Winnipeg and Metro London to Launch in April

Metro Canada has announced it will be launching two new free daily newspapers: Metro Winnipeg and Metro London.  The rack delivered publications will have 40,000 distribution into Winnipeg, and 35,000 distribution into London, Ontario.  This increases Metro Canada's publication list to nine different editions.

Metro Spirit and Metro Parent Closes

The Metro Spirit, an Augusta (GA) based alternative weekly published by Portico Publications, ceased publishing on March 2nd, 2011 per an article in the Augusta Chronicle.  The Metro Spirit had a free Wednesday distribution of approximately 19,000.

Portico Publications also ceased publishing the Metro Parent this week.  The Metro Parent had roughly 12,000 circulation into the Augusta area.

Two JRNN Publications Merge

Effective March 1st, 2011, the Huron County Press and the Bad Axe Thumb Blanket will merge together to form the Huron County View per Shelley Owens of the Journal Register Newspaper Network.  The Huron County View will be a mailed publication distributed on Thursdays.

In September of 2010, JRNN added the Flint Township View and Swartz Creek View to their group.

Flashes Shopping Guide Closes

The Flashes Shopping Guide closed on November 24th, 2010 per their website.  The publication covered several Florida communities including Stuart, Hobe Sound, Port Salerno, Palm City, Jensen Beach, Port St. Lucie, and Ft. Pierce.

Socorro Mountail Mail Closes

The Socorro Mountain Mail, a weekly publication with approximately 2,000 circulation, closed the week of January 24th, 2011 per the Socorro News.

Rochester Sentinel Closes TMC Product

The Rochester Sentinel, a daily newspaper covering Rochester, Indiana, discontinued its TMC product, The Compass, on January 1st, 2011.

Atlanta Sunday Paper to Close

The Atlanta Sunday Paper, an alternative weekly in the Atlanta area, has announced it will be cease publishing with this weekend being the last issue.  The publication had switched its format in early January 2011, switching from a content based publication to advertising/classifieds only.

Sound Publishing Alters Bothell Kenmore Distribution Days

Sound Publishing has announced that effective March 4th, 2011, the Bothell Kenmore Reporter will no longer be distributed weekly.  Instead, it will now be delivered on the first and third Fridays of each month.

The publication days for the upcoming year, per publisher Andrea Southern, are:

March 4, 18

April 1, 15

May 6, 20

June 3,17

July 1, 15, 29

August 5, 19

September 2, 16, 30

October 7, 21

November 4, 18

December 2, 16

January 6, 20 in 2012

February 3, 17 in 2012

Karnes County Papers Merge

Beeville Publishing purchased the Karnes Countywide and the Karnes County Times, and merged the two publications into a new Karnes Countywide on February 2nd, 2011. 

Calvert Independent Closes

The Calvert Independent, a weekly paper covering Calvert County Maryland for past seventy years, ceased publishing the week of January 5th, 2011.

Three Utah Weeklies Close

Daily Herald Publishing, publishers of the Provo Daily Herald, closed three weekly publications yesterday, January 26th, 2011.  The three publications were the Springville Herald, the Spanish Fork Press and Nebo Reporter. 

Daily Herald Publishing closed five weeklies back in February 2009.

Nelson Express To Close

The Nelson Express, an independently owned community paper covering Nelson, British Columbia, will cease publishing on February 2nd, 2011.  The owner Nelson Becker cited aggressive competition from the Nelson Star as a primary reason.

Westview Changes to Nashville Ledger

The Westview, a weekly Nashville area publication, re-launched January 18th, 2011 as the Nashville Ledger.  The Ledger has approximately 7,500 distribution, was acquired last year by the Daily News Publishing Company.

Argus Champion to Re-Open

Eagle Publishing has announced that the Newport Argus Champion is re-opening for business on January 25th, 2011 under new management. The publication will now be a monthly publication inserted into the Claremont Eagle-Times.

The Argus Champion was previously a weekly publication. It closed on July 16, 2008.

Eagle Publishing has previously re-opened three other publications also closed at the same time. The Weekly Flea re-opened in September 2009, the Clarement Eagle Times in October 2009, and the Message for the Week in November 2009.

Current In Fishers to Launch

Current Publishing (IN) will be launching a new publication, Current In Fishers, on January 25th, 2011.  The free publication will be mailed to homes in Fishers, Indiana, every Tuesday, with an approximate distribution of 27,000.

Current Publishing has three other publications: Current in Carmel, Current in Noblesville and Current in Westfield.

Sun Times Media Alters Aurora, Joliet and Naperville Distribution

The Sun Times Media Group, per an article in the Chicago Tribune, will be changing the distribution days for the Aurora Beacon News, Joliet Herald News and Naperville Sun, effective the week of February 12th, 2011.

The Beacon News and Herald News will both drop their Saturday editions, leaving the publications with six days of distribution each week.  The Naperville Sun will have a more significant change, switching to delivery three times a week: Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. 

Andover American Launches

Gatehouse Media has announced it will launch a new weekly publication the Andover American this week.  This free Thursday publication will cover Andover, Kansas and the surrounding area.

New Glendale/Burbank Publication

The Las Angeles Times Community Newspaper group announced that it was launching a new weekly Sunday publication the Sunday News-Press & Leader on January 30th, 2011.  This publication will primarily target readers of the existing Glendale News-Press and the Burbank Leader.

As a result of this new publication, the Glendale News-Press will discontinue its Monday distribution, reducing to a Tuesday through Saturday publication.

Three Wisconsin Weeklies Merge

Three weekly papers owned by the News Publishing Co. of Black Earth merged together the first week of January 2011 to form the Trempealeau County Times.  The three papers were the Arcadia News Leader, Whitehall Times and Galesville Republican.

Road Racer X Closes

Road Racer X, a publication dedicated to covering motorcycle road racing, has announced that they have ceased publishing both the bi-monthly magazine and their website.

Adair Progress Changes Distribution Days

The Adair Progress changed its distribution days effective January 1st, 2011.  The Progress, a bi-weekly publication, switched from Tuesday and Thursday distribution to Monday and Wednesday distribution.  The Monday distribution aligns with the paper's TMC distribution day.

Loudoun Independent Ceases as Stand Alone

The Loudoun Independent will cease as a stand alone publication in the second week of January, 2011, and will instead be inserted as a special tab section in the Loudoun Times-Mirror.

Antigo Buyers Guide Closes

The Antigo Buyers Guide, part of the Buyers Guide Group (WI) closed in early December.  The publication was a weekly shopper with approximately 14,000 circulation, covering Antigo, Wisconsin and surrounding communities.