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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Robertson County Newspapers Merges Publications

Robertson County Newspapers (TX) recently merged four publications into the newly named Robertson County News.  The four publications are the Hearne Democrat, Franklin Advocate, Calvert Tribune, and Robertson County Booster.

Bonham Publications Merge

The Bonham Journal, a weekly community publication, and the Fannin County Special, a shopper, merged in October 2010.  The new merged publication is staying under the name of the Fannin County Special, which now has a distribution of 14,200.  The publication has also converted to a broadsheet format.

Buyers Guide Group to Merge Two Publications

The Journal Community Publishing Group has announced that two of its Buyers Guide Group publications will merge into a new publication on Friday, November 5th, 2010.  The Marshfield Buyers Guide and the Wisconsin Rapids Buyers Guide will merge to become the Wood County Buyers Guide, covering both communities and surrounding areas with approximately 35,000 circulation each Friday.

Capital Gazette Newspapers Merge

The Annapolis West County Gazette and Crofton News-Crier, two weekly publications in the Capital Gazette Communications group, merged to form the Annapolis Crofton-West County Gazette on July 1st, 2010.  The new publication distributes on Thursday.

The Annapolis Capital Gazette also launched a Sunday Select program on July 25th.

Kewaunee Publications - Further Changes - Door Reminder to Close

As reported last Friday, the Kewaunee Publications (WI) was merging three weekly publications into a new publication. Further news from the Green Bay Press Gazette indicate that the Kewaunee Publications will close the free shopper Door Reminder on September 7, 2010.

Kewaunee will also launch a new alternative weekly called the Door County Now with Wednesday distribution.  This publication will be launched on September 15, 2010, and will be the result of a merger of the Resorter Reporter and the Kewaunee Vacation Guide.

Kewaunee Publications Merge

Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers will be merging together three publications from the Kewaunee area of Wisconsin.  Effective September 18th, 2010, the Kewaunee County News, Kewaunee County Star and Kewaunee County Snapshots will all merge to be come the Kewaunee County Star-News.

The new Kewaunee County Star-News will be a free weekly publication distributed on Saturdays.  The County News was a paid weekly with Wednesday distribution, the County Star a free weekly with Wednesday distribution and the Snapshots was a free Saturday publication.

Observer Dispatch Merges / Closes Pennysaver Editions

The Observer Dispatch (Utica, NY) merged four of its existing Pennysaver editions into the new Utica & Suburbs Pennysaver, effective July 22, 2010. The affected editions were the Utica Pennysaver, New Hartford Pennysaver, Clinton Riverside Pennysaver and Whitesboro Pennysaver.  The Utica & Suburbs Pennsyaver is expended to cover over 34,000 households via direct mail.

The Observer Dispatch also discontinued publishing of the North Country Pennysaver, effective July 8th, 2010.  That area now remains uncovered by the pennysaver group.

154-year-old Honolulu Advertiser Prints Last Issue

By AUDREY McAVOY (AP)

HONOLULU — For more than a century, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and The Honolulu Advertiser have competed to chronicle Hawaii, from the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and the Pearl Harbor attack to statehood and the election of island-born Barack Obama.

That rivalry ends Sunday when the Advertiser, Hawaii's largest newspaper, publishes its last edition after being bought out and combined with its smaller rival. More than 400 reporters, pressmen and other workers are losing their jobs.

The Advertiser is the latest casualty of the recession and the upheaval that the Internet has unleashed on the traditional media industry. Honolulu now joins Denver and Seattle among the cities served by only one daily newspaper and a shrinking pool of professional journalists.

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.

Rainsville Weekly Post Merges into Fort Payne Times Journal

The Rainsville Weekly Post merged into the daily Fort Payne Times-Journal on February 25th, 2010.  The former subscribers of the Weekly Post will receive the Saturday edition of the Times-Journal until their current subscription expires.  They can then decide if they want the daily paper or not.

Honolulu Star Bulletin to Acquire Honolulu Advertiser

The Justice Department has given Honolulu Star Bulletin owner David Black permission to purchase the Honolulu Advertiser from Gannett Company.  Black intends to consolidate the two publications, and create a new daily called the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.  The sale is expected to be completed on Sunday, May 2nd.  A timeline for the consolidation of the two publications has yet to be announced.