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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

Two New South Dakota Publications

The Garretson Gazette and the Native Sun News both recently became legal newspapers under South Dakota law, after having been launched in 2009, per the Madison Daily Leader.

The Garretson Gazette is a weekly publication with a distribution of approximately 550, and is published by Matt Anderson.

The Native Sun News is a Wednesday publication targeted at Native Americans in Western South Dakota, with a weekly distribution of approximately 5,500. 

Brown Publishing Splits Publication in Two

Brown Publishing split the Centerville-Bellbrook Times publication into two new publications in August 2010.  The weekly publication is now two Thursday publications: the Centerville-Washington Township Times and the Sugarville-Bellbrook Times.

Rhinelander Daily News to Cease Daily, Introduce Semi-Weekly Distribution Publication and Shopper

The Rhinelander Daily News ceased publishing daily effective November 1st, 2010, instead changing to distribution three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday).   The Daily News will also be changing the name of the publication, now to be known as the Northwoods River News.

In conjunction with the changes, the Daily News will start publishing a Super Shopper that will be freely distributed on Saturdays, primarily via mail. This publication will have circulation approximating 25,000. 

Gilmer County Journal

The Gilmer County Journal opened on December 4th, 2009.  The publication was to be free for three months, and then after that time would be sold at newstands.  The paper carried local news, announcements, and classified advertising.

The publication apparently did not have a long life as it reportedly shutdown in August 2010.

Locked Out Workers Launch New Paper

The locked out workers of the Journal De Montreal announced their plans to launch a free weekly tabloid newspaper this fall, called the Rue Frontenac.  The French language publication will have an estimated 50,000 circulation, and will be distributed via street sales and racks. 

The locked out workers had launched their own website in the spring of 2009, http://www.ruefrontenac.com/.  The site claims more than 300,000 unique visitors a month.

The Journal De Montreal has been successfully continued publishing since the lock out began. 

It will be interesting to see if the published version of the Rue Frontenac can maintain equal success as the website edition.

Saline Courier Launches New Weekly Publication

The Saline Courier, a Horizon Publication,  launched a free weekly community tabloid style newspaper the Saline Record on September 2, 2010.  The initial distribution of the publication was 14,000, distributed throughout Saline County, Arkansas.

The Record is a tabloid style publication covering news, sports and special interest topics.

The Saline Courier was formerly the Benton Courier, changing its name last month.  The Courier is a daily newspaper covering the Benton, Arkansas area seven days a week.

Houston Community Newspapers Announces Changes

Houston Community Newspapers (HCN) announced that effective October 3rd, 2010, the Pasadena Citizen will switch from daily distribution (Tuesday through Sunday) to twice a week with only Wednesday and Sunday distribution.  Sunday's distribution will be paid only, with the current 4,145 quantity.  Wednesday will be a combined paid and free distribution of approximately 12,000.

HCN also announced plans to start a new paper to help expand coverage into the Katy, TX area.  The group will launch the Cinco Ranch Sun, with an anticipated free distribution of 26,000.  This publication along with the Katy Sun should provide additional coverage to the area.  The launch date has not yet been announced.

Carolina Weekly Newspaper Group Restructures

The Carolina Weekly Newspaper Group, a publisher of eight weekly publications covering North Carolina has added and removed some publications from its group.  The Mooresville Weekly was launched at the end of May, 2010, and the group plans on launching the Concord Weekly on January 1st, 2011. 

The University City Weekly was discontinued at the end of May, 2010 due to poor circulation.

San Francisco Public Press Launches Print Edition

The San Francisco Public Press, an online news source, launched its pilot print edition on June 22nd, 2010, with 8,000 copies.  The Public Press is distributed at locations around San Francisco at a price of $2 per copy.  The Public Press has been an online news source since March 2009.

The Public Press hopes to eventually to "publish a nonprofit, ad-free daily newspaper — online and in print — that contributes to a competitive news environment for intelligent and in-depth journalism", per their blog. 

It will be interesting to see if the advertising free model can work in print and online, and if/when their model does change, how does it alter.