Changes afoot for local weeklies
Stonebridge, Nashoba Publishing, Holden Landmark announce changes
Three deals have altered Central Massachusetts' weekly newspaper market in recent weeks.
Southbridge-based Stonebridge Press Newspapers merged a pair of weekly shoppers with community papers, Ayer-based Nashoba Publishing created a new publication for households that don't subscribe to one of six existing weeklies and Holden Landmark Corporation Inc. acquired the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle.
Stonebridge combined the Wick-Qua-Boag Weekender with the Spencer New Leader on April 7, five months after merging the South County Weekender with the Webster Times. Both Weekender papers have ceased publication, and the New Leader and Times, previously paid, are now free.
Frank Chilinski, the president and publisher of Stonebridge Press, said the moves were made to cut costs and please advertisers.
"[The papers] were covering similar market areas," Chilinski said in an e-mail. "Advertisers prefer to reach every home, and they also like the credibility of a community newspaper. It was for that reason we merged the two ... This gives advertisers the best of a shopper with the credibility of a newspaper."
The Times, published since 1849, circulates 19,300 copies weekly, including 18,500 direct-mailed to every home and post office box in Webster, Dudley, Oxford and North Oxford. The New Leader, published since 1872, sends copies to 13,600 addresses in Spencer, Leicester, North Brookfield, West Brookfield and East Brookfield, and sells an additional 400 in stores.
Mailed copies are free. Newsstand copies cost 75 cents.
Increasing readership
Chilinski said the entire content of both papers is available online, and that both are offering free classified advertising for an unspecified, limited time.
"This all increases readership, allows us to give back to the communities we serve, and in turn is a real win for our advertisers," Chilinski said.
The cost of converting the papers from paid to free publications is covered by the savings from printing just one product in each market, according to Chilinski.
"In essence, we used to print two products in each of these markets, and now we print one," he said. "We are passing the savings on to our advertisers and our readers."
Both papers have moved to Stonebridge's Southbridge office. Chilinski said the company plans to add staff, with a definitive plan coming in late June.
Nashoba Publishing's new paper, the Nashoba Valley Chronicle, is a total market coverage product being delivered free to 13,000 homes in Ayer, Groton, Harvard, Pepperell, Shirley and Townsend that don't have subscriptions to a weekly.
The Chronicle contains more advertisements and less editorial copy than Nashoba Publishing's paid weeklies, according to publisher Richard Barker.
Nashoba Publishing is owned by the Denver-based MediaNews Group Inc.
The Holden Landmark Corp. closed on the acquisition of the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle from Alec and Andree Belisle on May 1, becoming the second owner of the 3,000-circulation weekly since its launch in April 1986.
Publisher Gareth Charter would not disclose financial terms of the sale, but did say Holden Landmark had its eye on the Chronicle "as far back as 2000 or 2001." The Belisles rebuffed two formal purchase offers in the meantime.
A subsidiary of Cracked Rock Media Inc., Holden Landmark's holdings include The Landmark, Worcester County's largest paid weekly newspaper, The Community Journal, Bay State Parent magazine and two weeklies it started in the last 14 months, the Leominster Champion and the Fitchburg Pride.
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