Tucson Weekly, Explorer sold to Phoenix newspaper chain

[ad_1]

Updated April 19, 2021, 3:32 PM
Originally posted 4/19/2021 at 11:06 am

Dylan Smith

TucsonSentinel.com

The Tucson Weekly, Inside Tucson Business and Explorer were sold to a newspaper chain in the Phoenix area. The Times Media Group has shown that it is buying small publications and reducing staff even further.

The terms of the contract were not published. The sale of the group of Tucson Publications by their Colorado-based private owner Randy Miller of 10/13 Communications and Thirteenth Street Media coincided with the publisher’s retirement here, sources noted. Jason Joseph ran the business of Tucson Local Media, the holding company that also includes Marana News, Foothills News and Desert Times.

It is not yet known whether the sale will result in layoffs in the already thin staff who publish the six newspapers. Times Media bought a small batch of publications in Southern California in the summer of 2019, firing the editor of San Diego CityBeat in about a month. CityBeat has not published since last year when it “paused” due to lack of advertising during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our plan is to continue to publish all releases in the portfolio, with all current employees,” Times media chief Steve Strickbine told TucsonSentinel.com.

Strickbine said in a press release that he was “excited” about the opportunity to enter the Tucson market and “continue to provide community news.”

“I would like to see the newspapers continue to do what they do and do well,” Strickbine said in the press release, which did not include any statements from salesman Miller on Oct. 13. contained. “I’m really looking forward to the future and the future of us together. I think we are definitely stronger together.”

“We’re always interested in expanding our portfolio of publications and news websites that are focused on delivering news to the community,” Strickbine told The Sentinel. “That is what the publications we acquire from Tucson Local Media share with a long-time loyal readership.”

Times Media will acquire Tucson Local Media on April 30th, the press release said. Tucson newspaper employees were informed of the deal on Monday morning.

Doug Biggers, who founded the Weekly in 1984 and sold it to southern Arizona-based Wick Communications about two decades ago, warned cautiously.

“At a time when the local media is rapidly changing and insidious, I hope the mission and voice of Tucson Weekly will continue to transform the community as it has since it was founded,” he told TucsonSentinel. com. “I also hope that Jim Nintzel’s solid leadership will continue under the new ownership. He is a treasure of Tucson journalism.”

Nintzel told Sentinel on Monday, “It’s been a long year with COVID and I hope that when we put the pandemic in the rearview mirror, this will be another fresh start for our newspapers. Doug Biggers told me a long time ago that the only constant in this business is change. “

Wick, who owns small local newspapers in the west, sold the Weekly and Inside Tucson business to 10/13 Communications in 2014. Miller’s company had already bought the Explorer

That sale prompted ITB editor Mark Evans to resign immediately, citing Miller’s erosion of his other papers.

10/13 sold the East Valley Tribune to Times Media in 2016. In addition to its California investments, which it acquired in 2019, Strickbine’s company also operates other newspapers in the Phoenix region.

These include the Peoria Times, College Times, Scottsdale Airpark News, Glendale Star, Lovin ‘Life After 50, Pasadena Weekly, Scottsdale Progress, and others.

– 30 –

[ad_2]