CherryRoad Media

CherryRoad Media is an American newspaper publisher and commercial printer based in New Jersey. It is the communications division of CherryRoad Technologies and was founded in 2020 by its CEO Jeremy Gulban. The company specializes in weekly publications in rural communities. It has received national media attention for rapidly buying and launching new titles amid the decline of newspapers.

As of May 2024, the company has acquired or started 85 newspapers across 18 states. Most of these papers print weekly, but three print five times a week and about a dozen print two or three times a week. CherryRoad Media employs about 500 people. Gulban said revenue will be an estimated $30 million for 2024.

Business operations

Expansion strategy

CherryRoad Media owns newspapers in rural communities across the United States, with a large number of them bought from Gannett. Print circulations for these papers are typically in the hundreds to low thousands. The company acquired so many titles in its first two years of operation that in 2022 it owned the eighth largest number of newspapers in the United States. CEO Jeremy Gulban has not publicly disclosed how much the company pays to acquire a newspaper, but in 2022 he said someone who wanted to buy a small weekly could probably do so for $100,000 or less. When it comes to the total number of papers CherryRoad intends to own, Gulban said his goal is to have about 10 publications in every U.S. state.

Some of the newspaper's CherryRoad has acquired were absorbed into titles with a larger circulation or merged to create a new publication. The company on at least four occasions launched new titles in markets where papers had recently shuttered, often hiring on staff from the closed papers.

Newsroom operations

CherryRoad Media typically employs one or two people on the editorial-side of its newsrooms. Small weeklies often have one full-time and one part time reporter. Larger papers have around two or three workers in the newsroom. CherryRoad uses its own web-based content management system and its websites come equipped with a paywall. Gulban said the company keeps regional and national content in its papers to a minimum, excluding its daily newspapers, and focuses on local stories.

The company tries to employ an advertising sales representative based in every market where they operate, but Gulban said he can't afford to hire local ad and page designers. CherryRoad uses several third-party software tools on the business-side of its newsrooms. The company employs the Community Publishing System, made by Software Consulting Services, to handle selling advertisements and uses the Column software tool to manage public notices.

Revenue streams

CherryRoad Media operates its newspapers with a low profit margin. Gulban said he could "get a steady 10% margin" from subscriptions and ad sales "and then drive other revenue at a higher margin out of it." The business is supplemented by offering technology services like creating and hosting websites. The company offers “newspaper as a service” software, such as cloud-based storage and circulation systems. CherryRoad has sold off at least five newspapers and other kinds of publications to employees while in some instances continuing to provide software support to the new business owners. To cut costs, CherryRoad will move a newly acquired newspaper's office to a cheaper location when the lease ends. As of May 2024, the company has not turned a profit.

Printing operations

CherryRoad Media owns four newspaper printing presses: the Hutchinson operation in Kansas, Eagle Print in Ohio, the News-Press & Gazette Company commercial printer in Missouri and Page 1 Printers in Minnesota. The printing of the company's papers are done at these sites, or else outsourced to other businesses. The company also prints specialty publications at their facilities including magazines for school districts.

History

Origins

In 1983, Michael Gulban started a technology company in New Jersey called DataStudy Inc. The business' name was changed 20 years later to CherryRoad Technologies, which came from the firm's original address. At first, the company was contracted to implement complex software and financial reporting systems, mostly for local government agencies. Over the years it became a shared web hosting service provider that offered cloud computing programs to clients.

Michael Gulban's son Jeremy Gulban, a graduate of Drew University where he majored in economics and minored in political science, took over operations in 2008 after working 10 years in Chicago. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020, CherryRoad created software applications for virtual meetings and remote learning. The company offered them for free to school districts and local governments, but none were interested. So Jeremy Gulban said the company turned its attention toward using the technology to improve community newspapers.

In November 2020, Jeremy Gulban founded CherryRoad Media with the purchase of the ''Cook County News-Herald'', a weekly newspaper in Minnesota. The previous owners Hal and Deidre Kettunen had owned the newspaper since 2008.

2021

In June, CherryRoad purchased four weekly newspapers in Arkansas: ''The Mountaineer Echo of Flippin'', the ''Marshall Mountain Wave'', the Clay ''County Courier'' in Corning and the ''Pocahontas Star Herald''.

CherryRoad tried to buy the ''International Falls Journal'' from Alden Global Capital but the company chose to close the paper instead in June. The paper had been published by the Minnesota-based Red Wing Publishing Co. which Alden acquired in 2020. In response to the closure, CherryRoad launched the ''Rainy Lake Gazette'' about three weeks later in July.

The seventh newspaper the company acquired was ''The Clayton Record'' in Alabama. The sale was completed in August.

In September, CherryRoad purchased 20 publications from Gannett. The sale included 13 Kanas papers: the ''Hays Daily News'', the ''Garden City Telegram'', the ''Leavenworth Times'', the ''St. John News'', the ''Kiowa County Signal'', the ''Dodge City Daily Globe'', the ''McPherson Sentinel'', the '' Butler County Times-Gazette'', the ''Wellington Daily News'', the ''Ottawa Times'', the ''Newton Kansan'', the ''Pratt Tribune'' and the ''Penny Press'' in Hiawatha. The Gannet sale also included two newspapers in Nebraska: '' Nebraska City News-Press'' and ''Syracuse Journal-Democrat''; four Missouri papers: ''Independence Examiner'', ''Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune'', '' Boonville Daily News'', ''Linn County Leader''; and the ''Hamburg Reporter'' in Iowa. The purchase of the newspapers went into effect Oct. 1.

In December, CherryRoad purchased four Colorado newspapers from Gannett: ''La Junta Tribune-Democrat, the Fowler Tribune, Bent County Democrat'' and ''Ag Journal.'' That same month the CherryRoad Media announced its acquisition of seven rural Minnesota newspapers from Gannett: the ''Crookston Times'', ''Granite Falls Advocate Tribune'', ''Montevideo American-News'', ''Redwood Falls Gazette'', ''St. James Plaindealer'', ''Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch'' and the ''Tri-County News in Cottonwood''.

2022

In January, CherryRoad founded its second start up newspaper, ''the Lake County Press'', in Lake County, Minnesota.

In February, CherryRoad purchased several Gannett-owned newspapers in Texas and Oklahoma. The Texas newspapers included: ''Sherman Herald Democrat'', '' Waxahachie Daily Light'', ''Stephenville Empire-Tribune, Brownwood Bulletin, Alice Echo-News Journal, Van Alstyne Leader, Anna-Melissa Tribune, Prosper Press, Grayson County Shopper, Midlothian Mirror, Runnels County Register, Glen Rose Reporter, Cross Timbers Trading Post'' and ''Shop Local''. The Oklahoma newspapers included: the '' Daily Ardmoreite'' in Ardmore and the '' Shawnee News-Star''.

In March, CherryRoad purchased nine newspapers from Rust Communications. The sale included four newspapers in Missouri: ''Marshall Democrat-News'', '' Monett Times'', '' Cassville Democrat'' and ''South Missourian News'' in Thayer. Also sold were five newspapers in Arkansas: ''Carroll County News'' in Berryville, ''Lovely County Citizen'' in Eureka Springs, ''The News'' in Salem, ''Villager Journal'' in Cherokee Village and ''Clay County Times-Democrat'' in Piggott.

In September, CherryRoad purchased four weekly papers in Massachusetts from Gannett. The sale included ''The Landmark'' in Holden, the ''Leominster Champio''n, the ''Millbury-Sutton Chronicle'' and ''The Grafton News''. The acquisition averted the planned Sept. 15 closure of ''The Landmark''.

That same month CherryRoad acquired three weekly Utah newspapers from Brehm Communications Inc., including '' The Richfield Reaper'', ''The Vernal Express'' and the ''Uintah Basin Standard''. CherryRoad also bought ''The Chronicle-Express'' in New York from Gannett, saving the paper from closure.

In November, CherryRoad purchased ''The Star-News'' in Idaho from Central Idaho Publishing. That same month CherryRoad purchased ''The Clinton Item,'' another Massachusetts paper, from Gannett.

In December, CherryRoad sold several publications it had acquired earlier that year from Rust Communications. The ''Carroll County News,'' the free weekly tabloid ''Lovely County Citizen,'' shopper ''Ozark Mountain Trader'', and specialty publications ''Eureka Springs Visitor'' and ''Currents'' magazine were sold to Carroll County Community Media LLC, a partnership between Scott Loftis, David Bell and Steve Johnson. The ''Cassville Democrat'' was sold to Kyle Troutman and Jordan Troutman. The ''Monett Times'' and ''Connection Magazine'' was sold to Lisa Craft.

2023

In February, CherryRoad acquired the ''McPherson News Ledger'' and absorbed it into the '' McPherson Sentinel''.

In April, CherryRoad sold ''The Mountain Echo'' to Robert Lyons Jr. and Peggy Mason.

In August, CherryRoad purchased several Kansas newspapers from the family owned News-Press & Gazette Company, including the ''Miami County Republic,'' the ''Atchison Globe'' ''and'' the ''Hiawatha World.'' The sale also included two papers based in Liberty, Missouri: the ''Courier-Tribune'' and the ''Gladstone Dispatch''. CherryRoad also acquired the company's commercial printing facility in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Also in August, CherryRoad acquired the Hutchinson, Kansas, printing operations from Gannett. At the time, the facility printed most of CherryRoad's Kansas publications and other newspapers in the area. That same month, CherryRoad acquired eight community newspapers and Eagle Print from Delphos Herald, Inc. The sale included Ohio papers the ''Delphos Herald'', ''Van Wert Times Bulletin'', the ''Putnam County Sentinel'', the ''Paulding Progress'', the ''Ada Herald'', the ''Putnam County Vidette,'' ''Monroe County Beacon'' and ''The Register'' in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

In September, the ''Villager Journal'' of Cherokee Village and the ''Salem News,'' which CherryRoad purchased in February 2021, were merged into a single publication called ''Areawide News''. The ''Pratt Tribune'', ''Kiowa County Signal'' and ''St. John News'' were merged to form ''Tri-County Tribune.'' CherryRoad acquired all three papers in September 2021''.'' Ownership of '' The Fort Leavenworth Lamp'', which was acquired from Gannett in 2021, was transferred to Fort Leavenworth. The ''AG Journal'' ceased and the ''Fowler Tribune'' was absorbed into the ''La Junta Tribune Democrat'' following Gannett closing '' The Pueblo Chieftains printing operation. The ''Anna-Melissa Tribune'' and ''Van Alstyne Leader'' were absorbed into '' The Herald Democrat''.

In October, the company acquired the '' Moberly Monitor-Index'' from Westplex Media Group.

2024

In January, CherryRoad purchased Page 1 Printers, a commercial printer based in Slayton, Minnesota, from Graphic Arts Advisors, LLC.

In April, the company announced plans to launch two new Minnesota papers in Hutchinson and Litchfield. This was in response to MediaNews Group announcing the closure of the ''Hutchinson Leader'' and ''Litchfield Independent Review.'' The newly created ''Hutchinson Station'' and ''Litchfield Rail'' launched in May.

In June, the company announced ''The Gardner News'' in Kansas will close. The weekly newspaper founded in 1982 had been owned by CherryRoad since 2022. The paper had under 200 subscribers and lost money every month. It was the last remaining community newspaper in its county. In July, the ''Leominster Champion'' also ceased.

In September, CherryRoad purchased ''The Savannah Reporter'' in Savannah, Missouri from the Rosenauer family.

In October, CherryRoad purchased ''The Linbsborg News-Record'' from Main Street Media.

In December, CherryRoad acquired eight Missouri newspapers from Lakeway Publishers Inc. The sale included the ''Centralia Fireside Guard, Elsberry Democrat, Hermann Advertiser Courier, Lincoln County Journal,'' ''Lake Gazette'' in Monroe City, ''Pike County News, Troy Free Press'' and ''Vandalia Leader''. That same month, it was announced CherryRoad sometime during the year had become a member of the News Media Alliance.

2025

In February, CherryRoad closed the '' Crookston Daily Times''. The closure came after the company struggled to find workers and the City of Crookston chose to move its legal notices to the ''Thief River Falls'' shopper.

Publications

References

{{reflist

Newspaper companies of the United States
Companies based in Morris County, New Jersey
Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey
American companies established in 2020
Publishing companies established in 2020
2020 establishments in New Jersey