Ohio Community Media was an American privately owned publisher of
daily and
weekly newspaper
Weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspap ...
s, primarily in the state of
Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. It was headquartered in the
Dayton
Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...
suburb of
Miamisburg, Ohio, and was owned by
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
-based Versa Capital Management.
History
Most of the company's holdings comprise the Ohio core of
Brown Publishing Company, a family-owned publisher based in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
that declared bankruptcy in April 2010. In September of that year, Brown's 14 Ohio dailies and about 50 weekly publications were transferred to Ohio Community Media, a new entity owned by Brown's creditors, in a transaction valued at $21.75 million.
Over the next few months, the new company sold a "mini-empire" of business newsweeklies that Brown had assembled starting in 2007, unloading titles in such far-flung cities as
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
;
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne ( or ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Wyoming, most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming. It is the county seat of Laramie County, Wyoming, Laramie County, with 65,132 reside ...
;
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
; and
Naperville, Illinois
Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a southwestern suburb of Chicago located west of the city on the DuPage River. As of the 2020 United State ...
.
Versa completed its purchase of Ohio Community Media for an undisclosed price in May 2011. By this point, the chain consisted of 14 daily newspapers and about 30 weeklies, all in Ohio.
In February 2012, Versa purchased Impressions Media, owner of ''
Times Leader'' in
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre ( , alternatively or ) is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It ...
, and in May of that year it bought four Midwestern dailies formerly owned by
Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications, Inc. was an American media conglomerate that operated daily and weekly newspapers, websites and mobile applications and television stations, as well as ''Coast Magazine'' and other specialty publications. Headquartered at ...
. That purchase included ''
The Lima News'' in Ohio, as well as dailies in
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
and
Missouri
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
.
The four dailies acquired from Freedom were integrated into Ohio Community Media.
In 2012 Versa merged Ohio Community Media, the former Freedom papers,
Impressions Media, and
Heartland Publications into a new company,
Civitas Media.
Holdings
Ohio Community Media published 18 daily newspapers and about 30 weeklies (paid and free), in addition to several free weekly
shopper publications.
Illinois
* '' Journal-Courier'' of Jacksonville
Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
* ''The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...
'' of Alton
Missouri
* '' Sedalia Democrat'' of Sedalia
* ''Whiteman Warrior'' (weekly) of Whiteman Air Force Base
Ohio
Central Ohio (Columbus area)
* '' The Delaware Gazette'' of Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
* '' The Madison Press'' of London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
* '' Record Herald'' of Washington Court House
* '' Urbana Daily Citizen'' of Urbana
* Weekly newspapers:
** ''Mechanicsburg Telegram'' of Mechanicsburg
** ''Plain City Advocate'' of Plain City
** ''Sunbury News'' of Sunbury
** ''The Tribune'' of Mount Sterling
** ''Indian Lake Current'' of Russells Point and Lakeview.
** ''River Current'' of Degraff, Quincy and West Liberty.
Mid-Ohio (Mansfield area)
* '' Galion Inquirer'' of Galion
* Weekly newspapers:
** ''Bellville Star'' of Bellville
** ''Knox County Citizen'' of Fredericktown
** ''Morrow County Sentinel'' of Mount Gilead
Northwest Ohio
* '' The Bellevue Gazette'' of Bellevue
* Lake Erie Division weeklies:
** ''Amherst News-Times'' of Amherst
** ''The Clyde Enterprise'' of Clyde
** ''Fulton County Expositor'' of Wauseon
** ''Oberlin News Tribune'' of Oberlin
** ''The Peninsula News'' of Marblehead
** ''Swanton Enterprise'' of Swanton
** ''The Wellington Enterprise'' of Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
* '' The Lima News'' of Lima
Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
** ''Putnam Voice'' (weekly) of Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
Southern Ohio
Appalachian Ohio is a bioregion and political unit in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, characterized by the western foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and the Appalachian Plateau. The Appalachian Regional Commission defines ...
* '' The Times-Gazette'' of Hillsboro
* Weekly newspapers:
** ''The News-Democrat'' of Georgetown
** ''People's Defender'' of West Union
** ''The Ripley Bee'' of Ripley
Western Ohio (Dayton area)
* '' The Daily Advocate'' of Greenville
* '' Fairborn Daily Herald'' of Fairborn
Fairborn is a city in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 34,620 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton and part of the Dayton metropolitan area. The city is home to Wright State University, which serves nea ...
* '' News Journal'' of Wilmington
* '' Piqua Daily Call'' of Piqua
* '' Sidney Daily News'' of Sidney
* '' Troy Daily News'' of Troy
Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...
* '' Xenia Daily Gazette'' of Xenia
Xenia may refer to:
People
* Xenia (name), a feminine given name; includes a list of people with this name
Places United States
''listed alphabetically by state''
* Xenia, Illinois, a village in Clay County
** Xenia Township, Clay County, Il ...
* Times Community Newspapers weeklies:
** ''Beavercreek News-Current'' of Beavercreek
** ''Centerville-Washington Township Times'' of Centerville
** ''Englewood Independent'' of Englewood
** ''Enon Messenger'' of Enon
** ''Huber Heights Courier'' of Huber Heights
** '' Kettering-Oakwood Times'' of Kettering
Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...
** ''New Carlisle Sun'' of New Carlisle
** ''Springboro Sun'' of Springboro
** ''Sugarcreek Bellbrook Times'' of Bellbrook
** ''Vandalia Drummer News'' of Vandalia
** ''Weekly Record Herald'' of Tipp City
* Other weekly newspapers:
** ''Miami County Advocate'' of Piqua
** ''Register-Herald'' of Eaton
** ''Star Republican'' of Wilmington
References
{{reflist
External links
Ohio Community Media
Versa Capital Management
Newspaper companies of the United States