Boone buys N.C. newspapers
Published 10:38 pm Thursday, February 20, 2014
Salisbury Newsmedia LLC, a newly formed North Carolina affiliate of Boone Newspapers Inc., of Tuscaloosa, Ala., completed its purchase of the Salisbury Post on Tuesday.
Agreement in general for the sale was announced by Evening Post Industries in January, and final details were worked out in recent weeks. EPI, based in Charleston, S.C., has owned the Salisbury newspaper since 1997.
The Post publishes seven mornings a week, with paid circulation of 17,000 on Sunday and 15,000 daily. The sale includes weekly newspapers The Davie County Enterprise-Record in Mocksville, N.C., and The Clemmons (N.C.) Courier.
Salisbury Newsmedia becomes part of Boone Newspapers’ East Coast Group, led by Suffolk News-Herald President and Publisher Steve Stewart, a BNI vice president. BNI manages newspapers in similar-sized communities in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. Its Virginia newspapers are the Suffolk News-Herald and The Tidewater News in Franklin.
Todd H. Carpenter of Natchez, Miss., is president and chief operating officer of BNI, and James B. Boone Jr. of Tuscaloosa, Ala., is chief executive officer. Boone lived in Suffolk and published the Suffolk News-Herald in the 1960s.
Publisher Greg Anderson and key personnel plan to remain with the Salisbury, Mocksville and Clemmons newspapers.
Salisbury Newsmedia will publish the newspapers, websites and affiliated publications, including the Market Place Miner; Living In The South and Insider magazines; The Chamber Membership and Visitors Guide; and Time Out magazine, a weekly entertainment publication covering the arts, music, theater and dining.
The Salisbury Post debuted as The Salisbury Evening Post on Jan. 9, 1905. It has consistently ranked as one of the best daily newspapers of its size in North Carolina. Last year the news and editorial department won 23 awards in the annual N.C. Press Association editorial and photojournalism contest, including first-place honors in a dozen categories and second place for General Excellence.
