The Indiana Publisher

July 2018 Page 7 Staff reports Madison Courier Madison Courier Publisher Curt Jacobs announced today that the newspaper has acquired WKM News from co-founders Stephan DeLorenzo and Stephen Pomeroy. This brings together the oldest continuously operat- ing family newspaper in the Midwest and the second oldest in the U.S. and a 4-year-old digi- tal news organization serving this area of the Ohio River Valley. "I am appreciative that Stephan and Stephen chose the Courier to continue their mission and am looking forward to working with the existing WKM staff," Jacobs said. "I am excited to add video to the Courier's toolbox. This gives us another way to inform the community and to tell stories that the community wants and needs to know. This will enable us to provide better service to our readers and advertisers. WKM News has built an audience, and I think that with the added resources of the Courier we can grow that audience. We don't plan to change a lot immediately but there are some wonderful opportunities to use online video along with our print website and social media platforms to inform and tell stories.'' Pomeroy recently acquired a hearing-care business in Florence, Kentucky and DeLorenzo is pursuing his passion as a full-time Student Life Pastor at Madison Assem- bly of God. "I enjoyed working with Curt Jacobs in this transition. The Madison Courier seems like a great fit for WKM News and I can't wait to see what the future holds for them," said DeLo- renzo. Both news organizations serve the Jefferson and Switzer- land county areas in Indiana and the Carroll and Trimble county areas in Kentucky and will continue to do so. WKM also will continue to serve Scott and Jennings counties in Indiana. The Madison Courier was founded in 1837. It was acquired by Michael Christian Garber in 1849 and has been owned and operated by his descendants ever since. The Courier publishes a print edition six days a week, Monday through Saturday and has a website at http://www. madisoncourier.com. WKM News was founded in 2014 to cover Madison, DeLorenzo said. It quickly grew to viewers from surrounding areas and started publishing stories in all of Madison's surrounding counties as well. WKM today reaches 25,000 to 30,000 unique visitors to its website at http://www.wkmnews. com with more than 80,000 page views monthly. WKMNews.com was started, DeLorenzo said, because its owners wanted to provide Madison with fresh, relevant, same-day news easily accessible free on any mobile device or computer. For the next few weeks, WKM will remain in its office at 220 Clifty Dr. It will move to the Courier building at 310 West St. after some remodeling to accommodate the video and digital needs of the WKM newsroom. Madison Courier buys digital news organization WKM News MONTGOMERY, Ala. – CNHI, LLC, one of the country's leading providers of local news and information, said Monday it is exploring the sale of its newspaper properties in 22 states. The Herald Bulletin, along with a dozen other newspapers in Indiana, is owned by CNHI. The announcement was made after its parent company, Raycom Media Inc., reported it has signed an agreement to be acquired by Gray Television group, a public company headquartered in Atlanta. Donna Barrett, CNHI's president and chief executive office, said the company has retained the newspaper brokerage firm of Dirks, Van Essen, Murray and April to handle the sale of its newspapers. "We're excited to open the next chapter in our commitment to top-flight community journal- ism," said Barrett. "We are looking for a transaction or transactions that will carry on CNHI's rich tradition of public service through award-winning journalism." CNHI is a 20-year-old newspaper company that has grown from a few community newspapers at the outset to more than 100 papers today. They are located in the Midwest, South- west, Southeast and Northeast. Raycom Media Inc., which owns or operates television stations in 65 markets, acquired CNHI nine months ago. "As we undertake this exploration process, we cannot say that any particular transaction will or will not take place," said Barrett. "What we can say is that we will consider various options as we work to find a partner or partners that share our dedication to community newspapers and the vital journalism they produce to serve local audiences." In addition to The Herald Bulletin, CNHI's Indiana properties include newspapers in Terre Haute, Kokomo, Jefferson- ville, Logansport, Goshen, Hendricks County, Lebanon, Zionsville, Greensburg, Rushville, Batesville and Washington. I enjoyed working with Curt Jacobs in this transition. The Madi- son Courier seems like a great fit for WKM News and I can't wait to see what the future holds for them." Stephan DeLorenzo, WKM News co-founder CNHI exploring sale of newspaper properties Join colleagues from around Indiana for the annual advertising conference & awards gala Friday, Sept. 14 at the Indianapolis Marriott North. • Featured speaker is Ryan Dohrn, founder of media sales strategy firm Brain Swell Media & creator of the 360 Ad Sales System. Dohrn has taught over 5,000 ad sales reps in 7 countries. • Aug. 24: Early bird discount conference rate deadline • Sept. 5 : Final registration deadline For more information & to register, visit, http://hspa.com/conference/. 2018 Advertising Conference & Awards Gala

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