Tribune Chronicle will take over publishing Vindicator, saving 150-year-old paper (original) (raw)

The combined newspapers will reach 50,000 households in Trumbull and Mahoning counties

WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) – The announcement was made jointly Friday by managers at both The Vindicator and Tribune Chronicle. On September 1, the day after the final Vindicator is published, the Tribune Chronicle will take over publishing The Vindicator in Mahoning County.

“It’s going to be The Vindicator edition of the Tribune Chronicle,” said Charles Jarvin, publisher of the Trib. “It will have The Vindicator masthead on it. It will be of the style of the Tribune Chronicle, however, as we go forward but it will be the Vindicator edition of the Tribune Chronicle.”

The Trib bought The Vindicator’s subscription list, The Vindicator name and Vindy.com.

Neither side would disclose the sale price.

The Tribune Chronicle did not buy The Vindicator’s downtown Youngstown building.

The Vindicator will be operated and printed out of the Trib’s Warren offices. The Trib will also be adding staff and though no one would confirm it, it’s likely some of the hires will be coming from The Vindicator’s staff.

“We’re adding staff and we have made some hires,” Jarvin said. “We’re just not ready to announce them yet. Some people we’ve hired are still employed so we’re not ready to do that at this time, but we’ll do that on September 1.”

The Tribune will provide a paper for Vindicator customers who have an unexpired subscription. Readers will then have an option to renew.

This paper will include many of the Vindy’s current features, including comics, breaking news, community news, obituaries, entertainment news and local sports.

Subscribers to the Tribune Chronicle will notice no difference. That paper will remain the same.

The combined newspapers will reach 50,000 households in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.

Jarvin is not concerned about keeping the combined papers profitable.

“We have been a profitable newspaper for years and we continue to be a profitable newspaper,” he said.

Jarvis is also pleased that his company was able to save a newspaper that’s been a staple in the Mahoning Valley for 150 years.

“It looked like it was going to go away into history but we’ve been able to keep it going and we’re very happy about that,” he said.

“We have always felt strongly about the need to have a local newspaper,” said Mark Brown, general manager of The Vindicator. “The agreement announced today provides The Vindicator’s subscribers with continued delivery of a daily print newspaper focused on their communities, Mahoning County and the Valley. We are very happy to be able to provide our readers with a daily print newspaper from a family-owned company. The Nutting family and Ogden Newspapers have been in the publishing business since 1890.”

The Tribune Chronicle plans to contract with as many current Vindicator carriers as possible in order to have a seamless transition on September 1.

The Trib is owned by the Wheeling, West Virginia-based Ogden Newspapers, which own about 50 publications across the country.