And Finally, The Daily Hampshire Gazette is Sold

Steve Szkotak just emailed me from Richmond VA with news that the Daily Hampshire Gazette and Amherst Bulletin have been sold to the Newspapers of New England, publishers of the Recorder, Concord Monitor, and other papers. I have a connection to the old Gazette, I worked at the paper from 1986-1995 in the advertising dept, and I have an article coming out in their Monday business section next week.

The Gazette has always prided itself in being a very old newspaper that’s never been part of a chain. They reported on every Presidential election ever held in the U.S., and used to make a lot more money. But times are different now, and circulation, advertising revenues aren’t what they used to be.

Interestingly, publisher Peter DeRose, who will be collecting a whopper payout check, is staying on the job, and for now, Tom Brown, the new CEO says all of the staffs will remain in place. But ‘combining resources,’ as Pete said in the Globe story, is never good news for employees.