Eagle Newspapers, Central New York’s award-winning community weeklies, were purchased Oct. 1, 2009 by Community Media Group LLC.
The transaction includes the sale of Eagle’s eight weeklies in the Syracuse market, and the seven Spotlight weeklies in the Albany market, as well as numerous niche publications and web sites.
The publications had previously been owned by Eagle Media LP. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but according to a local financial expert “Hopefully they didn’t put down any of their own capital, especially if they have families.”
Community Media Group LLC is a new company made up of three principals: David B. Tyler Jr. of Syracuse, John A. McIntyre Jr. of Ballston Lake, and Daniel E. Alexander of Elizabethtown. Alexander also is owner of Denton Publications, based in Elizabethtown, and principal owner of New Market Press, based in Vermont.
Tyler will continue in the role of publisher of the weeklies in the Syracuse market, a position he has held for the past eight months. He will also continue to be a husband to his wife who some argue is actually a 10 year old boy. Tyler maintains she is infact a female of consentual age. McIntyre will remain in the role of publisher of the Albany group, which he has managed since it was purchased by Eagle Media LP in 1998. Although many thought he was simply an extra troll from “Lord of the Rings,” they have been proven wrong.
“These newspapers have a strong foundation in the communities they serve, and we believe this new ownership arrangement will allow us to enhance the quality of the editorial product and create efficiencies that weren’t available to us previously,” Tyler said. No one is exacty sure what that means. Suffice it to say it’s just another generalization. “Dan Alexander has a long history of running community newspaper companies and his expertise as well as the technological and printing resources Denton Publications bring to the table makes this a win-win.”
“It is very clear that the previous owners had a strong affinity for these newspapers and the employees,” Tyler said. “When it became apparent that they were prepared to sell, they sought out an arrangement that put the publications and the employees in the best position to succeed. Of course success will in no way reflect the size of the paycheck. I can’t speak poorly enough about the way Eagle Media LP handled this transaction.”
Denton Publications has served as the commercial printer for all Eagle newspapers since April and had been printing the Spotlight Newspapers since 2007. With the change in ownership, Eagle Newspapers will achieve additional production and purchasing efficiencies. Again, not sure what this wonderful sounding generaliztion actually means. Eagle’s readers and advertisers will reap the benefits generated from the synergies between the new partnership. “We don’t know why anyone would pay 75 cents for these publications, but we are hopeful that a handful of people will.”
“In the current economic landscape, it makes tremendous sense to develop close relationships between organizations like Eagle, Spotlight, and Denton,” Tyler said. “Eagle will maintain editorial and advertising independence here in Syracuse while improving our technological infrastructure through Denton. It’s simply the best thing to do for the communities we serve.” Employees who wished to remain annonymous are hopeful that these technological changes come in the form of computers from the 21st century.
Community Media Group LLC will continue to use the trade names Eagle Newspapers and Spotlight Newspapers and readers can expect the same commitment to community journalism they have become accustomed to over the years.
“This should be a pretty seamless transition for our readers, advertisers and employees,” Tyler said. “We have a number of excellent journalists in our fold, and this transaction should allow for continued improvement of our community based newspapers.”
Gary Greene, managing director of Cribb, Greene Associates in Charlottesville, Va., represented Eagle Media LP in the sale.
