Reynolds buys the Gazette

[The Real SamC]

Other places to discuss the politics of it, but Doug Reynolds, son of one-time Marshall super-booster Marshall Reynolds and owner of the Herald-Dispatch, today bought the Charleston Gazette-Mail for a little over $11M. Apparently mostly borrowed money along with investments from the owner of the Clarksburg paper and longtime Gaston Capperton surrogate Marty Becker, along with unnamed others (my guess is the Goodwin political family.)

Other places to discuss politics, but the Gazette (Gag-zette) has always been 100% anti-Marshall and 100% anti-Huntington. Not just in sports, but in a general elitist way even towards the academic side.
Obviously, there will be more "fair and balanced" treatment of at least this one subject.

Could we see Chuckie's work back on the sports pages in Charleston? Some people's heads would explode.

 

[dangerousdaneerfan]

I have an old "I beat Chuck Landon" bumper sticker in my box of stuff I brought home from the office when I retired.

 

[herdalicious]

Huntington is the only place on Earth where there are more Marshall fans than WVU. As a result, some folks who live there and stay in that bubble can develop the sense that everywhere else is "100% anti-Marshall" because they don't have the same level of reverence for MU.

Big win today for the people of Huntington I guess. As a Charleston resident, I'm hopeful this will be a better outcome than if Ogden had bought it, but I realize we're also talking about the company who let their presses fall into such sad shape that they had to outsource printing to Charleston. The H-D is not really known for its quality.

 

[RhinoD]

Big win today for the people of Huntington I guess. As a Charleston resident, I'm hopeful this will be a better outcome than if Ogden had bought it, but I realize we're also talking about the company who let their presses fall into such sad shape that they had to outsource printing to Charleston. The H-D is not really known for its quality.

In all fairness, in the printing world we live in today papers either have to be "all-in" on printing, meaning they print many publications, or "all-out" meaning they have a contractual deal to be printed offsite. Maintaining a press to print one or two papers is going the way of the dinosaur in the newspaper industry.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Charleston has had a run of tough luck lately. The Mall, the Gazette, more violence and drugs. And the worst, an idiotic legislature. Almost like Huntington has rubbed off on them.

 

[sluggo72]

Charleston has had a run of tough luck lately. The Mall, the Gazette, more violence and drugs. And the worst, an idiotic legislature. Almost like Huntington has rubbed off on them.

well not totally, at least Huntington was smart enough not to put their mall downtown ala Charleston.

 

[oldeherd]

Charleston has had a run of tough luck lately. The Mall, the Gazette, more violence and drugs. And the worst, an idiotic legislature. Almost like Huntington has rubbed off on them.

Not to mention the joke of an airport, TwolfHeredfan,, that keeps sliding off the mountain faster than it can be repaired!!

Only problem with that is that ALL WV taxpayers are having to pay for that damn monstrosity, through federal and/or state tax funds being funneled into Yeager repairs. Thanks mainly to the same sleazy state power brokers, the Gazette and its owners, and the usual Charleston centric politicos.

Best move Reynolds can make once in charge is to clean out, almost to a man, the entire Gagzette editorial staff, IMO!!

 

[GreenDuke]

Not to mention the joke of an airport, TwolfHeredfan,, that keeps sliding off the mountain faster than it can be repaired!!

Only problem with that is that ALL WV taxpayers are having to pay for that damn monstrosity, through federal and/or state tax funds being funneled into Yeager repairs. Thanks mainly to the same sleazy state power brokers, the Gazette and its owners, and the usual Charleston centric politicos.

Best move Reynolds can make once in charge is to clean out, almost to a man, the entire Gagzette editorial staff, IMO!!

D R is a very liberal guy, don’t look for change in editorial content.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Not to mention the joke of an airport, TwolfHeredfan,, that keeps sliding off the mountain faster than it can be repaired!!

Only problem with that is that ALL WV taxpayers are having to pay for that damn monstrosity, through federal and/or state tax funds being funneled into Yeager repairs. Thanks mainly to the same sleazy state power brokers, the Gazette and its owners, and the usual Charleston centric politicos.

Best move Reynolds can make once in charge is to clean out, almost to a man, the entire Gagzette editorial staff, IMO!!

Doesn't hurt that Kent Carpers family business handles the fuel contracts for Yeager. At least they did. Always an adventure landing there. LOL!

 

[herdalicious]

well not totally, at least Huntington was smart enough not to put their mall downtown ala Charleston.

The Charleston-Huntington grudge has officially

 

[GreenDuke]

Doesn't hurt that Kent Carpers family business handles the fuel contracts for Yeager. At least they did. Always an adventure landing there. LOL!

Nothing’s changed.

 

[WVU 91]

Other places to discuss the politics of it, but Doug Reynolds, son of one-time Marshall super-booster Marshall Reynolds and owner of the Herald-Dispatch, today bought the Charleston Gazette-Mail for a little over $11M. Apparently mostly borrowed money along with investments from the owner of the Clarksburg paper and longtime Gaston Capperton surrogate Marty Becker, along with unnamed others (my guess is the Goodwin political family.)

Other places to discuss politics, but the Gazette (Gag-zette) has always been 100% anti-Marshall and 100% anti-Huntington. Not just in sports, but in a general elitist way even towards the academic side.
Obviously, there will be more "fair and balanced" treatment of at least this one subject.

Could we see Chuckie's work back on the sports pages in Charleston? Some people's heads would explode.

Ah, it's poor Sam. Wrong again, as usual. The acquiring group is basically the same as the ownership for West Virginia Media which owned WOWK, WBOY, etc. before selling to Nexstar in early 2017. They own The State Journal, own the Clarksburg newspaper, and an affiliated string of small papers. They also produce the WVU sports paper, the Blue and Gold News. Marty Becker and Bray Cary are two of the principals. Very shrewdly, they partnered with the Reynolds family to generate some economies of scale with the Herald-Dispatch, which has been printed using the Gazette's presses for a number of years. This also allowed them to outflank the Nutting family.

Don't hold your breath waiting for more Marshall coverage in Charleston. Supply follows demand. And all I mean by that is that if Herd fans want more coverage, they need to buy the product.

 

[GreenDuke]

Ah, it's poor Sam. Wrong again, as usual. The acquiring group is basically the same as the ownership for West Virginia Media which owned WOWK, WBOY, etc. before selling to Nexstar in early 2017. They own The State Journal, own the Clarksburg newspaper, and an affiliated string of small papers. They also produce the WVU sports paper, the Blue and Gold News. Marty Becker and Bray Cary are two of the principals. Very shrewdly, they partnered with the Reynolds family to generate some economies of scale with the Herald-Dispatch, which has been printed using the Gazette's presses for a number of years. This also allowed them to outflank the Nutting family.

Don't hold your breath waiting for more Marshall coverage in Charleston. Supply follows demand. And all I mean by that is that if Herd fans want more coverage, they need to buy the product.

Sam has forgotten more about the Charleston media market than you will ever know.

 

[herdftblfan]

The HD press was actually the most well maintained of its type in the entire country. It was a 1937 model refitted in 1967 and was still operating in amazing fashion until 2016. It was only shuttered because the last remaining plate maker of its type ceased making the plates necessary to run the press. That press was so clean you could eat off of it.

With the demise of the Daily Mail, Charleston has two presses and one paper. Huntington was able to save millions annually by merging printing operations with Charleston. Charleston was in-turn able to added a desperately needed revenue source.

I like how folks trash The HD the way they do when they are still making a profit and NOT going bankrupt.

 

[herdftblfan]

Mid 2016 does not equal “a number of years” btw and if you think anyone besides Doug is running The HD, you are completely and utterly wrong.

 

[wintz50]

HD has done great to stay open in this day and age.

 

[WVU 91]

Sam has forgotten more about the Charleston media market than you will ever know.

The HD press was actually the most well maintained of its type in the entire country. It was a 1937 model refitted in 1967 and was still operating in amazing fashion until 2016. It was only shuttered because the last remaining plate maker of its type ceased making the plates necessary to run the press. That press was so clean you could eat off of it.

With the demise of the Daily Mail, Charleston has two presses and one paper. Huntington was able to save millions annually by merging printing operations with Charleston. Charleston was in-turn able to added a desperately needed revenue source.

I like how folks trash The HD the way they do when they are still making a profit and NOT going bankrupt.

Wasn't trashing the HD at all. Not sure where that came from. I like Doug personally and think this partnership w/ Becker's group will be good.

 

[WVU 91]

Mid 2016 does not equal “a number of years” btw and if you think anyone besides Doug is running The HD, you are completely and utterly wrong.

My only point was that the Gazette presses were already printing the HD. You are right: it would have been more accurate to have said "for a couple of years." If you think this investment group put this deal together to defer to Doug in everything, I think you are wrong. We can agree to disagree and let time tell.

I wish the Herd well tomorrow.

 

[HuntersvilleHerd]

Maybe you could eat off the HD presses, but the registration and cmyk image quality the last few years they printed was absolutely abysmal. (Although that seems appropriate for a business being bought by the Reynolds, since Chapman Printing was the worst large printer in a multi-state region for most of the last 50 years. But that's another story...)

 

[huntersdl2007]

The industry has shrunk and will continue to do so up to a point. Many people still enjoy print. The feel and smell of papers, books, magazines. We had this discussion over a decade ago on here too. The industry has done exactly what I said it would. With that said I think we have gotten to the point where we will see less dramatic change.n if some of your are still in the industry and safe then good. America now needs blue collar folks. Technicians are lacking. HVAC for example. Most I know are making six figures in short order

 

[Marine03]

well not totally, at least Huntington was smart enough not to put their mall downtown ala Charleston.

Which gave a shit ton of money to Barboursville that otherwise would’ve went to Huntington