By:Jeff Lipton
Purchase agreement expected to be final by end of the month
Richner Communications, Inc., publishers of the Herald Community Newspapers, announced Wednesday morning that they have signed an agreement to purchase the Nassau Community Newspaper Group, publishers of the Record newspapers in southwest Nassau County, from News Communications, Inc.(NASDAQ).
The purchase is expected to become final by the end of April. Richner Communications is a privately held company and the terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Nassau Community Newspaper Group had recently consolidated its 12 weekly papers into eight editions, all under The Record banner. Previously the papers, some nearly a century old, were published under a variety of names including the South Shore Record, which covers the Five Towns; East Rockaway Observer; Lynbrook USA; The Malverne Community Times; The Rockville Centre News & Owl; Valley Stream Mail Leader; Long Beach Independent Voice; Oceanside Beacon; Baldwin Citizen and The Record of Elmont, Franklin Square and West Hempstead. The group also publishes Long Island Lifestyles, a monthly tabloid distributed with the Record newspapers and at locations throughout Nassau County.
The purchase agreement was signed by Herald co-publishers Stuart and Cliff Richner late Tuesday. The Nassau News Group employs about 50 people. How many will be employed by the merged company has yet to be determined, according to Cliff Richner.
"We have to look beyond our own home and try to continue building our family," Stuart Richner said in making the announcement to Herald employees Wednesday morning. "This will allow us to do great things as well. Thank you all for making all this happen."
He said that even though the Nassau Newspaper Group was a competitor, the Herald would not lose its competitive edge in striving to be the best it can be. He said the Herald's quality is displayed in the number of New York Press Association awards it has won. Just last month, the Herald group received 12 awards for editorial and advertising excellence at the press association convention, more than all other papers in Nassau County combined.
"Having competition keeps us on our toes," Stuart Richner said. "There is still a lot of competition out there and we will continue to act like we are being chased by someone else.
"We will run just as hard as we were running in the past," he added.
Howard Swengler, publisher of the Nassau Community Newspaper Group, said the news of the move was broken to his employees on Tuesday.
"They showed a range of emotions that they are going through like any human beings - anger, disappointment, happiness - it was all out there," Swengler said.
Swengler, who has been publisher of the newspaper group for 10 months, said the move would probably strengthen the Herald papers. "That's what I guess will happen," he said.
He added that the Nassau News Group papers have been losing money but were moving in a positive direction with hopes of soon breaking even. But he said the group's financial situation was not the deciding factor behind the move.
Decisions have not been made about whether the papers will be merged in the many towns where they compete directly or whether The Record will continue to be published in certain of those areas.
"There is no doubt that significant changes are ahead for these papers," said Cliff Richner. "Both groups publish very locally focused papers, often covering the same, relatively small communities. It just does not appear possible to have two economically viable newspapers in some of these towns. We are cognizant that consolidating the two groups may mean the loss of an editorial voice in certain communities, as well as the loss of a valued advertising medium for local businesses, and we plan to take steps to minimize those losses. Both groups have a long history of community service and we will proceed with due respect in dealing with the Record papers."
The Herald Community Group, which traces its roots to the founding of the Rockaway Journal in 1883, currently publishes the Baldwin Herald, Bellmore Herald, Long Beach Herald, Long Island Graphic (covering Freeport and Roosevelt), Merrick Herald, Nassau Herald (covering the Five Towns community), Oceanside/Island Park Herald, Rockville Centre Herald, Valley Stream Herald, Village Herald, (covering Lynbrook, Malverne and East Rockaway), the Rockaway Journal in Queens, and the three-week-old East Meadow Herald, which is in the midst of a successful launch.
The Nassau Newspaper Group purchased most of its papers in 1993, and others were started in 1996 and 1997. The oldest of the papers, The News & Owl of Rockville Centre, has been in continuous publication since 1908.
In addition to Herald Community Newspapers, Richner Communications publishes PrimeTime, a free shopping and television guide mailed to 110,000 South Shore homes each week. The company also operates a commercial printing and mailing business.
