Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, once again expands its footprint in the Phoenix Metro market.
The
Arizona group, home of the Phoenix Daily Independent at YourValley.net,
acquired the Wrangler News from longtime owner Don Kirkland.
“We’re
thrilled to oversee the oldest hyperlocal newspaper still in existence serving
the Tempe market,” said INI President & CEO Charlene Bisson. “We’ve been
blessed the past three years in acquiring JG Media’s Community Impact Phoenix
newspapers, the Fountain Hills Times and now the Wrangler News. We look forward
to merging the Tempe Independent with the Wrangler News and increasing our
frequency.”
Kirkland
will join INI’s growing family. He began a lifelong journalism career at the
age of 10, when he published a small neighborhood newspaper in his hometown of
Glendale, Calif. He was involved in news production during his years at
Glendale High School, was editor of the school newspaper and wrote a weekly
column for the Glendale News Press.
While in
college, Kirkland was recruited by Lyn Nofziger, editor of the Burbank (Calif.)
Daily Review and eventually one of the nation’s most highly regarded
journalists, ultimately serving as press secretary to Gov. Ronald Reagan and
later, in Washington, D.C., as the top spokesperson for the Republican National
Committee.
Following
his stint as a reporter in Burbank, Kirkland joined the staff of the Long Beach
(Calif.) Press-Telegram, where he remained for almost 10 years. He transitioned
to a position in media relations, working with such recognized clients as
Dennis DeConcini during DeConcini’s two successful campaigns for the United
States Senate, and a series of other high-profile Phoenix-area clients.
Kirkland
made another transition in his media relations career when he was recruited as
executive editor of the Mesa Tribune during the period which it was acquired by
the national Cox Communications chain. He left Cox in 1980, to serve as public
relations director for Desert Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center (now
Banner) and, finally, as director of corporate communications for Samaritan
Health Service. He launched the now 33-year-old Wrangler News and eight other
similar community-focused publications in 1991.
“I look
forward to continuing a vibrant, energetic journalism career with INI,”
Kirkland said.
Readers
will get the best of both worlds with the first publication of each month,
following the traditional Tempe Independent format and the second publication
resembling the Wrangler News format.
“Don and I
agreed the newspaper will become the Wrangler News Independent,” Bisson
explained. “What’s great about INI’s business model is our clean delivery
method to the mailbox in 90 percent of our communities. Our newspapers aren’t
piling up on driveways, and they’re protected by the mailbox most often folded
neatly by the USPS mail carriers.”
Brent
Cruikshank, the publisher of the North Valley group, which includes Fountain
Hills, Scottsdale, and Town of Paradise Valley, looks forward to the added
value advertisers will receive in the North and East Valley.
“Since the
acquisition to INI, we’ve grown our print and digital subscriptions 15%,”
Cruikshank said. “Our company name reflects our nonpartisan news values while
keeping the tradition of the Cruikshank family in Fountain Hills, where we
recently celebrated 50 years in business.”
Bisson
looks forward to new growth.
“The
Independent is committed to expanding throughout the Phoenix market, so there
are no news deserts in our Arizona cities and towns,” Bisson explained.
Independent
Newsmedia has been publishing in Arizona since 1970.
The
company opened two newspapers during the pandemic – Florence and Mesa – and
expanded its Scottsdale circulation October 2022. The Arizona group launched
the Tempe Independent in April 2022, then acquired JG Media National’s Phoenix
operations, which included Community Impact of Chandler, Gilbert and Tempe in
July 2022.
Independent
Newsmedia owns Valley Newspapers, a state-of-the-art commercial printing plant
that is located near Deer Valley Airport. The company also publishes community
newspapers in Delaware, the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Florida and owns a
press in Delaware.
The
company is owned by a nonprofit journalistic trust designed to maintain
independence. The organization has no owners or shareholders, no dividends are
paid, and all after-tax profits are reinvested in its mission of impartial
community journalism.
