SEQUIM — Olympic View Publishing Co., publisher of the Sequim Gazette, the Forks Forum and other publications, announced today the sale of the company to Sound Publishing Co.
The announcement comes in the wake of the announcement Monday of Sound’s purchase of the Peninsula Daily News and Sequim This Week from Horvitz Newspapers LLC.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Olympic View Publishing owner Brown M. Maloney will continue to own the real estate and ABC affiliate KONP, an AM/FM radio station in Port Angeles.
The purchase of the Sequim Gazette and the Forks Forum includes Olympic Peninsula Homes-Land magazine, based on the Olympic Peninsula; Islander Homes-Land magazine, with distribution on Island and San Juan counties; and associated websites. The Sequim Gazette is published on Wednesday and has a circulation of 8,500, publisher Sue Ellen Riesau said. The Forks Forum is published on Thursday and has a circulation of 4,900.
Sound Publishing has 46 publications and a combined circulation of 732,700. Sound Publishing, a company of Black Press in Victoria, B.C., is the largest community newspaper group in the Pacific Northwest.
Sound newspapers include the Bainbridge Island Review, North Kitsap Herald, Kingston Community News, Bremerton Patriot, Central Kitsap Reporter, Port Orchard Independent, Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber, The Journal of the San Juan Islands, The Islands’ Sounder, Whidbey News-Times, South Whidbey Record, Kitsap Navy News and Whidbey Crosswind. Sound also publishes community newspapers in east and south King County, and Portland, Ore.; and a printing facility in Everett.
Sound’s corporate office is in Poulsbo.
“We are thrilled with the purchase of the Sequim Gazette,” Black Press CEO David Black said. “We have been publishing community newspapers for 22 years in Washington state and see this as an opportunity to expand our operations to the North Olympic Peninsula, which is a good geographical fit with our other newspapers and website titles. The Gazette is one of the best newspapers in the state in terms of quality. We are proud to be the new stewards of the business.”
Maloney said, “It is with mixed emotions that I reflect upon selling my company, but there is a sense of pride in what my staff has achieved over the past two decades. I am pleased to see Olympic View Publishing pass into the hands of Sound Publishing, who are as passionate about newspapers and as committed to community journalism as I have been since 1988.”
The new owners announced that Riesau will remain in her role as publisher overseeing the operations of the company.
“I have been with Brown for almost his entire 23 years here, and of course, I am sad to see the end of an era,” Riesau said. “At the same time, however, I have known and worked with Sound Publishing almost as long. They are a solid newspaper company with a great track record and passion for community newspapers. I look forward to the future.”
Riesau said the acquisition by Sound connects her newspapers with a lot of resources, among them training, processes and printing.
Riesau said of her staff, “We’ve built a great product. We know and serve our market really well. Our readers and advertisers really like us and we’ve built on our successes over the years.”
