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Reade Brower

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Maine businessman
Reade Brower
Born1956 or 1957 (age 67–68)
Spouse Martha Brower ​(m. 1985)​

Reade Francis Brower is a media owner known for owning a majority of the newspapers in Maine during his tenure as owner of MaineToday Media. His network of owned papers was described by The Maine Monitor as a "near-monopoly".

Personal life

Brower grew up in Westborough, Massachusetts, to his adopted parents Carmel and Richard. He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and graduated in 1978 with a degree in marketing. As of 2018, he is married to Martha McSweeney Brower (née Martha McSweeney). They were married in 1985.

Career

Prior to owning newspapers, Brower was an entrepreneur who started several companies, including an auto catalog and direct-mail company that advertised to 600,000 Maine households each week. In 1985, he founded The Free Press. In 2015, Brower bought MaineToday Media from financier S. Donald Sussman. He continued purchasing Maine newspapers; in 2017, he was the owner of 24 papers in Maine, including four of the state's seven daily newspapers. In 2018, he had acquired six of the seven daily papers in the state (the exclusion being the Bangor Daily News).

On March 30, 2023, he announced he was looking to sell or take on investors to Masthead Maine, the successor to MaineToday. On March 31, Bangor Daily News reported that he owned five dailies and 25 weeklies, and six specialty publications. He was 66 at the time. On July 10, 2023, Bangor Daily News reported that Brower had sold the five daily newspapers and 17 weeklies he owned to the National Trust for Local News, a non-profit.

MaineStay Media

He also owns 6 weeklies that were not included in the 2023 sale: The Ellsworth American (Ellsworth), The Mount Desert Islander (Bar Harbor), The Courier-Gazette (Rockland), The Republican Journal (Belfast), The Camden Herald (Camden), and The Free Press (Camden). Those six papers had united under the company MaineStay Media in 2022. Four of those newspaper (The Courier-Gazette, The Republican Journal, The Camden Herald and The Free Press) were combined in 2024 to form the Midcoast Villager.

Notes

  1. See MaineToday Media § Brower for an outline of some acquisitions.

References

  1. McCarthy, Patricia (2018-05-28). "Constant Concern and a Glimmer of Hope". The Maine Monitor. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  2. McCarthy, Patricia (2018-06-06). "Owning It: Reade Brower has followed heart, instincts throughout his career". The Maine Monitor. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  3. Richardson, Whit (2015-05-04). "MaineToday buyer: Entrepreneur with a community focus". Portland Press Herald. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  4. ^ Fleury Capetta, Kathleen (2024-08-07). "Publisher's Letter: Building a New Future for Local News in Midcoast Maine". The Free Press. Retrieved 2024-08-11.
  5. Fishell, Darren (2015-04-28). "Press Herald papers purchased by midcoast businessman Reade Brower". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  6. Carpenter, Murray (2017-11-27). "Meet the Media Mogul of Maine". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331; republished in the Rutland Herald as "The unassuming media mogul of Maine (and Vermont)".
  7. "Owner Of Maine's Biggest Newspaper Buys More Publications". Maine Public. 2018-03-23. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  8. Craig, Steve (2023-04-24). "Press Herald owner considering sale of his newspapers to new nonprofit". Portland Press Herald. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  9. Valigra, Lori; Shepherd, Michael (March 31, 2023). "Press Herald owner considers selling his Maine newspaper empire". Maine Public. Contributions by Paul Koenig. Bangor Daily News.
  10. "Masthead Maine exploring the sale of 30 newspapers". AP News. 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  11. "Maine newspaper empire will sell to a national nonprofit". Bangor Daily News. July 10, 2023.
  12. Monitor, The Maine (2023-07-10). "Nonprofit to buy Portland Press Herald and other Maine papers". The Maine Monitor. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  13. Burnham, Kevin (2023-07-19). "Keeping the mastheads". Boothbay Register. Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  14. "Local news outlets join forces as MaineStay Media". The Courier-Gazette. 2022-01-06. Retrieved 2023-09-24.

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